WILLIAM A. YOUNG, of Millvale Borough, who
is a Notary Public, and conducts a prosperous business in insurance, real
estate, and loans, was born in Pine township, Allegheny County, December 15,
1850, son of Henry and Catherine (Wyland) Young. His paternal grandfather, Henry
Young,- of Germany, who served as a soldier in the German army, was three times
married, had three children, one by each marriage, and lived to an advanced age.
The father, born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, came toAmerica in 1837. He located in Pine
Creek, where he met Catherine Wyland, who was living there with her parents. She
was born in Alsace, then a province of France, daughter of Peter Wyland, a French
soldier, who came to Pine Creek in 1827, and died in 1843, at the age of
eighty-nine years. Henry Young, Jr., and Catherine were married in 1840, after
which they removed to East Deer township, where he carried on farming. He was
also a shoemaker by trade. Both he and his wife were members of the German
Methodist church, and Mr. Young was class leader. Their children were: Henry L.,
of Pitcairn; Margaret C, the wife of George Pflasterer, of Braddock; Mary A.,
the widow of John McClelland, of Pittsburg; William A. and Samuel T., both of
Bennett. After the mother's death in 1870, her husband married Mrs. Mary A.
McMaster, the widow of Joseph McMaster and a daughter of Joseph Kelker, who bore
him one child, Ralph B.
William A.
Young spent his boyhood on his father's farm in the township of East Deer, and was sent with the other
boys of the neighborhood to the district school. After leaving school William
learned shoemaking from his father, and worked at that trade in Oil City until 1880. In 1881 and 1885 he was
elected Justice of the Peace at Bennett, to which place he had moved. After that
he went into the real estate business, in which he has since been engaged.
Besides filling the position of Justice of the Peace, he has also served two
terms as Notary Public. On February 17, 1897, he was elected Burgess of the
borough of Millvale for three years, beginning March 1, 1897.
On January 1,
1873, Mr. Young was united in marriage with Miss Josephine Steckman, who died in
1879. Her children are: Emma E. and William Clarence. In 1881 Mr. Young married
Miss Kittie Becker, daughter of Henry and Margaret (Walter) Becker, both of whom
were natives of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. By the second marriage there were
three children — Lillian E.,
Walter M., and Lincoln Earl. Politically, Mr. Young is a Republican. In
religious faith he is a Methodist. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum, the Order of
United Workmen, the Junior Order of American Mechanics, and to the Knights of
the Mystic Chain. Mr. Young's home and office are at 54 Grant Avenue,
Millvale, a borough of nine thousand inhabitants. He is widely known and
respected as a man of unquestioned integrity.
