John W. Young

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

Morris county, New Jersey, figures as one of the most attractive, progressive, and prosperous divisions of the State, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked advancement in the material upbuilding of this section. A prominent citizen of Dover, this county, is John W. YOUNG, who for the past ten years has filled the offices of judge of the police court and justice of the peace. He is descended from English ancestry, his forefathers having settled in Pennsylvania in the early colonial epoch of our national history. The progenitor of the YOUNG family in New Jersey was Daniel YOUNG, who was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, about the middle of the eighteenth century. He was a blacksmith by trade and owner of two large farms, one at the mouth of Budd lake and the other at Drakestown, New Jersey. He married a Miss BETSON and to them were born the following children: John, Stephen, Edward, Daniel (father of the subject of this review), Amos, Rachel (married George BIRD), Nancy (married Samuel SMITH), Mary (wife of a Mr. VAN FLEET.

Daniel (2) YOUNG, was born in Morris county, New Jersey, in 1809, died 1885, at the venerable age of seventy-six years. He was a shoemaker by trade, and followed the occupation of farming on the Drakestown estate, which he purchased from his father. He married Mary Ann WYRE, born in 1819, died 1871, aged fifty-two years. This union was prolific of seven children: John W., of this notice; Eliza, deceased, was the wife of David DILLY; Serron and Daniel, both deceased; Anette, died as the wife of Noah THOMAS; Malinda, wife of Alfred CRALL, a resident of Vinton, Iowa.

John W. YOUNG grew to maturity on his father’s farm in Morris county, where his birth occurred January 7, 1844, in a log house on the road leading from Hackettstown to Bartley. He was educated in the Drakestown public schools and he continued to reside in Morris county until he reached his twenty-seventh year. From 1871 to 1881 he was a resident of Warren county, New Jersey. In the latter year he returned to Morris county and for the ensuing five years was engaged in farming operations here. He then farmed in Sussex county for another five years, and in 1891 located in Newark, New Jersey, where he was engaged in the milk business until 1896. In that year he settled in Dover and here has since resided. For seven years after his advent here he had a large milk business, and in 1903 he was elected judge of the Dover police court and justice of the peace, two offices he has filled with the utmost efficiency during the past decade. Mr. YOUNG is conscientious in discharging his official duties and he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises projected for progress and improvement. In politics he is an ardent Progressive, and during the early years of his residence in Dover he was the able incumbent of a number of important township offices.

January 5, 1871, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. YOUNG to Mary Ellen LONGCORE, a native of Sussex county, New Jersey, daughter of Theodore and Sarah Ann (SMITH) LONGCORE, the former of whom died in Sussex county and the latter at Newark, this State. Mrs. YOUNG died June 12, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. YOUNG had two sons: Fred R., who was educated in the Newark schools, is now traveling auditor for the New Jersey Central Railroad, his headquarters being in the city of Philadelphia; Theodore L., who is engaged in business as funeral director at Dover, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. YOUNG is affiliated with the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and in religious faith he is and his wife was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003)