My Genealogy Hound

Mrs. A. M. Young, widow of William Young, of Hartville, Mo., was born in Crawford County, Mo., in 1840, and is the daughter of John M. and Elizabeth (Bridges) Gorman. John M. Gorman was born in North Carolina in 1814, and grew to manhood in Crawford County, Mo. He first worked as a collier in that county, saved his money, and afterward engaged in merchandising in a log cabin three miles south of where Hartville now stands. He afterward located in Hartville, and was the first dry goods merchant in the town. There had been, previous to his location in the county seat, one man who had followed the grocery business on a small scale. Consequently Mr. Gorman may be called the pioneer merchant of Wright County. He followed this business in Hartville, and in connection ran a couple of extensive stock farms, until his death in 1854. When the report of his death was spread abroad many of the old people said, “The father of Hartville is dead.” He was married in 1834, in Phelps County, to Miss Lizzie Bridges, a native of Tennessee, born in 1820, and the result of this happy union was the birth of eight children, four of whom grew to maturity. Of these Mrs. A. M. Young is the eldest. When her mother, who died in 1851, was about to close her eyes upon the scenes of this world, she turned to our subject, who was then but eleven years of age, and gave her the two younger children. After her death Mr. Gorman married Mrs. Cynthia Tunnel, and the usual result of step-mother curriculum was entailed upon the children. In this case Mrs. Young remembered the dying request of her mother, and in a truly womanly way looked after the interests of her two younger brothers. At the age of fifteen she was married to William Young, and the result of this pleasant union was five children, four of whom are now living: Frank, F. M. (deceased), Mattie, wife, of T. J. Kelly; Harvey and Oscar. William Young, the father of these children, was born in Indiana in 1833, the son of W. F. and Mary (Young) Young, cousins. While he was still a boy his parents immigrated to Missouri, locating in the woods on a fork of the Gasconade, and here William grew to manhood among the wild scenes of frontier life. After reaching years of discretion he became a merchant, and followed this business in Hartville for about five years after the Civil War. Just about the time that he was doing a most extensive business, failing health interfered, and he gradually became an invalid. After ten years of sickness he died of consumption, in 1883. During her husband’s illness Mrs. Young, with the business trait that always distinguished her, took charge of her husband’s affairs, and in 1871 commenced keeping hotel in her present building in Hartville, and in connection with this carried on her domestic affairs. For two years she kept hotel in Mansfield, Wright Co., Mo., but afterward returned to her home in Hartville, where the “Young House” is noted for its good board, general comfort and genial atmosphere. “Aunt Rilda,” as Mrs. Young is familiarly called by her friends, is a pleasant faced, ruddy cheeked, stout woman, whose never-failing good humor makes her a favorite wherever she is known. Her paternal grandparents were natives of Ireland, who immigrated to America, settling in Tennessee first, and then became early settlers of Missouri. They settled in what was afterward formed into Phelps County, and there the Gorman family lived long, and were very much respected. A number of large apple trees now mark the site of the Gorman’s old homestead. The seeds from which the apple trees were grown were brought by Grandmother Gorman from Tennessee, in the toe of a stocking. William Young’s father, W. F. Young, was among the earliest settlers of the Wood’s Fork of the Gasconade. In his house the first circuit court of Wright County was held, and also the first church services. W. F. Young was born in North Carolina; his father was also born in that State, but his great-grandfather was a native of Ireland, and immigrated to America in 1790 or 1792, where he became one of the pioneers of North Carolina. Frank Young, the eldest child of our subject, was born in Hartville, Mo., in 1856, and at the age of sixteen he became a page in the Missouri House of Representatives, where he remained two years. On his return home he attended school, and afterward engaged in the profession of teaching for four years, during which time he was also connected with a retail furniture establishment. In 1883 he was appointed treasurer of Wright County by Gov. Crittenden, and served two years. He took charge of the “Young House,” a hotel in Marshfield, during 1884 and 1885, after which he went on the road as traveling salesman for Joseph Baum & Co., a boot and shoe house, at St. Louis. His health failed at this time, and he went to California, where he remained a season, and then returned to Hartville, where he has since been engaged in taking care of the Young estate, and also has charge of the livery business. He was elected chairman of the Democratic Central Committee September 20, 1888, and is one of the enthusiastic Democrats of the section; his influence, combined with the efforts of other young men of the county, defeated the most important part of the Republican ticket in Wright County for 1888. A bright future is in store for this young man, and he will no doubt be heard from in the highest circles of Wright County politics in the near future. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.