Santa Clara County
Biographies
COL. COLEMAN YOUNGER
COL. COLEMAN YOUNGER. From the time of coming to California in 1851
until his death almost forty years afterward, Colonel Younger was a leading
stock-raiser of Santa Clara county and held a prominent position among the
stockmen of the Pacific coast. As early as 1858 he sent east for some fine
Durham cattle and afterward gave his attention principally to full-blood
Shorthorns, of which he was the originator on the coast. The reputation of his
stock spread all over this western country. His sales were not limited to the
west, but he also made shipments to Central America, British Columbia, Japan
and the islands of the Pacific ocean. The Forest Home stock farm comprises
eighty acres adjoining the city of San Jose and since the colonel’s death,
under the management of members of the family, has continued to be a headquarters
for blooded Shorthorn cattle.
The history of the
Younger family shows that seven brothers of that name bore a part in the
Revolutionary war. Colonel Younger, whose title came to him through service on
the staff of the governor of Missouri, was born in St. Charles, Mo., in 1809.
His father, Charles Younger, a native of North Carolina, settled in Kentucky
and from there moved to St. Charles, Mo., but the Indians were so hostile that
he went back to Kentucky; returning later, however, to Missouri, and settling
on a farm near Liberty, Clay county. The boyhood years of Colonel Younger were
passed on the farm in Clay county and after arriving at man’s estate he took up
agricultural pursuits in the same county. With general farming he successfully
combined stock-raising. During the existence of the Whig party he supported its
tenets and upon its disintegration allied himself with the Democrats. His high
standing as a citizen led to his election as a member of the Missouri
legislature, where he rendered capable service to his constituents.
May 7, 1851, Colonel
Younger left New Orleans en route to California. He crossed the Gulf of Mexico
and the country of that name, then proceeded up the Pacific, paying $150 for
the passage of himself and servant to San Jose. While on the way here he
stopped in the city of Mexico and was there offered an excellent position by
the president of Mexico, but this he declined, preferring to remain in the
United States. In 1849 his wife’s father, Major William Smith, had come to California,
and the colonel therefore did not find himself entirely among strangers.
Settling in San Jose, he served as deputy county recorder under John Murphy and
about the same time purchased the property where much of his subsequent life
was spent. Here he established his home in 1856 and took up farming and stock
pursuits. The property comprised two hundred and eleven acres, all practically
in the original condition of nature. Not a tree could be seen on the entire
tract, and the other indications were those of the frontier.
By his first marriage
Colonel Younger had the following-named sons and daughters: Mrs. Ruth Jane
Coffin, of San Francisco; Charles Bruce, an attorney in Santa Cruz; Mrs. Helen
Evans, wife of a minister at Millersburg, Ky.; Mrs. Frances Williams,
who died in Kentucky; Andrew, a prominent attorney, who died in California; and
Coleman, who is engaged in the stock business in Mexico. In 1852 Colonel
Younger returned to Missouri and at Liberty, March 17, 1853, was
united in marriage with Mrs. Augusta (Peters) Inskeep,
who was born in Versailles, Woodford county, Ky. Her father,
John R. Peters, was born in Norfolk, Va., and married Frances Simms,
who was born in Stafford, Va. During the Revolutionary war her grandfather,
Richard Simms, bore an active part in the struggle for independence. From
the Old Dominion he removed to Kentucky and thence to Clay county, Mo., where
his life terminated at the great age of one hundred and two years. The paternal
grandfather of Mrs. Younger was Ashby Peters, a planter living first
in Virginia and afterward in Kentucky. In a family of five daughters,
Mrs. Younger was next to the oldest and is now the sole survivor. From
childhood she made her home in Liberty, Mo. At an early age she became the wife
of Rev. James Inskeep, a Virginian, who
died in 1849 while holding the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in
St. Joseph, Mo. Two children were born of that union, of whom Florence
alone survives.
May 18, 1853, Colonel
and Mrs. Younger, with the latter’s daughter Florence, started across the
plains. With them came Mr. Wells, the colonel’s partner, also a party of
thirty men. They brought five wagons, five hundred head of Missouri cattle,
thirty horses, and the largest mules ever brought to California, these latter bringing
a very high price when sold. The trip was made without any incident of
importance until they had crossed the border into California, when they were
attacked by Indians on the prisent [sic] site of Bodie.
Mrs. Younger accidently fell and dislocated her hip, so that she was
obliged to use crutches for a year. The family reached San Jose in November,
1853, and at first settled in town, later removing to the farm in the suburbs.
They soon became prominent in the Roman Catholic Church, of which Mrs. Younger
is a member, and she is further identified with the Santa Clara County Pioneers’
Association. She has witnessed the development of this valley from its early
days and has taken a warm interest in all enterprises benefiting the community.
With other pioneers she cheerfully endured the hardships of the ’50s, and it
has been her good fortune to survive to enjoy the comforts of twentieth century
civilization. The first apple that she ate in California was sent to her by
Benjamin Holliday, an old acquaintance from Missouri, and cost $1.50. Of
her marriage to Colonel Younger five children were born, namely: Edward,
who is engaged in farm pursuits and stock-raising at Forest Home stock farm;
Mrs. Alice Lee Gally, of San Jose;
Augusta, also of San Jose; Mrs. Rosalea Irvine,
of San Francisco; and Harry Lee, who died in boyhood.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
05 January 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 326-327. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie Hassard.