Henry Clay Young
Henry Clay Young, for three years a justice of the peace and one of the prominent citizens of Genoa Township, resides on his valuable farm of 250 acres, which he devotes to farming and stock-raising. He was born in Noble County, Ohio, January 30, 1856, and is a son of Henry James and Mary A. (Davidson) Young.
Henry James Young was born near Providence, Rhode Island, in 1819, and was six years old when his parents came to Ohio and settled in Noble County. Their conditions were such that it became necessary for them to permit their son, Henry James, to be bound out until he was sixteen years of age, when he started out for himself, with absoultely no capital, and from that time on made his way in the world. That he was industious and that he possessed unusual judgment was shown by the fact that by the time he was forty years old he was worth $30,000, having made it all by farming and raising tobacco. He owned 2,500 acres of land in Noble County. For some forty years he was a local preacher in the Methodist Church. Politically, he was a Republican. He married Mary A. Davidson, who was born in Virginia and was brought by wagon to Noble County in her childhood. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters. Henry James Young died in Noble County in 1890.
Henry Clay Young was reared in Noble County, where he attended school through boyhood. He later taught school for about thirteen years and also assisted on his father's farm. In 1890 he left Noble County and moved to Columbus, where he worked for the street railway company and was a conductor on their lines for twelve years. In 1901 he came to Delaware County and settled on his present farm, which he had bought two years previously. He has made many fine improvements here, including the laying of eight miles of tiling. He carries on general farming and stock-raising and has paid particular attention to sheep breeding.
Mr. Young was married in Guernsey County, in 1880, to Emma I. Houseman, who was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, and who is a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Thompson) Houseman. William Houseman was a man of large means, a general merchant for many years at the village of Senecaville. He died from the effects of an accident October 10, 1871. Mrs. Young's grandfather, William Thompson, donated the land on which the town was built. He died in 1831 during a cholera epidemic. He was judge of the Common Pleas Court. Mrs. Young was liberally educated and taught school and also instrumental music, possessing decided musical talent. Mr. and Mrs. Young have one son, Carl Houseman, who was born in Noble County, August 17, 1881, and is now a practicing attorney at Columbus.
Mr. Young has been a very active member ol the Republican party in this section for many years and for six years has served as a delegate to the county conventions. At present he is serving as a member of the township School Board, and is justly considered a thoroughly representative citizen.
20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908