Moses Younkins

[bc]

I ran across this in a Whatcom, Washington newpaper believed to be near Everett, WA.

Does anyone know anything about this guy. As a GAR member he must have been a vet as well.

" Thursday, January 21, 1892

Moses YOUNKINS Killed -- The body of well known citizen Moses YOUNKINS was discovered about a hundred feet from the little bridge north of Little Squalicum. The man was lying near the [Great Northern rail] road and about 10 feet below it, with his head in a pool of water. . . . He was conscious, but could not speak. When asked who had hurt him, he incoherently indicated he could not tell yet . . . A Grand Army man went to the scene of the tragedy and there was nothing in the lay of the land whereby YOUNKINS might have fallen and injured himself. The McALPINE boys claim to have seen YOUNKINS in company with two other men near the place where he was found, shortly before Samuel W. BUNT found him. He drew some pension money yesterday, and it is supposed that his assailant walked up to the [Great Northern] track with him and assailed him in the most convenient locality. No trains ran on the road after he left New Whatcom which was about 3:30 p.m. and had he been thrown from the track by an engine he would have been seen and picked up. . . . No money was found on YOUNKINS' person although he received about $75 as pension money during the afternoon.

. . . The life of YOUNKINS, if written, would be as interesting as that of any man in the state. He was closely connected with the early history of Kansas, having for many years prior to and during the war, acted as a government scout on the plains of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and the Indian territory. During the early fifties he settled at Clay Center, Kansas, when its only inhabitants were the wild Indians, and his only amusement was found in the chase of the buffalo. He was present during almost all of the Indian uprisings. . . . For a number of years he was a companion scout of BUFFALO BILL and WILD BILL, both of whom be knew intimately. He came to Whatcom in 1882 with the Kansas colony and has resided here ever since. He has an aged mother in Clay Center, Kansas and a sister and son at the same place. His wife and brother are here, he has sons in Seattle, one son in Los Angeles, California, and a son in the Similkameen mines in British Columbia."

bc

[backwater]

Here he is. www.minerd.com/bio-younkin,_mosesmitchell.htm

[noggy]

I hope that place has it's own website. www.whatcom.com could be worth something.

[backwater]

Moses Younkin was born on May 21, 1830 in Turkeyfoot Township, Somerset County, PA, the son of Henry F. and Mary (King) Younkin.

He was a pioneer of Kansas, a Civil War veteran who knew Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Cody, and tragically was murdered on the West Coast that led to a racially charged trial.

At the age of 21, on June 5, 1851, Moses married Lavila Mitchell (Aug. 13, 1829-1879), daughter of John A. and Rebecca (Tannehill) Mitchell of Somerset County and grandson of James and Rebecca Mitchell. Rev. John Harned of Harnedsville, Somerset County, officiated.

They produced a family of eight children -- Emma Virginia Younkin, John Mitchell Younkin, Edwin Leander Younkin, Carrie Lycendia Younkin, William Elmer Younkin, Walter B. Younkin, Robert Bruce Younkin and Moses Younkin Jr.

Early in married life, Moses and Lavila made the monumental decision to uproot and move west. They apparently first went to Bloomington, Illinois; and not remaining there long, moved again to Pottowatomie County, KS. Upon learning that his claim there technically was on an Indian reservation, they pulled up stakes and migrated to Clay County, KS.

According to William G. Cutler's book History of the State of Kansas, Moses in 1855 helped to organize the small town of Batcheller (later renamed Milford), Clay County along with local men Abram Barry, S.D. Houston. B.E. Fullington and Frank Smith. In April 1856, when he was age 26 years, along with his brothers Jeremiah and William, and John T. King, settled on Timber Creek in Grant Township, Clay County, KS.

Lavila is acknowledged as the "first white woman in that locality," and their son Edwin Leander Younkin, born in 1858, is considered the "first child of American parentage in Grant township." The Somerset (PA) Herald noted that "During the Kansas trouble [he] was a free soiler and took an active part in defense of Kansas against the Missouri 'border ruffians'."

When the Civil War erupted, Moses resided in Gatesville, KS and was commissioned as a captain of the 15th Kansas State Militia. The regiment later became part of the 11th Kansas Cavalry, Company L. The Whatcom (WA) Daily Reveille newspaper said that during the war, he "acted as a government scout on the plains of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and the Indian territory.... For a number of years he was a companion scout of Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill [Hickok], both of whom he knew intimately."



Lavila's grave, Timber Creek
Courtesy Connie Langvardt

Among the native American tribes in the Clay Center region at that time were the Kaw or Kansas Indians, with bands of Delaware, Wyandotte, Pottawatomie, Sac and Fox passing through on buffalo hunts, picking fights with Pawnee, Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe foes. During those early years of pioneer life, the Younkins and neighbors had to pitch in to help each other in times of need. In one instance, missionary Rev. William Todd and his wagon became sidetracked but "the good-hearted, whole-souled Moses Younkin, who waded the river ... got the log canoe to transport the preacher across. Think of it!" wrote the missionary's nephew, G.W. Southwick. (The Wakefield Colony, 1908, published by the Kansas Historical Society)

Religious meetings were held "every Sunday [in] Mr. Younkin's hospitable house, where Uncle Todd held service." Another time, native Indians killed settlers on the Smoky Hill and began to head toward Timber Creek. Some 18 local men, including Moses and his two brothers, "responded to the call ... well armed for those days, and ready for the fight." But the danger passed when the group learned that in reality it was Pottawatomie warriors who had fought a battle with Pawnees and had been seen celebrating with a war dance. On yet a third occasion, a courier arrived at the Younkin residence with the tragic news that native Indians had attacked a wagon train along the Republican River, with "half of the immigrants killed, and about everything they had destroyed," said a report. "A party went out and buried the dead and brought back the living to Major Barry's place. They were almost starved when found and in a pitiable condition."

In 1864, living in Clay Center, Moses served as a Clay County Commissioner along with John Godwin of Ashland and Charles E. Whitehair of Junction City. Continuing to be interested in the growth and development of his community, in March 1870 he was one of seven charter members of the Wakefield Bridge and Ferry Company. Sadly, Lavila died on March 26, 1879 in Timber Creek near Wakefield, Clay County. At the time of the battle of the Little Big Horn, at which General Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry was wiped out, Moses served in Major Moonlight's Division.

William with his brothers Moses and Jeremiah and nephew Edwin named in the 1908 booklet, The Wakefield Colony



After Lavila's death, Moses in 1882 pushed further west into Washington State with others of the Kansas colony and established a ranch in rural Whatcom, Whatcom County. Some of Moses' letters were published in 1997 in the Bulletin of the Whatcom Genealogical Society (Vol. 28, No. 4).

Once settled there, he returned to Wakefield and on Feb. 8, 1883 married Mary Thompson (1848- ? ). He was age 51 at the time, and she 35, a difference in ages of 16 years. The nuptials were performed by Rev. J.L. Dawson at the residence of William Gordon. A friend's account of his return visit to Kansas and marriage was written and sent for reprinting to their hometown newspaper, the Somerset Herald (April 18, 1883), adding "Living where deer, antelope and the red men are scarce, does not seem like home to the Old Frontiersman any more, but to be aroused at any hour of the night by the howling of red men is where Younkin seems to enjoy himself most."



Wakefield Colony booklet

Suffering from the effects of aging, Moses applied for and was awarded a Civil War pension from the federal government on Oct. 1, 1886. [App. #586.558; Cert. #417.504.] He was a member of the Steadman Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Bellingham, and of the local Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen lodges.

Tragedy befell Moses in January 1892, on a day that he had received his pension check. Two native Indian companions allegedly induced him to walk together along the rail tracks and then attacked him near a little bridge north of Little Squalicum Creek in Bellingham, near the Great Northern Railroad line. He was beaten into incoherence, by a man bearing a club, and was found with his badly cut head in a pool of water near the railroad line. Said the Dalles (OR) Times-Mountaineer, "A physician was sent for and says the man will die before morning. His head looks as though he had been struck several times with ax. The skull is fractured in several places, and the nose is split so that he is a horrible sight." He was carried to the home of John Bennett, where he died. Burial was in the Bayview Cemetery in Bellingham.