Probably one of the shortest lived city officials in Marion history was John Marion Young. John was born ca 1836. By the 1840 census, his unknown father had passed away leaving his widow Rachel, who appears to have died and left John and his five siblings as orphans around 1845 or 1846.  After their mother Rachel’s death, John M. and his brothers William Wilshire Young & George Washington Young were farmed out as indentured servants to George W. & Mariah Binkley who then lived on a farm north of Marion which would later be platted as the village of White Ash.

The 1850 federal census reveals the young men living on the Binkley farm taken in as farm workers. William W. Young was listed as 16, John M. Young as 14 and George W. Young as 7, although those ages probably aren’t particularly accurate. After George W. Binkley’s death, the indentures passed to his wife Mariah. The Young boys would remain at the farm until they reached the age of 21 and completed their indenture to the Binkley family.

When looking for John M.’s location in 1860, I spent hours unsuccessfully trying to locate him. I did find, however, a listing for a J.M. Binkley, living in proximity to the Binkley farm around the White Ash area. The age and location match up and he could have been mistaken for a Binkley, so I am hoping that this is just a mistake on the part of the census taker. J.M. was living with the William L. and Catherine Goddard family. The J.M. listed here in this census was a 25 year old farmer and had accrued a real estate value of $800 and personal estate of $400. Resources which would have been necessary for the next phase of John’s life.

Around 1863, a business partnership developed between Marion merchant Charles M. Kern and John M. Young. The two developed a mercantile business in Marion called Young & Kern. In 1869, the two men purchased two lots in Marion on the north side of the 300 block of N. Market St. in Marion. A location that would later become the site of the First Christian Church, now in 2023, the Marion Conservatory building. This relationship persisted until Young’s premature death.

John M. Young married Sally A. Pulley on July 25, 1867. Sally was the daughter of J.D. Pulley and Amanda Goodall and often went by the name Sarah.

In the 1870 census, John M. & his wife were found living in Marion on the west side. John was listed as age 34, Sally age 22 and they already have two children James age 2 and Laura age 10 months. John is a merchant and has a real estate value of $1,300 and personal estate valued at $500. In June the same year, John M. became a guardian for John W. & Cordelia F. Peebles, the children of deceased James D.M. Peebles. He also provided guardianship the same year in September for Thompson & Isaac Wiley, children of Woodford J. Wiley. Over this year and the next he and his brother, Attorney George W. Young, would sign off on Bonds for the Guardianship of a number of cases.

In 1872, the Young family, welcomed another son named Charles and the city of Marion established a railroad link to Carbondale into the city called the Carbondale & Shawneetown Railroad. The equivalent in those days of having an interstate highway come to town.

IN 1874, Marion became incorporated as a city under the general law of the state in April 1873. An election was held in Marion in April 1874 and the switch was made to a Mayoral/Aldermanic government. The first Mayor of Marion elected that year was civil war veteran Joseph W. Hartwell and John M. Young became the first of the Aldermen elected to the City of Marion. He was re-elected the following year, 1875, under Mayor James C. Jackson, a furniture dealer.

On February 6, 1877, at age 41, John M. Young passed away of pneumonia, leaving his wife and three children, James, Laura and Charles. He was given a Masonic burial by his local Lodge No. 89 brethren and buried at Aikman (Old Marion) Cemetery.

John’s wife Sally, remarried on November 12, 1879 to H. Clay Palmer in Marion. They were found living in Marion in the 1880 census with Sally’s three children from her marriage with John.

John’s brother William Wilshire (born July 18, 1833) married Caroline Binkley on April 11, 1858, settled on a farm in the White Ash area. They had 14 children. When William died on June 24, 1895, he was buried in Lake Creek Cemetery with Masonic rites. The only living sibling left was Marion attorney George W. Young who passed in 1915 in Marion.

(Sources: Federal Census Records, Marion Monitor and Egyptian Press newspapers, FindaGrave, mortgage records and the resources at the Williamson County Historical Society. Compiled by Sam Lattuca on 8/4/2023)