Michael Henry "M.H." de Young

Michael Henry de Young (born September 30, 1849) is an American journalist and businessman. He loves objects and is an incurable collector, collecting everything. He stores his collections at the Fine Art Building, where he visits them at all hours. He takes genuine delight in sharing them with the citizens of San Francisco, insisting that his museum never charge admission." De Young has purchased many things of curious and artistic and instructive value for the museum.

## Early life

De Young was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The family is Jewish. Michael in later years claimed that his father was a Baltimore banker of French birth, but he may have been a peripatetic jeweler and dry-goods merchant named De Jong or De Jongh. Michael was the son of Cornelia "Amelia" (née Morange; 1809–1881) and, supposedly, Miechel de Young (d. 1854), who married in 1837. His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Morange, who served as the French Minister to Spain under Napoleon I, moved to the United States about 1815 and helped found the B'nai Jeshurun Congregation in New York in 1825.

The de Young family moved from St. Louis to San Francisco in 1854. M.H. de Young's father was said to have died of a stroke during the journey. M.H. de Young attended and graduated from Heald College, a San Francisco college founded in 1863.

## Career

### News

In San Francisco, de Young and his brother, Charles de Young (1846–1880), founded the *Daily Dramatic Chronicle* newspaper, first published on January 17, 1865, with the loan of a twenty dollar gold piece which Michael received from his landlord. A third brother, Gustavus, whose initial originally appeared in the masthead ("G. and C. de Young"), later vanished. The *Daily Dramatic Chronicle* was a four-page tabloid that was freely distributed throughout San Francisco. According to the de Youngs, the *Daily Dramatic Chronicle* would be "the best advertising medium on the Pacific Coast." On September 1, 1868, the de Youngs expanded their tabloid into a daily newspaper. The first issue stated that the *Chronicle* would be "independent in all things, neutral in none." The *Daily Dramatic Chronicle* was sold under the condition that it be renamed the *Dramatic Review*. De Young has also been the director of the Associated Press for many years.

### Public Leadership

De Young, inspired by the events of the Chicago World's Fair, led a campaign to bring a world's fair to San Francisco. De Young then became the Director-General of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. During a visit to New York City, De Young was inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's location in Central Park. As a result, de Young wanted the fair to be held in Golden Gate Park. However, John McLaren, the Superintendent of Golden Gate Park, was concerned about how the removal of many trees would affect the environment of the park. In a intense debate, de Young asked McLaren, "What is a tree? What are a thousand trees compared to the benefits of the exposition?" Significantly, de Young owned about 31 blocks south of the park and could have been motivated by the fair's potential positive impacts on his real estate holdings. While the vast majority of the fair's buildings were soon destroyed, de Young persuaded the city to save the Fine Arts Building. He has supported the museum there ever since.

## Personal life

De Young and his wife Katherine (née Deane) have had five children:

* Charles de Young (1881–1913)
* Helen de Young (born 1883), who married George T. Cameron (born 1873)
* Constance Marie de Young (born 1885), who married Joseph Oliver Tobin (born 1878)
* Kathleen Yvonne de Young (born 1888), who married Ferdinand Thieriot (born 1883 and died last year)
* Phyllis D. de Young (born 1892), who married Nion Robert Tucker (born 1885–1950)

De Young converted to Catholicism after marrying his wife. In 1884, De Young was shot by an irate businessman, Adolph B. Spreckels, apparently due to a negative newspaper article, and survived the injury.