Young, Jane Underdown (1834-1903)

YOUNG, UNDERDOWN

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 10/27/2016 at 14:29:28

Webster City Freeman, Webster City, Iowa, Tuesday, September 8, 1903

JANE YOUNG, WIDOW OF THE LATE KENDALL YOUNG, IS DEAD

Died at 5 O'Clock A.M. Monday at the Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan. - - Was sick 18 months.

SHE WAS A VICTIM OF BRIGHT'S DISEASE.

Through her Generosity the Establishment of the Kendall Young Library in Webster City in 1898 was Made Possible.

J.W. Young, administrator of the estate of Kendall Young, received a dispatch Monday announcing the death of Mrs. Kendall Young at Battle Creek, Michigan, at 5 o'clock that morning. Mrs. Young had been failing in health during the past year and a half being a sufferer from Bright's disease, and her death was not unexpected. But for the excellent care and treatment received at the Battle Creek sanitarium, her end would have surely come much sooner.

Deceased was born in County Kent, England, 73 years ago and removed to America with her parents. She was united in marriage to Kendall Young in Webster City on the 23rd of September, 1858. Mr. and Mrs. Young made their home for a short time at Irvington, Iowa, after their marriage, but returned to Webster City in 1859. The population of the town at that time was only 400 and of the county 1,600. Mr. Young made his home here until his death in Battle Creek in 1896, whither he went for treatment. Mrs. Young has resided at that place about fifteen years.

A few days after the death of Kendall Young his will was opened and read by the clerk of the district court, and the people of Webster City first learned that their town was the beneficiary of the largest gift of the kind ever made by a citizen of Iowa, being valued at $990,000. [the print is smeared so not exactly sure this dollar amount is right]

We are indebted to the Biographical Record of Hamilton County for the following:

"The will was admitted to probate September 28, 1896, when J.W. Young, the executor named, accepted the trust and entered upon the discharge of his duties. Mrs. Jane Young, the widow, elected to take under and assist in carrying out the purpose of the will in lieu of her statutory rights.

A copy of the will was filed with the city clerk of Webster City, Iowa, November 6, 1896, and an ordinance passed by the city council accepting the gift, with and subject to all its terms and conditions. On December 16, 1896, F.D. Young, W.J. Covil, J.W. Young, Samuel Baxter and E.D. Burgess, the library trustees named in the will, filed with the clerk of the district court their acceptance of the trust.

It soon became apparent to Mrs. Young that the annual income derived from the estate, was more than she required or desired for her own use, and she very generously offered to give the use, for library purposes, of the commodious Kendall Young residence, beautifully situated and surrounded by spacious ornamental grounds, together with its furnishings, including many valuable paintings and pictures. She also proposed that the surplus income from the estate should be devoted to the immediate establishment and maintenance of the library; and at the February, 1898, term of the district court, upon the joint application of Mrs. Young and the executor, it was ordered that the executor annually turn over to the library trustees the surplus income from the estate, to be by them used for library purposes.

March 26, 1898, the library trustees held their first meeting, elected officers, appointed the necessary committees and a librarian and at once proceeded to furnish the building with suitable shelving, library furniture and supplies.

The library was opened to the public July 27, 1898."

Now that Mrs. Young is dead the entire estate may be used for library purposes. The will provided that $25,000 should be expended for a fire proof building and that it should be erected upon the present site of the library or a site on Seneca street. This matter must be determined by the board of directors.

No funeral arrangements have as yet been made with any degree of certainty. J.W. Young left Monday for Battle Creek and will bring the remains to this city where they will be interred in the cemetery along side those of Mr. Young. J.W. Young expects to return to the city with the body Wednesday and it is further expected that the funeral will be held some time Thursday. It is planned that the remains shall lie in the old home property, now the city library, for a half day, where they may be viewed by the friends. The funeral will be held from the library building.

In view of the close connection of Mr. and Mrs. Kendall Young with the upbuilding of Webster City and the magnificent bestowal of their entire fortune to the city for library purposes, the people can but show slight appreciation of their munificence by turning out en masse to the obsequies to be held for Mrs. Young.

J.W. Young spent two weeks with Mrs. Kendall Young at Battle Creek a short time ago. At that time she spoke of many things in connection with Webster City. She was being wheeled about in a chair and had a nurse both night and day. She was an Episcopalian in religious belief and had joined the church in her early days in England. Since the death of Mr. Young in 1896, the care of Mrs. Young has devolved entirely upon the trustees of the Young estate. These gentlemen have seen to it that she had all the comforts which money could buy. She has wanted for nothing and yet, good soul that she was, she spoke with Mr. Young when he visited her concerning the cutting down of her expenses and the saving of the money for the estate. She has been cared for as her husband would have cared for her until the last, and it is some satisfaction to the trustees, now that she is gone, to know that the good woman appreciated their efforts in her behalf. Her going takes from Webster City one of the few remaining early pioneers whose ranks are fast being thinned by the ruthless hand of time.