youngbros  
 

Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",  published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.


     YOUNG BROTHERS is the style of a mercantile house in Stratford.  The members of the firm are Louis C. and Jacob T. Young.  They were the promoters of Stratford and own the only general merchandise store in the place.  They carry a complete stock of goods wisely selected for the needs of the people of this section and also handle implements and other goods.  While they are pioneers of this county they have not been long in this line of business which now occupies them, still they have already a fine patronage and are to be numbered with the leading merchants of the southern part of Douglas
county.
     Jacob T. Young was born in Winneshiek county, Iowa, on June 4, 1861, while Louis C. Young was born in the same county on July 4, 1867.  Their parents are Charles F. and Margaret (Gezell) Young, natives of Germany and Pennsylvania, respectively.  The mother died in Iowa.  The father came to the United States when young and settled as one of the pioneers of Iowa.  His death occurred at Hartline.  The brothers were educated in the common schools of their native county and when 1881 came, they went on to Nebraska, where they traveled about and worked on the railroads.  The next year they made their way to Idaho and in 1883, they came to Washington.  They first made settlement in the California community, nine miles north from where Hartline now stands.  In 1887, they settled in the Grand Coulee at the head of Blue Lake, in the section known as the "Park."  They soon established a cattle ranch and improved the place in good shape.  They stocked the lake with fish and made their place both valuable and attractive.  Here they raised stock until June 19, 1902, when they sold the entire property to James H. Smith, the present owner.  The following September, the Young Brothers opened a general merchandise store in Stratford, having previously purchased the land here and laid out a townsite.  They have built up the place and are enterprising and public minded business men.
     Our subjects have the following brothers and sisters, Phillip J., Charles W., Adolph H., William H., Mrs. Caroline Blumerader, Mrs. Louisa Henning, Mrs. Christian Hess, and Mrs. Kate Rudolph.
     The marriage of Jacob T. Young and Miss Violet E. Shaw occurred at Waterville, in 1899 and to them two children have been born: Charles F., at the Park, on June 22, 1900; and Merrill M., at Stratford, on March 9, 1903.  Mrs. Violet Young was born in Wisconsin, in 1872.  At Coulee City, in 1897, Mr. Louis C. Young married Miss Jessie McClellan, the daughter of William and Lucy McClellan, natives of  Iowa, where also Mrs. Young was born.  To this union two children have been born, Violet M., at the Park, on May 22, 1898, and Vernie E., also at the Park, June 21, 1900.  The Lutheran church appeals more strongly in its tenets and doctrines to our subjects, although they do not belong to any denomination.
 
 

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