Caro, Biographies, Indian Fields, Tuscola Co., MI

This history was extracted from "History of Tuscola and Bay Counties, Mich.
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of their Prominent Men 
and Pioneers", published in Chicago by H. R. Page & Co. (1883), p. 93-104

This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives.



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A. C. YOUNG

was born June 29, 1848, at South Crosby, seven miles from Brockville, Ont. His 
early days were passed without much of a chance to get an education. In 1866, 
when about eighteen years of age, he came to Tuscola County. His first night in 
the county was passed in Vassar. During it the hotel at which he was stopping 
was burned clown, and he found himself in the morning minus money and all his 
clothes, save what he saved on his back. He was compelled therefore to seek 
employment, and he hired out to go into the woods. In the spring following he 
bought eighty acres of land in Elmwood Township, and cleared a small field which 
he put under wheat. He worked for four consecutive winters in the woods, and 
each spring drove logs. In the course of time he acquired a thorough knowledge 
of lumbering, and he readily obtained employment at the highest wages. For two 
springs he was employed to take charge of 100 men on the Flint River, receiving 
$4 per day. When twenty-one years old a Saginaw firm paid him $150 per month to 
scale logs. In 1870 he went into business with Henry A. Dodge, at Elmwood 
Corners. The copartnership was a brief one, as in a few months he purchased his 
partner's interest.

    In September, 1870, he was married to Miss Frances J. Bearss, a native of 
Tilsonburg, Ont., but at that time living with her parents in Elmwood. For some 
three years she was his sole assistant in the store, in fact, most of the time 
managing the business herself, her husband being engaged in buying and selling 
logs.

    In 1872 he secured the establishment of a postoffice at Elmwood, and was 
postmaster until he removed to Caro, in June, 1873.

    He located in a small building on the corner of Main and Burnside Streets, 
and in addition to his mercantile pursuits operated in logs for Bay City parties 
for two winters. He also bought shingle bolts, etc., extensively on his own 
account.

    In the fall of 1874 he bought a portable saw-mill and located it in the 
township of Almer. It cut 1,000,000 feet of lumber that winter. He also sold 
1,000,000 feet of logs. In 1875-'76 and 1876-'77 he got out logs for Eddy, Avery 
& Co., of East Saginaw.

    His first store was 20x40 feet in size, but additions have been made until 
the grocery department is 14x100 and the dry goods 22x72 feet in size. His first 
year's business in Caro aggregated about $9,000; it now amounts to $50,000 per 
annum. The season of 1882-'83 he handled over $25,000 worth of railroad ties, 
cedar fence posts, house blocks, telegraph poles, etc., which are shipped to all 
parts of the United States. .

    Mr. Young has erected a number of buildings in Caro, among which may be 
mentioned the brick store on Main Street, near Burnside; a dwelling near the 
railroad depot, his own elegant residence on the comer of Pearl and Cooper 
Streets, costing some $10,000; a steam elevator, etc. He is also about to erect 
a new brick store for his own business this year, 1883. He is the owner of 
considerable real estate in Caro, and three farms in the adjacent country.

    One of the local papers, the Citizen, says of him: "Mr. Young's success as a 
business man is one instance, and a striking one, of what the right kind of 
genius, aided by hard work, can accomplish. Personally he is highly esteemed, 
and his liberality toward all public or benevolent objects is well known. Such 
men as A. C. Young give vigor to any community, and such success commands 
admiration, while it exacts respect and appreciation."