Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-12-05
THE OLDEST PRIEST.
The Death Of Father Young, Near Wash
lngton.
He Knew Washington and all the
Presidents.

LIE dominican, OOululC
Young, who died in Washington on
Wednesday, wal born near the mouth
0fthe Piscataway river, Prince George
Fcounty. Nd, on the 11th ofJune, 1893.
His great-grandfather was an English
Judge, sent out here in that capacity,
but ON becoming a Roman Catholic
was deposed. The ex-Judge bought a
tract of land where now stands the
better portion Of the city of Washing
ton, and many a time did the old
monk, in his closing days, wonder.
whether he would be permitted to
breath his last in that city where his
father was born, and where, when he
became q priest, he built the finest
specimen of Gothic work in this coun-
try, the church of st. Dominic, on the
very spot where stood his great-grand-
fathers barn. This was the first
church built in Washington, and the
old priest remembered it with pride.
The domain fell to Motley Young, the
grandfather of Father Young, and
when General WashintOn came to lay
out the city he resided in the elegant
mansion of Motley Young, which was
the finest in that part of the country
during the time of his stay there. The
general induced Motley Young to give
up his farm and the whole of South.
Washington, which once formed part
Of the Young farm. General Wash
ington. however. provided that the
Young mansion should not be torn
down until after the death of its occu-
pant. 1t stood just in the middle of.
a street till after Motley Young's
death. Nicholas Young, father of the
dead priest, married one Of the Fem
wicks, who we're Of the Lord Balti-
more colony, founders Of Maryland.
He removed to Prince George county,
Md, where his wife owned a farm Of
inheritance.
This was right opposite Mount Yer
non, the home of Washington, and
frequently did Father Young recount
how, when he was a boy, the whole
family would gather on the green of a
morning and view the general through
a spyglass as he paced up and down
his verandah, with his hands behind
his back and seemingly in a deep
revery. Father Young used to say
the general was in'the habit Of walk
ing this way every morning. Father
Young saw Washington at a military
parade when he was a child, and the
old priest would tell the story, which
he was often called on to do, something
after this fashion: when | was
about eight years old | remember
there was to be a parade not far from
Jour place. 1t was announced that
General Washington would be there
but, bless you, that wasn't half the
Involvement to a lot Of young shavers
and myself that we saw in the promise
of a supply Of town gingerbread.
However, when we got there the gene
raj was there, and we boys were tire.
medously impressed by his big cooked
hat. That was all the greatness we
saw about him. He was a tall man,
with massive shoulders and a face that
looked kind, but made a fellow feel
that you could not throw gravel in
his boots, like we used to do with
those other high feathered chaps. l
thought he was the greatest man / ever
saw, but | didn't know why. All /
knew was that he whipped the Brit
ish, and everybody pointed him out as
the chap that whipped the British. /
could recognize him this moment,
though, he made such an impression
on me" s.a.
Father Young saw all the public
men from Washington down. He
recalled Jefferson, Madison and Mon
roe riding around the race track in
Washington aud Henry Clay, John
70. Calhoun, and some of the first men
Of the day were frequent guests at his
fathers house. Gc9 oV
The uncle Of this remarkable priest,
Edward Dominic Fenwick, afterward
Bishop of Cincinnati, was one Of four
sent out here to found the Dominican
Order. Father Fenwick, being a man
Of wealth, purchased what is now the
parent house of the Order, st. Roses,
near Springfield, Washington county.
Ky. In 1905 Father Young was sent
there to school, and in 1903, with Sam
Montgomery, Miles FIRST Bishop of
Nashville, Tenn J, and Willet, promi-
nent figures in the early history of
Catholicism in this country, entered
the order. Father Young was ordained
a priest on the 18th Of December,
1917, sixty years ago.
In 1918 Father Young and his uncle
Fenwick were sent into Ohio. They
bought a farm in Perry county and
established a house, st. Joseph's.
Father Young often boosted that he
rode $1,000 miles on horseback. He
said it was a pleasant ride of a night
from the convent to Columbia. fifty
miles-and this through woods and
swamp-to visit the sick. In 1919 he
established the first Roman Catholic
church in Cincinnati, since grown to
be one of the greatest Catholic cities
in this country.
Father Young was the last Of that
band Of sturdy missionaries who, sixty
years ago, we're familiar objects on
horseback to frontiersmen. Father
Young never tired of telling of his
early days in the West. Frequently
he was stopped and asked by mel
who he was. His answer inya-
riably was that he was an American