YOUNG, Seth W.

YOUNG

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 5/31/2021 at 13:38:16

Seth W. Young
born Mar 28, 1843

S. W. Young, the able proprietor and editor of the principal newspaper of Battle Creek, Iowa, comes from the Pine Tree State, having been born in Maine, March 28, 1843. His parents were Captain Ed B. and Ruth (Eells) Young, both natives of New England. The father of the subject of this sketch was a sea captain, who went to California in 1849 and died there. Mr. Young was reared in Bellville, Ohio, until 1851 when he removed to Indianola, Warren County, Iowa, where he lived for thirteen years. His first work for himself was done in the employ of the Indianola Visitor, in which position he remained for six years. He then returned to Ohio and was in the Herald office at Mansfield, that State, for one year. He then again removed to Iowa, and for four years was in the employ of Mills & Co., at Des Moines, being first employed as assistant foreman of the job room and later as foreman of the press room. He afterward took charge of the Des Moines Bulletin, but on its discontinuance, went, in the fall of 1870, to Storm Lake, Buena Vista County, Iowa, where he started the Pilot, the first newspaper ever published in that county. He also filled the position of Postmaster in Storm Lake under the administration of Presidents Hayes, Garfield and Arthur. He continued to be thus occupied until 1881, when, owing to financial reverses and dishonesty of a partner, he sold out his interest and removed to Ida Grove. Here he had charge of the news depot for ten months, after which he came to Battle Creek and assumed the publishing of the newspaper here, which had changed hands five or six times shortly before his advent. Under Mr. Young’s energetic and careful management, this paper has become the leading periodical of the county. He has missed the superintendency of but two issues since taking charge of the paper, once when a terrible blizzard rendered it impossible to reach his place of business, and on the occasion of the death of his wife.
Mr. Young was married at Des Moines, Iowa, in 1866, to Miss India Conner, a lady of intelligence and refinement, of excellent family. She was born in Indiana and was a daughter of George W. Conner, a well-known and highly respected gentleman. They had four children: Frances Sarah, deceased, at the age of twenty-one years; Minnie, died aged twenty-one; Olive, now fourteen years old; and Harry, aged eleven. Mr. Young was called upon to mourn the death of his devoted wife in 1885. She was a lady of rare Christian character, and a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Storm Lake, Iowa.
Politically, Mr. Young is an independent Republican, a clear and forcible writer, fearless in what he considers right, and of an energetic, progressive disposition; and he wields a far-reaching influence for good throughout his community, while his genial personality has gained for him many admiring friends.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.521