My Genealogy Hound

THEODORE YOUNGS, Mayor of Warrensburg, was elected to this honorable position in 1891, was re-elected in 1893, on the Republican ticket, and was for two years a member of the City Council. In February, 1884, he became a bookkeeper in the Johnson County Bank, acting as such until November, 1888, when he was elevated to the position of Cashier, in which capacity he still continues. He is one of the enterprising and progressive young business men of this community, and comes from an old and respected family of Missouri.

The parents of Theodore Youngs are Edgar and Mary (Mock) Youngs. The former, who was born December 29, 1848, in New Jersey, is still living, his home being in Lafayette County, Mo. He was about eight years of age when he came to this state with his father, Joseph L., who was of Scotch descent, and a carriage-maker by trade. For some time the family lived in St. Louis, but afterwards moved to Lafayette County. In 1849 Joseph L. and Edgar Youngs started across the plains with ox-teams for California, while the rest of the family remained on the farm in Lafayette County. When three years had passed the travelers returned, and Edgar Youngs invested his savings in a small farm. Since that time he has lived in Lafayette County, devoting himself to the improvement of his farm, in which he has been very successful, and is now the owner of about twelve hundred acres. Though a good Republican, he has never held office, but takes great interest in the success of his party. During the war he served in a State Militia company, on the Union side, and took part in the battle of Lexington, Mo.

Born in Lafayette County, Mo., June 29, 1860, Theodore Youngs is one often children, all but two of whom are still living. He received a fair common-school education in his boyhood, and entering the normal at Warrensburg completed the two-years course in 1879. The next year he engaged in farming, and then went to Spaulding’s Commercial College at Kansas City, from which he was graduated in February, 1881. He then returned home and resumed agricultural pursuits until April, 1883, when he obtained a position as a clerk in a dry-goods store at Higginsville, Mo., and served in that capacity until February of the following year. It was then that he was given a position in the Johnson County Bank, with which he has since been connected.

September 10, 1883, Theodore Youngs and Minnie L. Colbern, of this city, were united in marriage. The lady was born September 10, 1865, and received her higher education in the Central Female College at Lexington, and in the State Normal. A little son and daughter have been born to brighten the home of our subject and his estimable wife, namely: Grover, born December 25, 1886; and Ella L., October 4, 1893. The son is named in honor of his great-uncle, Grover Youngs, of New Jersey, who served in the Revolutionary War. A treasured relic now in the possession of Theodore Youngs is a belt-clasp which was worn by this ancestor in the War for Independence, and which in turn will revert to young Grover. Fraternally our subject is a member of the Masonic order, having joined the same at Hallsville in 1881. The following year he took the chapter degree at Warrensburg and is now a Knight Templar.