F. O. YOUNGER, proprietor of The Fair, a dry-goods establishment of
Murphysboro, was born in Bunker Hill, Ill., October 30, 1865, and is the
eldest of a family of six children, whose parents were John and Annie E.
(Campbell) Younger, the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter of
Madison County, Ill., where the maternal grandfather, John Campbell, a
native of New Jersey, settled at a very early day, becoming one of its
pioneers. John Younger was reared in his native state, and when a young man
went to St. Louis, where he joined the Union army, serving for three months.
He afterward located in Bunker Hill, and is now engaged in farming in that
locality.
No event of special importance occurred during the boyhood
and youth of our subject, which were quietly passed upon the homestead farm
near Bunker Hill. The common schools afforded him his educational
privileges, and to his father he gave the benefit of his services until
nineteen years of age. He then determined to follow some other pursuit than
that to which he had been reared, and in 1884 went to St. Louis, Mo., where
he began clerking.
After a short time, however, he entered the
employ of Russack & Sons, wholesale clothing dealers, and traveled as their
representative through Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. He continued with that
firm for five years and did a good business in their interests.
In
1891, in Hoyleton, Ill., was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Younger and Miss
Mamie Hake, a native of that place. Their residence is situated on Rorer
Street, and their home is brightened by the presence of a little son,
Raymond. During their short residence here the parents have already won many
friends.
In the spring of 1892 Mr. Younger left the road, locating
in Murphysboro, where he formed a partnership with M. Evans in the dry-goods
business, opening a store which is known as The Fair. This connection still
continues. The members of the firm are both men of good business ability,
progressive and enterprising, and from the beginning have enjoyed a good
trade, which is steadily increasing. They carry a fine line of dry goods,
clothing, and in fact everything found in a first-class general merchandise
store. Mr. Younger in his political views is a Republican. He is still a
young man, but he has displayed the qualifications which lead to a
successful business career, and if the past is a criterion, we feel assured
that his future will be a prosperous one.
Extracted 28 Aug 2019 by Norma Hass from 1894 Biographical Review of Jackson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, pages 563-564.