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John Russell Young

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For his nephew, the politician, see John Russell Young (politician).
Further information: World tour of Ulysses S. Grant

John Russell Young
John Russell Young
7th Librarian of Congress
In office
July 1, 1897 – January 17, 1899
Appointed byWilliam McKinley
Preceded byAinsworth Rand Spofford
Succeeded byHerbert Putnam
United States Minister to the Qing Empire
In office
August 17, 1882 – April 7, 1885
Appointed byRutherford B. Hayes
Preceded byJames Burrill Angell
Succeeded byCharles Harvey Denby
Personal details
Born(1840-11-20)November 20, 1840
County Tyrone, Ireland
DiedJanuary 17, 1899(1899-01-17) (aged 58)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
NationalityAmerican
RelativesJames Rankin Young, brother
Known forJournalist, author, diplomat, librarian

John Russell Young (November 20, 1840 – January 17, 1899[1]) was an American journalist, author, diplomat, and the seventh Librarian of the United States Congress from 1897 to 1899. He was invited by Ulysses S. Grant to accompany him on a world tour for purposes of recording the two-year journey, which he published in a two-volume work.

Biography

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Young was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, but as a young child his family emigrated to Philadelphia. He entered the newspaper business full time as a proofreader at age 15. As a reporter for the Philadelphia Press, he distinguished himself with his coverage of the First Battle of Bull Run. By 1862 he was managing editor of the Press and another newspaper.

In 1865, he moved to New York, where he became a close friend of Henry George and helped to distribute Progress and Poverty. He began writing for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune and became managing editor of that paper. He also began working for the government, undertaking missions to Europe for the US Department of State and the US Department of the Treasury. In 1872, he joined the New York Herald and reported for them from Europe.

John Russell Young
Illustrated Portrait 1888

Young was invited to accompany President Ulysses S. Grant on Grant's famous 1877-1879 world tour, chronicled in Young's book Around the World with General Grant.[2][3] Young impressed Grant, especially in China where Young struck up a friendship with Li Hongzhang. Grant persuaded President Chester A. Arthur to appoint Young minister to China in 1882. In this position he distinguished himself by mediating and settling disputes between the US and China and France and China. Unlike many other diplomats, he opposed the policy of removing Korea from Chinese suzerainty.

In 1885, he resumed working for the Herald in Europe. In 1890 he returned to Philadelphia. In 1897, President William McKinley appointed him Librarian of Congress, the first librarian confirmed by Congress. During his tenure, the library began moving from its original home in the US Capitol Building to its own structure, an accomplishment largely the responsibility of his predecessor, Ainsworth Rand Spofford. Spofford served as Chief Assistant Librarian under Young. Young held the post of librarian until his death.

Young was not content with just being an administrator who allowed Spofford to concentrate on the library relocation effort. He introduced a popular reading area for blind library patrons. Young also sought to increase the library's international holdings through his diplomatic connections. After consulting with Secretary of State William R. Day, he sent a letter to U.S. embassies and consulates around the world in February 1898 requesting documents and manuscripts.[4]

He died in Washington, D.C. on January 17, 1899, and is interred at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[5]

Family

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Young was the son of George Young and his wife Elizabeth "Eliza" (Rankin) Young. His family was not Irish Catholic, but rather Scottish Presbyterian. They emigrated from Ireland to the United States with young John in 1841 and settled in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, where his sister Mary Anne was born in 1843. The following year, they moved to Philadelphia where his brother, future Congressman James Rankin Young, was born a few years later. Another sister, Elizabeth, was born in 1850.[6][4]

Young began his education in Philadelphia, attending the Harrison Grammar School. After his mother Eliza died in 1851, he was sent to live with his father's older brother James R. Young who had emigrated from Ireland to New Orleans in 1837. There Young attended the high school until he returned to Philadelphia at the age of fifteen. When not in class, he found his first employment as a part-time printer's boy at the Creole newspaper.[6][4]

On October 18, 1864, Young married Rose Fitzpatrick in Washington, D.C.[6][4] They had three children, all of whom died in childhood. Frequently ill, his wife died in January 1881.[4][7] On April 25, 1882, Young remarried with Julia Coleman, a niece of former Connecticut governor Marshall Jewell, in Hartford, Connecticut.[4][8] She accompanied him to China, but left in April 1883 to await the birth of their first child in Paris. Their son, Russell Jewell Young, was born in August 1883, but then his wife died in October.[4][9] The infant was sent to Hartford to be cared for by her family until after Young returned home from China.[4]

On November 18, 1890, Young married Mrs. May (Dow) Davids, a widow with children from her first marriage, at the Astor House in New York City.[4][10] Their son, born on December 14, 1891, was Brig. Gen. Gordon Russell Young, who was Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia from 1945 to 1951 and a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit.[11][12] After her husband's death in 1899, May Young served as editor in the publication of his memoirs Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences in 1901.[13][14]

On October 18, 1865, Young's sister Mary Anne married John Blakely, a fellow Philadelphia journalist. They had five sons and a daughter. Three of their sons, George Blakely, John Russell Young Blakely, and Charles School Blakely, became flag officers in the U.S. military.[6][15] Young himself was negatively affected by the death of his sister in February 1898.[4]

See also

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Works (partial list)

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  • "New Life in China" The North American Review, vol. 153 (1891) pp. 420-431.
  • "The Chinese Question Again" The North American Review, vol. 154 (1892) pp. 596-602.

References

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  1. ^ Dictionary of American Library Biography. (1978). Bohdan Wynar, ed. "Young, John Russell (1840-1899)." Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited. p. 584-586. ISBN 0-87287-180-0
  2. ^ [WorldCat.org]. OCLC 978533796. Retrieved August 10, 2022 – via www.worldcat.org.
  3. ^ "Catalog Record: Around the world with General Grant". HathiTrust Digital Library. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Broderick, John C. (April 1976). "John Russell Young: The Internationalist as Librarian". The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress. 33 (2): 116–149. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  5. ^ "Funeral of Mr. Young.: High Officers of State Take Part in the Service". The New York Times. January 22, 1899. p. 4. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Young, I. Gilbert (1869). Fragmentary Records of the Youngs, Comprising, In Addition to Much General Information Respecting Them, A Particular and Extended Account of the Posterity of Ninian Young, An Early Resident of East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pa. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: William S. Young. pp. 45–46. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  7. ^ "Funeral of Mrs. Young". The Washington Post. January 8, 1881. p. 1. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  8. ^ "John Russell Young's Wedding". The New York Times. April 26, 1882. p. 5. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  9. ^ "Minister Young's Wife Dead". The Washington Post. October 23, 1883. p. 2. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  10. ^ "Lieut. Davids Hereafter". The Washington Post. May 21, 1905. p. 8. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  11. ^ Davidson, Howard C. (Winter 1964). "Gordon Russell Young". Assembly. Vol. XXII, no. 4. pp. 86–88. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  12. ^ "Gordon R. Young". Military Times. Sightline Media Group. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  13. ^ Young, John Russell (1901). Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences. Vol. I. New York, New York: F. Tennyson Neely. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  14. ^ Young, John Russell (1901). Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences. Vol. II. New York, New York: F. Tennyson Neely. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  15. ^ "Mrs. Mary A. Blakely Dead.: Elder Sister of John Russell and Congressman James Rankin Young". The Washington Post. February 9, 1898. p. 1. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
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