Youngs Again

As I worked on my Youngs line for my Monday post, I ran into some, shall we say, misdirection in sources I found.  In the end I was feeling confident I had traced the line accurately, but it lacked the closure I like.

I had been concerned about the connection from David Youngs, my 5x great-grandfather back to the next generation.  Was his father John or was it Judge Benjamin?  And while I was at it, I wanted at least one more source showing my 4x great-grandfather, James, was David’s son.

So, instead of preparing a post on my Halsey line, I kept at my online search.  I had read that the most reliable source on Youngs genealogy was Youngs family : Vicar Christopher Yonges, his ancestors in England and his descendants in America : a history and genealogy by Seleh Youngs and published in 1907.  But I hadn’t been able to locate a digitized copy.  I wanted to make another attempt because I thought maybe it had been partially transcribed somewhere.  I don’t remember now how I discovered it on ancestry.com, but there it was—the whole book digitized.

It’s tempting to wish I had discovered it earlier in order to save a lot of effort.  But I found tons of transcribed records for the Youngs that I might not otherwise have added to my documentation.  And I learned a lot about the family in the process.

Oh, yes, sure enough, David’s father was John and his son, James, was the right James.  What surprised me was the volume of information about David.  He was a pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Setauket, Long Island and the book had eight pages devoted to him and included a facsimile of two handwritten pages of one of his sermons. 

The book also answered a lingering question I had.  David Youngs was born and died on Long Island.  How did James end up in New Jersey?  After David’s death, his wife Bethia married Judge Benjamin Halsey of Morristown, NJ and her four children grew up and were married there.  (There is a typo in the book—it has “Morristown, NY”, not NJ, but it is clear from the context, New Jersey is the intended state).


I also found a few unexpected nuggets of information.  James was in the state militia during the Revolution and his daughter Hannah settled in Schenectady, NY after her marriage to Joseph Hinds.  That last bit will hopefully lead to some clues about the Hinds family.

Up next, the Halsey family, not because Bethia married a Halsey after David’s death, but because James married his step-sister, Ruth Halsey!

Only Youngs Once…or Twice

My 3x great-grandmother, Hannah Youngs was married to Joseph Hinds.  She was born in 1780 in Morristown, NJ and married Joseph Hinds there.  I know they moved to NY in the late 1700s or early 1800s, but I can’t seem to locate when either died, but based on the censuses, Hannah must have died between 1850 and 1860 and Joseph between 1860 and 1870.

The Youngs are the first family line with no census information, not including Hannah after her marriage to Joseph Hinds, so I won’t have the luxury of the census to provide confirmation of other sources.  Fortunately, there are church records to establish a base for my research, along with historical records of the early family members.

Hannah’s parents were James Youngs and Ruth Halsey.  James was born around 1752-1754 in Morristown.  Records can be found in documents of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, both online and in books at Archive.org.  His father was Reverend David Youngs of the First Presbyterian Church of Brookhaven, but there is a little concern because the records of David’s Presbytery indicate David’s death occurred 1751-1752.  The records of the Morristown church clearly state David is his father, but I’d like to find James’ birth record on Long Island to verify the year.

With David there is some dispute about lineage that I haven’t yet resolved to my satisfaction.  The line possibly traces back through John (1679-1750) who was married to Anna Hallock, through Christopher Youngs (1643-1695) who was married to Mary Budd, to Reverend John Youngs and Mary Warren.  The Reverend John was the first immigrant Youngs arriving in Salem, MA in 1637, moving on to New Haven, CT, and finally founding Southold, Long Island, NY.

On the website for David’s church, it states that David is the grandson of the Reverend John, while at the same time it indicates that is in dispute.  What I’ve uncovered suggests he would be the great-grandson.  Unfortunately, I’ve also uncovered a book (Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, Vol. I) through archive.org that cites David as the son of John's brother, Judge Benjamin Youngs, and the grandson of Christopher Youngs who was the youngest son of the Reverend John Youngs, the first immigrant.   (Don't even get me started on the other garbage Youngs lineage people have put online.  You know, it's really starting to tick me off when I waste so much time sifting out junk.  Who are these people who don't care if a person is born in one country 20 years after being married in another!?!  But I digress...)  Fortunately, I found Benjamin and a list of his children in a 1908 issue of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.  David was not on the list.  The other Benjamin Youngs alive at the time were the wrong ages to be possibilities for David's father.  I'll continue my search for records, but I'm leaning toward John as the father.

Even if David didn’t get me back to Reverend John, David's wife Bethia will.  Her grandmother was Martha Youngs, daughter of Colonel John Youngs who was the son of the Reverend and his first wife, Joan Herrington.  This line is a little more straightforward. [UPDATE: Or so I thought.  Turns out Bethia is not Martha's granddaughter and so does not lead back to Reverend John]

So, while I still have to work out one knot in the chain, the lineage still ends up in the same place.  In a way I was hoping it wouldn’t.  As unrealistic as it is, I can’t help wanting all my ancestors to be on the “right” side of history and I feel some bit of disappointment when ancestors are discovered to have behaved in ways that I find objectionable.  I have found a long history of tolerance and defense of the disadvantaged in my family research.  I’ve encountered and exception with Reverend John Youngs.  


From the town history page on the Southold town website:

Southolders took pains to ensure that only those with like beliefs would become part of the community. (In 1657, when Quaker Humphrey Norton criticized Rev. Youngs in church, he was fined ten pounds, severely whipped, branded with the letter “H” (for heretic) on one hand and banished from Southold.

What a disappointment from a man who left England, with a large number of his parishioners, seeking religious freedom.