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EDWIN BERKLEY YOUNG
Originally published in 1900 |
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EDWIN BERKLEY YOUNG, a leading and successful real estate and
insurance man of Union Hill, is descended from a distinguished family
of United Empire royalists. The Youngs made the first settlement in
Athol, Prince Edward County, Ontario. Canada, at East Lake. Some historians claim they were the first settlers in that county. Certain it is they
went there when the country was a forest, unbroken and practically unpenetrated by man, and out of the wilderness carved for themselves and
their families a home which still remains in the possession of their descendants. Colonel Henry Young, born in Jamaica, Long Island, in 1737, was
the second son of six children of an English gunsmith, who came there
from Nottingham at an early age, and who founded a family which has
spread over this country and Canada. Some of his posterity still live on
Long Island. Henry joined the British army when a young man, served with
distinction for six years in the French and Indian wars under Generals
Amherst and Abercrombie, and with the English participated in the battle
of Bennington and in no less than seventeen other engagements against
the continentals. For gallant services at Bennington he received an ensigney in the "King's Royal." His title of Colonel, by which he was popularly known, was conferred upon him by provincial appointment. At the close of the American Revolution he retired on half pay, and received a
grant of 3,000 acres of land for himself and other tracts for various mem-
bers of his family. His first residence in Canada was at Cataraqui. With
a brother officer he set out in a canoe in 1783 and selected a site at East
Lake in the Town of Athol. Thither he brought his family in the fall of
1784. He died there in his eighty-fourth year, leaving numerous descend-
ants, many of whore became conspicuous in civil and official affairs. His
four daughters. Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Sarah, married East Lake
settlers and lived to be over eighty years of age. Of his two sons, Henry
and Daniel, the former settled on the homestead, and as a soldier in the
English army died at Kingston of cholera during the War of 1812.
Richard Young, son of Henry, Sr., was a farmer in Athol, and married
Nancy Van Vlackren, now spelled Van Vlack. Their son, William Henry
Young, served in the Ontario militia during the Fenian raid, and is now a
retired farmer living in Picton, Canada. He is a cousin of the Rev. George
Young, D.D., President of the Methodist Episcopal Conference of Ontario.
He married Sarah Jane Clark, daughter of Enoch Dorland Clark and
Nancy Smith, of Ontario, who, like the Van Vlackrens, were descended
from Holland Dutch stock. The family have long taken a leading part in
the agricultural and military affairs of Ontario, and have always borne
high reputations for honor and integrity.
Edwin B. Young, eldest son of William Henry Young and Sarah Jane Clark, was born in Athol Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada, January 4, 1860. He attended the public schools and remained on the homestead until he reached the age of twenty-one, when, having received a good education, he came to New York City. His capital consisted of three or four dollars in money, a robust constitution, and indomitable pluck and courage. For a few months he was employed in various capacities. Becoming superintendent of the Grove Church Cemetery at New Durham, Hudson County, N. J., he took up his residence in the Town of Union, and has ever since been identified with its best interests. During the past nine years he has also been extensively interested in real estate in the town, and in 1896 he opened a general real estate and insurance office at 433 Bergenline Avenue, which he still conducts, and to which he devotes his entire attention, having resigned the superintendency of the Grove Church Cemetery in January, 1899. In addition to this he has lately established a mercantile collection agency, the first one of the kind on Union Hill. Mr. Young has achieved marked success in real estate operations, and by untiring devotion to business has won the confidence and respect of the entire community. He is a genial, companionable, public spirited man, deeply interested in the general welfare, and always ready to respond to the demands of good citizenship. Progressive in all that the word implies, he has been active and influential in the advancement of the town, a liberal contributor to its growth and moral improvements, and ever alert in increasing its useful institutions. He was Secretary of the old Literary Society of the Town of Union, and later became one of the prime movers in organizing the Free Reading Room and Library Association, of which he was for many years Treasurer, and of which he was an original Director. It may be safely said that he was a founder and the chief organizer of this association, which succeeded the old Literary Society. Later a special act of the Legislature enabled the Town of Union, and other towns in the State, to levy a tax for the support of such institutions, and this association has since been maintained by the public as a free library. In all of these movements Mr. Young was active and influential, and to him is due in a large degree the establishment of this institution. He is an ardent Democrat, a Justice of the Peace, and a prominent member of various fraternal and social organizations, including Mystic Tie Lodge, No. 123, F. and A. M., of New Jersey, of which he was for four years the Worshipful Master. He is also a member of the Scottish Rite bodies, 32°, of New York City, of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Masonic fraternity, and of the Royal Arcanum. In September, 1899, he was elected Most Worthy Grand Patron of the Order of the Eastern Star of New Jersey, and in the spring of 1900 he was one of the organizers of the Past Masters' Association of Hudson County, of which he was elected the first President. Mr. Young's brother, George Alfred Young, was born May 14, 1869, came to New Jersey when seventeen, and is now head bookkeeper for the Hudson Trust and Savings Institution of West Hoboken. He is a member and Worshipful Master of Mystic Tie Lodge, No. 123, F. and A. M. Mr. Young was married October 10, 1883, to Henrietta Bell, daughter of Henry and Ellen (Westerfield) Bell, of the Town of Union. Her father was born near Liverpool, England, while her mother was descended from an old Holland Dutch family. They have three sons: Edwin Henry, Ralph Percy, and Herbert Eldred.
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