My Genealogy Hound

A. O. YOUNGER, proprietor of The Fair, a dry-goods establishment of Murphysboro, was born in Bunker Hill, Ill., October 30, 1865, and is the eldest of a family of six children, whose parents were John and Annie E. (Campbell) Younger, the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter of Madison County. Ill., where the maternal grandfather, John Campbell, a native of New Jersey, settled at a very early day, becoming one of its pioneers. John Younger was reared in his native state, and when a young man went to St. Louis, where he joined the Union army, serving for three months. He afterward located in Bunker Hill, and is now engaged in farming in that locality.

No event of special importance occurred during the boyhood and youth of our subject, which were quietly passed upon the homestead farm near Bunker Hill. The common schools afforded him his educational privileges, and to his father he gave the benefit of his services until nineteen years of age. He then determined to follow some other pursuit than that to which he had been reared, and in 1884 went to St. Louis, Mo., where he began clerking.

After a short time, however, he entered the employ of Russack & Sons, wholesale clothing dealers, and traveled as their representative through Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. He continued with that firm for five years and did a good business in their interests.

In 1891, in Hoyleton, Ill., was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Younger and Miss Mamie Hake, a native of that place. Their residence is situated on Rorer Street, and their home is brightened by the presence of a little son, Raymond. During their short residence here the parents have already won many friends.

In the spring of 1892 Mr. Younger left the road, locating in Murphysboro, where he formed a partnership with M. Evans in the dry-goods business, opening a store which is known as The Fair. This connection still continues. The members of the firm are both men of good business ability, progressive and enterprising, and from the beginning have enjoyed a good trade, which is steadily increasing. They carry a fine line of dry goods, clothing, and in fact everything found in a first-class general merchandise store. Mr. Younger in his political views is a Republican. He is still a young man, but he has displayed the qualifications which lead to a successful business career, and if the past is a criterion, we feel assured that his future will be a prosperous one.