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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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M. L. Young, for a long time a well-known farmer and stock raiser of Shaw Township, is a native of Georgia, and was born in Carroll County, that State, on June 4, 1833, being the second in a family of four children born to John J. and Jane (McDawell) Young, natives of South Carolina and Georgia. John J. Young was a millwright, and for years was engaged as a contractor, building mills in Georgia and Alabama. For eight years prior to his death, which occurred in 1840, he resided in Calhoun County, Ala., his estimable wife surviving him until 1852. Her death took place in the Choccolocco Valley, Ala. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Young belonged to an old family of McDawells in Georgia, whose names are very familiar to readers of Georgia history, they having been prominent and influential people. Of the four children born to them only two are now living: J. J. Young (a farmer in Alabama) and M. L. (the subject of this sketch). He was reared on a farm, and received his education in the common schools of Alabama and Georgia, but when quite a young man was thrown upon his own resources by the death of his mother. Beginning work as a farm hand, the first year his salary was $8 per month, the next $16 and the third year $20. He improved every advantage that presented itself for schooling, and the fourth year after his mother’s death attended the high-school at Gadsden, Ala. After completing his studies here he again resumed agricultural labor, this time renting land in Gadsden, farming in the summer and working at his trade (carriage making) in the winter. In 1857 Mr. Young was married to Miss Sarah E. Christopher, a daughter of William and Eliza (Hardy) Christopher, natives of North Carolina and Georgia. Mrs. Young was born in Georgia, February 1, 1838. To this union have been given the following children: Frances Ida (born April 11, 1858, and the wife of Leonidas Brumbelow, a farmer of Grant County, Ark.), Genora A. B. (born December 11, 1859, and wife of N. B. Manning, of Saline County), J. C. (born December 4, 1860, married and resides in Saline County), Alter C. (born April 25, 1864, died September 28, 1885, as the wife of James Martin, of Saline County), D. A. M. (born October 15, 1866, and a brakeman on the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad), John R. (born September 26, 1868, a farmer, in Saline County), Joseph L. (born October 24, 1870, died August 21, 1874), Margaret A. (born May 26, 1872, died October 15, 1888), Bessie E. (born April 16, 1874), Susan O. E. (born May 1, 1876) and O. L. (born July 2, 1879). After his marriage Mr. Young lived in Alabama until 1860, when he came to Bradley County, Ark., where he enlisted in Weaver’s company, Nineteenth Arkansas Infantry, and remained till the close of the war. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth and Fort Pillow, and can say, what but very few can, that he was never wounded or taken prisoner during his entire service. After the battle of Corinth he became ill, and was sent home where he remained for one year. He rejoined the army at Shreveport, La., in 1864, and was paroled at the same place in 1865. In 1863 Mr. Young’s family moved to Claiborne Parish, La., where Mr. Young joined them after the war. They remained there until 1867, when they moved to Ouachita County, Ark., one year later locating in Saline County. In 1871 he homesteaded eighty acres, and after a short time added eighty acres more, until he owned eighty acres in a fine state of cultivation, the rich soil of which yields excellent crops of cotton, corn, oats and potatoes. Mr. Young’s opinion is that a farmer should make his land produce what he lives on, and he certainly does, for his crops have long been the admiration of the surrounding country. He votes with the Democratic party, but is not a political enthusiast. Huey Lodge No. 95, A. F. & A. M., counts him as a member, and he is also a Wheeler. Mr. Young and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he lends his hearty support to all enterprises, educational and otherwise. While at Shreveport with the army he was engaged in the engineer department, doing carpenter work, and had charge of the ponton and railroad trestle department. He has recently emigrated to the northwest portion of Texas to make it his home.

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This family biography is one of 100 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Saline County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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