My Genealogy Hound

MASON A. YOUNG, one of the prominent farmers of Cedar township, Buffalo county, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, May 15, 1842. His parents. Mason and Luticie (Leggit) Young, were Pennsylvanians by birth. About 1838 they moved to Muskingum county, Ohio, and engaged in farming. The senior Young died in 1872, and his estimable wife followed him to the land of rest March 24, 1881. Three children were born to them, one of whom, Washington, is dead, leaving Mason A. and James, the only living representatives of the family. When Mason A. Young was seventeen years of age he enlisted, August 2, 1862, in Company C, One Hundred and Twenty-second Ohio volunteers, and served three years. He participated in the engagements at Brandy Station and Locust Grove, and followed Gen. Grant through the terrible battles of the Wilderness. He also fought with might and main at Winchester, Adar Creek and Fisher’s Hill, and was mustered out in June, 1865. Soon after the war he met Miss Jennie Butler, whom he married December 3, 1869. She was born in Maryland, February 26, 1846, and is the daughter of John Wesley and Sarah Ann (Fisher) Butler. Her parents emigrated to Ohio, where her father died in 1853. This union has resulted in the birth of six children, namely — John Wilson, born May 19, 1871; Annie, born July 13, 1873; Zettie E., born December 30, 1875; Amy, born March 24, 1877; Charles E., born March 29, 1885; and Frank, born April 26, 1887. Their daughter Zettie was the first white child born in Cedar township. Soon after marriage Mr. Young moved to Cedar county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming for a few years. In April of 1873 he moved to Buffalo county, Nebr., and settled in Cedar township, taking up a homestead on which he has since continued to reside. The country thereabouts was new and exceedingly wild at that time, there being only two or three families in the entire township. He dug the first well and erected the first frame house that far west in the region known as the Loup country. Fire swept the surrounding prairie that year and consequently there was no grass left to cut for hay. Corn had to be hauled from Grand Island, and the high price of everything in the shape of provisions compelled the few scattering settlers to be as economical as possible. The drought and grasshoppers got away with the small acreage of crop the first few years, and for a time there was little to encourage the ambitious settlers. There were plenty of antelope and deer, and some buffalo were yet to be seen along the Loup. There were Indians in the country in those days, and, while they were generally considered peaceable, Mr. Young made up his mind to always be prepared for any emergency that might arise, and to that end he purchased a sixteen shooter Winchester with five hundred rounds of ammunition. Mr. Young has one of the best improved farms, and, in fact, is one of the most substantial farmers in Cedar township. He is industrious and systematic in everything he does and stands high socially and morally in the community. He has been supervisor of his township, and has held various other local offices. He is a member of the G. A. R. and in politics is a stanch republican.