From Portrait & Biographical Record, Clinton County, Indiana by A. W. Bowen & Co.: "John L. Young was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, February 15, 1849, being one of the family of five children of George P. and Nancy Young, both of whom are now dead. The other children of the family are William H. Young of Lafayette, Decalvius K. Young, who lives on a farm in Boone County, near Colfax, George E. Young, also a farmer near Colfax, and Mrs. L. W. Loveless of Lafayette. When he was only three years of age Mr. Young's parents moved to Clinton County, Indiana, and located on a farm about two and one-half miles northwest of Colfax. Here he lived and worked on the farm, attended the district school until young manhood, when he attended the Frankfort High School, which was then under the superintendence of Hon. E. H. Staley.

July 19, 1871, Mr. Young was married to Miss Angeline S. Carver, of Perry Township, Clinton County, Indiana. She is a daughter of Miles A. Carver, and was born in Ohio, January 28, 1850. Her father was born November 7, 1816, in Chenango County, New York, and is descended from Governor John Carver of Massachusetts. After his marriage Mr. Young lived on the farm until he was twenty-eight years of age. During his residence on the farm he read law for years and formed that comprehensive idea of its practice he has found so useful since. To Mr. and Mrs. Young there have been born five children, Mary D., Ida F., Nellie B., Edith O., and George L., all of whom are living except Ida F., who died when but six months old.

In October 1874, Mr. Young was elected Trustee on the Republican ticket, and reelected on the same ticket in the fall of 1876, and served until the end of the term for which he was elected, two years. While Trustee of his township he was instrumental in establishing the graded school in the town of Colfax, which school is the pride of the community. He continued to live in Perry Township until the summer of 1879, when in July of that year he bought of Aaron H. Southard the five acre tract of land upon which he yet lives lying across Clinton and Walnut streets, just east of the city limits, paying therefore $700, and erected thereon a neat cottage, to which place he moved on the 9th day of October of that year. At that time it was "out in the country" so far that one could scarcely see the town. The streets and sidewalks now run to his home, which is situated in a beautiful sugar tree grove.

In the spring of 1880 he formed a law partnership with William E. Ross, and opened an office on the south side of the square, over the J. H. Paris dry-goods store. Their partnership continued until February 18, 1881, when the firm was merged into the partnership of Hockman, Ross & Young, Messrs. Ross and Young having bought the two-thirds interest in the abstract of titles to the lands of Clinton County, then owned by Mr. Hockman. This partnership continued until the twenty-first day of October 1882, when Mr. Hockman retired, leaving the business to Ross & Young. In the spring of 1884 Mr. Ross retired, and was succeeded by William R. Hines in his interest in the firm, books and business, since which time this latter partnership has continued under the firm name of Young & Hines, being conducted principally,
however, by Mr. Young, Mr. Hines being one of the principal contractors in the country, and giving most of his attention thereto. Mr. Young, who employs two lady clerks to assist him in the rapidly increasing business, keeps the abstract record in perfect condition. This abstract of title is compiled with all the care and skill known to that branch of the legal profession, Mr. Young giving it his personal supervision. Every deed, mortgage and other written evidence of title record in the Recorder's office of Clinton County having been carefully copied and transferred to their
abstract record, all the work is then verified. The abstracts of title prepared by Mr. Young are well known all over the county to be correct and reliable, no man ever having lost a cent or being misled in the least on account of inaccuracies. Socially, Mr. Young is a pleasant man to meet, but he is a firm believer in the old maxim, "Business first, pleasure afterwards." He is a fine example of what close application and indomitable energy will bring - success.

Ephraim January, the father of Ann (January) Young, who was the mother of George P. Young and the grandmother of John L. Young, was born in Pennsylvania, and was the grandson of a French Huguenot. The persecution that drove the emigrant from his native land confiscated his estate, which was said to be very large. Ephraim January married Sarah McConnell, near McConnellstown, Pennsylvania, while they were both very young. In 1780 they immigrated to Kentucky, and, passing down the Ohio River with several other families, in small flatboats fitted up to resist the attacks of the Indians,
landed safely at Louisville in the spring. They took their little property to a small fort called Spring Station, six miles from Louisville, and remained there six months. They then removed to the fort at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where they lived twelve months, and afterward to the fort at Lexington, and remained there till the fall of 1783. Such was the unsettled condition of the country at that period, and the character of the savage warfare waged by the Indians, that a family was only safe when inside of a
fortification.

Andrew McConnell, the grandfather of Ann (January) Young, was killed at the Battle of Blue Licks, which occurred in the summer of 1782. Although that battle resulted disastrously to the emigrants, additional forces pressed
upon the Indians and drove them out of Kentucky, and an increase of emigration in the course of a year so checked the incursions of the Indians that families were justified in making locations of their own in the neighborhood of Lexington and some other parts of the territory. Ephraim
January accordingly obtained a preemption to 1,000 acres of land in the county of Jessamine, built a small log cabin on it in the midst of the forest, and moved his family, consisting of his wife and two young children, into it in the year 1783. His nearest neighbor was six miles distant. There he raised a family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters, and there the father and mother lived and died, he in 1823, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, she in 1850, in her eighty-seventh year. They were both persons of ardent piety, belonging to the Associate Reformed, a branch of the Presbyterian Church, and gave great care to the religious training of their children. The family was large, and the father unable to provide capital to set up his sons in business. They all remained at home and worked
on the farm until they were seventeen or eighteen years old. Each was then suffered to select some mechanical branch of business.

Ann January was born January 31, 1788, and was married three times, her first marriage being with John Fowler, and from this marriage there were two children born, William A., and Eliza Jane, the latter having died in early life, and the former in an early day located with his family in Clinton
County, Indiana, and became one of its most prominent citizens. Ann (January) Fowler, after the death of her former husband, was married to William Young, of Jessamine County, Kentucky, and from this marriage there were born five children, to-wit: Ephraim J., George P., Andrew M., Haydon R., and Ann. William Young, the father, died in the year 1826, and the mother was married to Alex. Blair. From this union there were no children. She died June 11, 1862, and was buried in the cemetery of her native county, at the small town of Keene."