Los Angeles
County
Biographies
WILLIAM STEWART YOUNG, D. D., LL. D.
Dr. William Stewart Young, distinguished
Presbyterian divine of Los Angeles, has been a resident of Southern California
for a half century and by his consecrated labors had contributed materially to
the moral and cultural advancement of his section of the state. He was born in
Parkesburg, Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 11,
1859, a son of Ezekiel Rambo and Sarah Ann (Parke) Young. The founder of the
Young family in America was Ninian Young,
great-great-grandfather of Dr. Young, who left Yarmouth, England, for the new
world in the early colonial era. His son, Robert Young, became the father of a
son, Thomas Young, who married Miss Elizabeth Rambo, a descendant of Peter Gunnarson Rambo, who settled near Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, in 1640. Ezekiel Rambo Young, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Rambo)
Young, married Sarah Ann Parke, daughter of John and Frances (Stewart) Parke.
John Parke was a great-grandson of Arthur and Mary Parke, who emigrated to America from Ireland in 1720 and settled near
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Parke family is of Saxon-Scotch origin. Mrs.
Frances (Stewart) Parke was the thirteenth child of Andrew and Agnes Stewart,
natives of Scotland, who came to America from the north of Ireland.
Representatives of the Young, Rambo and Parke families served in the Revolutionary
war. Ezekiel Rambo and Sarah Ann (Parke) Young were the parents of seven
children, four sons and three daughters, our subject being the sixth in order
of birth.
William Stewart Young was graduated
from Lafayette College of Eastern Pennsylvania with the Bachelor of Arts degree
in 1880, and three years later the same institution conferred upon him the
degree of Master of Arts and Union Theological Seminary of New York city
conferred the Bachelor of Divinity degree. He was ordained in the presbytery of
Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1883. For a time he was engaged in home missionary
work in Oregon and in November, 1884, came to Southern California, where he
continued his consecrated labors for many years. He served as pastor in several
Presbyterian churches and became acting president of Occidental College in Los
Angeles, 1905-1906, of which he was one of the organizers, and since its
organization he has been a member and secretary of the board of trustees of
that institution. In 1902 he became a trustee of the Hollenbeck Home for Aged
people, of which he was superintendent from the 1st of November,
1906, until he resigned twenty-five years later, since which time he has been
superintendent emeritus, and he has served in the capacity of secretary of the
board of trustees since 1906 and was called by the other trustees and in
cooperation with Mrs. Hollenbeck, managing trustee in developing the Home. Dr.
Young had served as stated clerk of the Presbyterian Synod of California for
four decades when he resigned and is stated clerk emeritus, and has been clerk
of the Los Angeles Presbytery since 1898. The honorary degree of Doctor of
Divinity was conferred upon him by Wabash College of Indiana in 1901, while in
1924 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Occidental College
of Los Angeles. He has organized four churches and has erected four edifices
and one parsonage in California. Dr. Young has traveled extensively, visiting
Alaska and also making a tour of Europe, Palestine and Egypt. His declining years
are rich in memories of gracious associations and useful services, for he has
not been denied the full harvest nor the aftermath.
His name is on the membership rolls of the California Historical Society, the
Los Angeles County Pioneer Society and the University Club of Los Angeles,
which he joined one year after its founding.
On the 11th of May, 1883,
Dr. Young married Jannette Lewis of Parkesburg,
Pennsylvania, who passed away October 26, 1887, in Los Angeles. On the 25th
of June, 1889, Dr. Young was again married, his second union being with C.
Adele Nichols, at Riverside, California, a native of Massachusetts. She was
graduated from Mount Holyoke College of Massachusetts with the class of 1882
and was a teacher in the schools of Los Angeles at the time of her marriage.
Dr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of five children, the eldest being Arthur
Nichols Young, Doctor of Philosophy and Bachelor of Laws, who is financial
advisor for the Nationalist Government in China. Paul Thomas Young, who also
has the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, is professor of psychology at the
University of Illinois. Walter Stewart Young, a college graduate, did Y. M. C.
A. work in China for two years and is now personnel superintendent of
Bullock’s, a leading mercantile establishment in Los Angeles. John Parke Young,
who received the degree of Ph. D. from Princeton University, is head of the
department of economics and sociology at Occidental College in Los Angeles. In
1925 he was a member of a government commission to Europe as director of
investigation of foreign currency and exchange. Sarah Adele, who is a graduate
of Occidental College and also took a postgraduate course in Stanford
University, resides with her parents in their attractive home at 573 South
Boyle avenue, Los Angeles.
Transcribed By:
Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
177-179, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES