My Genealogy Hound

W. D. YOUNG, attorney at law and Mayor of Ripley, is a son of Omega and Nancy (Stayton) Young, and was born April 15, 1836. He is a grandson of Fountain Young, who was a soldier in the late war with Great Britain, and was killed at the battle of the Thames, in 1813. Omega Young was born in Rockingham County, N. C., March 23, 1797. He moved to Brown County from Floyd County, Ky., in 1807 and located in Higginsport. He was a shoemaker by trade, but afterward purchased a farm in Lewis Township, on which he settled and resided until 1853, when he removed to Pleasant Township, where he and his estimable lady are living in the full enjoyment of a ripe age. The advantages of education were few and limited, and having a large family, he devoted his attention largely to their educational culture and improvement. Of the fourteen children that were born to him, eleven are living; nine of them were well qualified school teachers. He was an advocate of grammar and of temperance, and during his life acquired a thorough knowledge of history and theology. His distinguished loyalty to the Whig party and opposed sentiments to slavery were marked features of his well-spent life. At the organization of the Republican party, he united himself with it, and had since been an earnest advocate of its doctrines and principles. The subject of this biography was reared and brought up on the old homestead farm. In 1854, at the age of eighteen, he left the harvest field in time to prepare himself, and went to the Southwestern Normal Institute at Oxford, Butler Co., Ohio, where he remained in the pursuance of his studies five weeks. His education prior to this was obtained in the district schools of his native place. In 1853, he engaged in teaching, which he followed up to 1860, devoting his spare time to the reading of law. He entered the law office of Gen. Sellers and R. A. Bower, of Georgetown, and in 1859 was admitted to the bar at Lebanon, Ohio. In 1860, he began the practice of law in Georgetown, and the same year edited the publication of the Brown County Republican, the first issue appearing on July 3. The following fall, he disposed of his interest to W. H. Sallyards. In 1861, he served three months in Company I, of the Twelfth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, after which he returned to Georgetown. In the spring of 1862, he removed to Cincinnati and opened a law office and remained until September, 1863, when he took up his residence in Ripley. He formed a partnership with Chambers Baird, with whom he continued until 1873, when the firm dissolved, and the subsequent fall Mr. Young formed partnership with C. A. Linn, now of Cincinnati. He remained with Mr. Linn as a partner till 1876, since which date he has been alone. Mr. Young has been called upon to fill various offices of honor and trust. In 1876, he was chosen Mayor of Ripley, and April 4, 1882, was elected for the fourth term. Mayor Young is a gentleman of honor and one of the most successful practitioners at the Brown County bar. He entered the arena of life with no resources but his own, and has through diligence and judicious use and improvement of opportunities, achieved an honorable and merited success. He has always displayed a prominent interest in all worthy public enterprises, and especially of an educational character. In 1856, he assisted in the organization of the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. He celebrated his marriage in 1863, with Miss Virginia Johnson, daughter of Baker Johnson, and a native of Camden County, N. J. Six children were the fruits of this union; of these four are living, viz.: Cora, Hattie V., Eugene R. and Florence L. Willie B. and Clarence are deceased.