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Parents, French Line, and Immigration Story
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Thomas Young
brother of Nicholas Young
BIOGRAPHY Thomas Young, brother of Nicholas Young, was born Pierre Thomas Jung on July 23, 1825 in Rohrbach-les-bitche, Moselle, Alsace-Lorraine, France to Jean/Johann Jung and Jeanne Eb/Epp. From census records, we know that part of the family immigrated about 1841/42 and another part came about 1852. We know from Joel Beck's book Les Jung Des origines a nos jours that Thomas was living in the U.S. in 1845. In France, Thomas was a laboureur (ploughman); in the U.S., he was a carpenter. In 1854, Thomas married his wife Caroline Keiffer in New Orleans, Louisiana in St. Mary's Assumption Church (see marriage record). This Catholic marriage record is the single most important U.S. record that we have found. It gives the name and location of the French city where the family originated. It also states Thomas' parents names, including his mother's maiden name. The details in this U.S. record allowed us to identify the family line in French records. According to Thomas' daughter Mae, Thomas and Caroline had had 10 children, only 4 of whom lived to adulthood (read Mae's Jan. 14, 1941 letter to her cousin Estella Young Carwile page 1, page 2). Mae wrote many letters to her Young cousins in Missouri and Oregon in which she related valuable genealogical information (see all of Mae's letters). Mae's letters are the basis for the documentation of Nicholas Young's brother Thomas Young. Thomas and Caroline had living children named Peter, Carrie, George, and Mae (see family group sheet). We have not yet documented all of the children of Thomas and Caroline who died in infancy or childhood. Civil death records in New Orleans are great except that in many cases, particularly in the early years, the names of a deceased child's parents were not recorded. Therefore, obtaining Catholic sacramental records from the New Orleans Archdiocesan Archives will be necessary in order to document all of their children. This will take some time as genealogical requests were not filled for about a year following Hurricane Katrina. As of this writing (Sept. 2006), I understand that genealogical research has resumed. If you know more about this family or the children who died young, please contact me. We do know that Thomas' oldest living child, Carrie, was born about 1859 in Iowa. We don't know where they lived in Iowa or if they had any other children born in Iowa. We don't know why they were there or if any other family members were there with them. If you know, please contact me. We haven't been able to certainly identify Thomas' family in the 1860 census, but we suspect that he and his wife were living in St. Louis (see 1860 census in St. Louis). If this is in fact his family, then Nicholas Young was residing with them. The names and ages of the family match nicely. Their birthplaces do not, therefore I cannot say for certain if this is Thomas' family. Thomas and Caroline's son George married Jeannette Parks in New Orleans. Their son Peter A. Young married Katie Schaeffer in New Orleans. Mae never married. We do not know if Carrie married. Thomas and Caroline Young had only one grandchild: Thomas George Young, son of Peter A. and Katie Schaeffer. Thomas George Young married Dorothy Taylor. Since no children were mentioned in his obituary, there is a likely possibility that there are no living descendants of Thomas and Caroline Keiffer Young. My mother has a photograph of Nicholas Young with an unknown family. Based on our research, we believe that it is a photograph of Thomas and Caroline Young's family (see photo).
1870 Federal Census, Thomas Young family in New Orleans
Thomas Young's death certificate
Thomas and Caroline Keiffer Young's family |
Updated September 15, 2006 |