Biography of Joseph D. Young, 1902, Baker Co. Oregon: Surnames: Young, Baker, Flynn, Coffey, Lucas.

***********************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced
in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or 
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must 
obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative
of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of 
this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives 
to store the file permanently for free access. 
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ 
***********************************************************************
Transcribed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
W. David Samuelsen - November 2001
************************************************************************
An Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties, pub. 1902
by Western Historical Pub. Co. of Chicago. page 373

Joseph D. Young

An old pioneer of the Pacific coast and of Baker county, in the development of
which he has very materially aided, the man whose name gives caption to this
review is richly deserving of representation in any volume whose purview
includes biographical notice of the founders and builders of this section, and
it is with pleasure that we accord him such herein. Mr. Young is a native of
the sunny south, having first opened his eyes to the light in Independence,
Virginia on July 10, 1832, his parents, Timothy and Elizabeth (Baker) Young,
being likewise natives of the state famed as the "mother of presidents." He
resided under the shelter of the paternal roof until about twenty-three years
old, receiving a rudimentary education, but on March 27, 1855, he stepped on
board ship in New York harbor bound for the "westmost west." In due time he
went via Greytown to San Francisco, and on April 22 of the same year he sped
through the Golden Gate. His occupation for seven years was in the
horticultural line, supplying fruit and vegetables for the markets, and one
year he clerked in a store. In 1864 he came to Granite, Grant county, Oregon,
and engaged in placer mining. While prosecuting this industry he discovered
the rich ground that is now known as Joe Young's bar. In 1871, Mr. Young, in
company with Harvey Robbins, opened a general merchandise store and meat
market in Sumpter, beginning operations in the spring of that year. This
business continued until 1874, when they sold out. Mr. Young also supervised
the building of the wagon road from Sumpter to Granite, and he served as the
first postmaster of the former place and has the honor of naming the post
office. The christening was on this wise: In 1862 some prospectors camped on
the ground where now stands Sumpter, and they named it Fort Sumter. But when
they were casting about for a name for the office Mr. Young suggested Sumpter,
which means a pack animal, since all the goods came there by pack trains. And
Sumpter it has been since. The first team, which consisted of four horses, was
driven by Joe Young and Charles Rimbol to Cable Cove on Silver creek. They
built the first sawmill in Sumpter, engaged in general merchandising, operated
a hotel, handled freight, did a butchering business, built ditches and sold
water to the miners, and added other improvements to the amount of ten
thousand dollars or over. Much credit is due to Mr. Young for the efficiency
and wisdom with which he wrought for the upbuilding of Sumpter during his
residence there and for the liberal contributions made toward its development.
He has ever shown himself a public-spirited man, and no enterprise of general
concern fails to elicit his interest. Mr. Young has always been strictly a
temperance man, hence he had no time to waste about the saloons or loafing
places of drink, and the result that was that many times he was searching over
the hills and brought in many trophies of the chase, such as good, fat deer,
antelope, elk and bear.

In 1884 Mr. Young married Mrs. Mary A. Flynn, daughter of Edward and Mary
Coffey. The following year their only child, Rimbol, was born, being the
second white child born in Sumpter. Mrs. Young has by her first husband three
children, two boys and one girl, who received the name of their stepfather and
have been reared and educated as his own. The daughter is now the wife of
Andrew E. Lucas, son of W. W. Lucas, an early pioneer of Oregon. Mr. Young is
highly esteemed by his fellows, and he has an unsullied reputation, being a
man of unswerving integrity and intrinsic moral worth. At the present time Mr.
Young and family are living on his farm, four miles southeast from Sumpter. He
has a fine estate, well improved and supplied with all needed buildings and
machinery, and it is handled in a skillful manner, his principal crop being
timothy hay.