Young, Thomas

Thomas (Scotty) Young was born on 26 January 1872 in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland. His father John Young, a roads surfaceman, was from Dailly in Ayrshire while his mother Sarah Laverty was from Maybole where the couple married on 12 August 1870. Thomas had an older sister Ellen and a younger brother James.

On 13 June 1890, in Maybole, Thomas married Ellen (Helen) Shaw. The daughter of John and Marion (née Agnew) Shaw, Ellen was born on 14 November 1872 in Maybole. At the time of the marriage Thomas was working as a shoemaker while Ellen was working as a domestic servant. By the 1901 Scotland census the family was living in Girvan, Ayrshire where Thomas was working as a labourer. Children born to the family in Scotland were Sarah (1892), Marion (Minnie) (1894), Maggie (1896), John (abt 1902), William (abt 1904), Thomas (1906), and James (Jim) (abt 1908-09). Thomas Sr was the first to immigrate to Canada, likely in late 1908, early 1909. He first found work bedding the Canadian National Railroad in eastern Canada before coming to Moosehorn, Manitoba as section foreman. Next to immigrate were daughters Sarah (joining her husband William Dinnell in Winnipeg) and Minnie who arrived aboard the Grampian on 2 July 1911. Ellen and children Maggie, John, William, Thomas, and James arrived later that year, also aboard the Grampian that arrived on 11 October.

The family was to settle in Moosehorn where Thomas had secured a homestead grant. To Ellen’s dismay their first home was a CNR boxcar on the north side of the tracks although later a large log home was built for the family. Those early years were very difficult for the family, homesteading while Thomas worked on road construction in the area. Children born in Manitoba were Adam (abt 1913) and Nellie (1915). The 1916 census found Thomas, Ellen, and the younger children listed in the Selkirk district along with daughter Sarah and husband William Dinnell and family, and daughter Minnie Matheson and husband Hugh Matheson and family. Thomas, William, and Hugh were all listed as training at Camp Hughes.

Thomas signed his attestation papers with the 179th Battalion on 23 April 1916 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His occupation was given as farmer and his wife Ellen in Moosehorn as next of kin. However back in 1908 in Scotland Thomas had fractured his ankle in a fall, and as a result he was unable to endure drill or route marches without considerable pain. He was discharged from service as medically unfit on 17 August 1916 at Camp Hughes.

The 1921 Canada census found Thomas, Ellen, and children Thomas, James, Adam and Nellie farming in the Moosehorn area. Around 1924 the family moved to Keewatin in northwestern Ontario where Thomas worked for the Department of Highways.

Thomas died on 18 July 1942 in the Kenora General Hospital. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Ellen, sons John of Winnipeg, William and Thomas of Keewatin, Jim with the Winnipeg Grenediers at Hong Kong, and Adam of nearby Norman. He was also survived by daughters Sarah Dinnell, Maggie Heminger, and Nellie Redfern, all of Keewatin, and Minnie Matheson of Moosehorn. Ellen (Helen) died on 19 June 1957 in St Joseph Hospital in Kenora and is interred with Thomas in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora.

by Judy Stockham

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