Charles Young Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 516-517

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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HON. CHARLES YOUNG, a public spirited and enterprising member of the 
farming community of Woodland township, has devoted the greater part of 
his life to agriculture, in the pursuit of which he has been fortunate 
in a marked degree, and is the proprietor of as fine a farm as can be 
found within the limits of Clark county. His homestead is located about 
twelve miles north of Clark City, on section 12, where he operates four 
hundred and eighty acres of his land and three hundred and twenty acres 
of rented land, and engages in diversified farming.  

Our subject is a native of Somerset, England, and was born August 14, 
1844. He was the fourth in a family of ten children born to Charles and 
Mary (Shepherd) Young, both of whom are deceased. The father was 
engaged in farming on a small farm, and our subject grew to maturity at 
that work. In 1865 he emigrated to America, landing at Castle Garden, 
and at once went to work at farming near Elbridge, New York, where he 
remained for four years, and from thence went to Rochester, New York. 
From there he went to Green Lake county, Wisconsin, where he worked at 
odd jobs, and in 1875 went to Olmsted county, Minnesota, and rented 
land and engaged in farming. He moved his effects to Dakota in 1882, 
and upon his arrival filed on the land he now possesses, taking a 
homestead, tree claim and pre-emption. He had scarcely money enough to 
build a 10 x 14 shanty, covered with tar paper. He invested in a couple 
of yoke of oxen on credit, and with these broke land for others for two 
years before he began farming for himself. He has never had a failure 
of crops, although the average yield has run as low as seven bushels 
per acre. He has been largely interested in the raising of cattle, and 
for the mast ten years has been purifying the shorthorn breed. The best 
of water is obtainable, and his cistern has a capacity of one hundred 
barrels, and is stoned. His fine two-story residence, 16 x 24 feet, 
with a kitchen, 14 x 18 feet, and a stone cellar, 10 x 20 feet, with a 
board floor, is modern in every particular, and greatly enhances the 
beauty of the surroundings. The horse barn, 32 x 54 feet, and the 
cattle barn, 32 x 40 feet, furnish commodious quarters for the stock. A 
fine growth of timber, covering sixteen acres, is a pleasing change 
from the surrounding prairie, and the entire farm is one noticeably 
well improved and cultivated.  

Our subject was married in 1881 to Miss Mary Bailey. Mr. Young is a 
gentleman who has taken a most prominent part in the matters pertaining 
to the development of his county and township, and is well known and 
highly respected. He is a Republican, and favors high license, although 
sympathizing with the temperance workers, and he opposes equal 
suffrage. He was elected to a seat in the lower house in the state 
legislature in 1892, and served on the committees of banks and banking, 
and agriculture and horticulture. He was elected county commissioner in 
1885, since which time he has given more or less attention to affairs 
of local import. Although his labors have been difficult at times, he 
has never wavered from his purpose, and possessed of a determination 
and unlimited energy, he has earned success, and is living a contented 
life, enjoying the fruits of his hard work, and the esteem of a large 
acquaintance.