Sacramento County
Biographies
ANDREW YOUNGER
In an environment far different from that
to which in maturity and age he has been accustomed Andrew Younger passed the
years of his early life. Born at King Horn, Fifeshire, Scotland, June 27, 1826,
he grew to manhood in his native shire, against whose rugged shores beat the
ever-restless waves of the North
Sea. Familiar to his boyish
eyes was the sight of sailing craft moored in some quiet harbor and the
presence of sailors and fishermen in the small seaports of the shire.
However he might be fascinated by tales of the sea, he did not choose the life
of a sailor, but after he had attended school for a few years and had gained a knowledge of the common branches he began an
apprenticeship to the trade of blacksmith. The trade mastered, he became
a journeyman and worked for wages in his native land. At the age of
thirty years he came to the United States, accompanied by his young wife, and together they began
the difficult task of identifying themselves with a country whose customs and
methods of business were radically different from those of their own Scotland. Some years after they crossed the ocean his
brother, William, also emigrated from Scotland and settled in Illinois. Agriculture remained his occupation, and in 1909,
after a prosperous experience as a farmer, he passed away at his home in
Woodford county, Ill., where he had resided practically all of his association
with the new world.
An experience of seventeen years as a
blacksmith at Peoria, Ill., gave Andrew Younger a reputation for efficient work and
honorable citizenship. The failure of his health led to the suggestion
that he remove to California. Accordingly, he disposed of his interests in Peoria and came to Sacramento, where for one summer he worked in the blacksmith shop of
the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Next he followed his trade in San Francisco with various firms. In 1880 Stephen Uren sent for
him to come to Sacramento and take a position as assistant foreman in the Southern
Pacific blacksmith shop. Returning hither he entered upon the duties of
the position, which he continued to fill until his retirement from all
occupational activities. As a workman he was efficient, painstaking and
trustworthy. His long retention in the one position is indicative of his
recognized ability. Since his retirement in 1900, at the age of
seventy-four years, he has spent his winters at his comfortable home, No. 1427 G street, Sacramento, while in the summer he visits in Portland, Ore., with his eldest son, who is superintendent of the railway
motive power at that point. Fraternally he holds membership with Union
Lodge, F, & A. M. , in Sacramento, and formerly he was actively associated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. While inclined to be independent in
politics in local campaigns he usually votes the Republican ticket in national
elections, and is proud of the fact that the first ballot he ever cast in
the United
States was
in favor of Abraham Lincoln for president. This was during his residence
in Peoria and at the time of Lincoln's first election as executive. In his old Scotch
home he was reared in Presbyterian doctrines and always he has been in deep
sympathy with the work of that denomination.
Before leaving Scotland for the new world Mr. Younger married Marguerite Smith Hamer, a native of England. They became the parents of five children, one of
whom, a daughter, died in infancy. The eldest son, Thomas W., resides in Portland. The second son, Andrew Jr., is a teacher of
pattern-making in Cogswell college,
San Francisco, and the youngest son, Joseph H., is employed in the
book-binding department of the state printing office at Sacramento. Mrs. Marguerite Long, the only daughter who
survived to maturity, is a graduate of the Sacramento high school and is a teacher in the Sacramento public schools. In her family there are five
children, namely : Andrew, of the United States navy, now stationed in
China; Hiram, of Sacramento; Russell, also serving in the
navy; Marian, wife of E. W. Stebbins, a mining
engineer of Oakland, and Jessie, who is the wife of Hamlinton
Hawley, a banker of Oakland.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 643-644. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.