Lake County Obituaries

Leander Anderson Young

Submitted by Shirley Wilcox

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Lake County Bee, 11 July 1917

ONE OF EARLIEST OF LAKE PIONEERS DIES 
RESIDENT OF COUNTY SINCE 1853 PASSES AWAY TUESDAY 
Leander A Young is Dead 
Funeral This Afternoon in Christian Science Church 
After an illness of short duration, Leander Anderson Young a pioneer of Lake 
County, passed away at his Big Valley home Tuesday at the age of eighty-one 
years, eleven months, and seventeen days. The funeral is to be held this 
afternoon from the Christian Science Church in Lakeport, and interment made in 
Hartley Cemetery. Deceased was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, born July 23, 
1835. He came to California in 1850 and to Lake County in 1853 with his father 
and brother. He first resided in Bachelor Valley and from there to Paradise 
Valley. He moved again to Middle Creek. In these various locations he engaged in 
hunting, stock raising, and some farming. In 1858 the family moved to the 
Manning place where he remained for 10 years. 
In 1854 he was married to Miss Callie M. Thompson. Eight children blessed their 
union, six of whom survive. 
Mr. and Mrs. Young in 1868 moved to Boggs Lake where he was engaged in the 
sawmill business in which occupation he remained for thirty-five years. 
He was an expert with tools and loved machinery. He could tell many startling 
and interesting episodes of the early history of Lake County. Mrs. Young was in 
Sacramento City at the time of the flood of 1850 and �51 and during the fire of 
1852 which devastated that place. 
Those who survive Mr. Young are: Mrs. Callie M. Young, his wife with whom he had 
lived for the past fifty two years, Mrs. Wm. Starkey of Lakeport, Frank Young of 
Keeler, Inyo County, Mrs. Jake Varner of Fortuna, Walter Young of Keeler, Mrs. 
Andrew Peterson of Stockton, and Mrs. Edwin Umphred of Oakland.

PIONEER L. A. YOUNG DEAD AT RIPE AGE 
In the death of �Lea� Young, as he was well known, early Tuesday morning, there 
passed away one of the earliest pioneers of the Lake county section. According 
to his own word to his wife and others, in his occasional reminiscences, Mr. 
Young came to Bachelor Valley in the northern end of the county, in 1853. The 
old Lake county history and other living pioneers give the date of his arrival 
in Big Valley as October, 1854, but it is a fact that Isaac Young, the father, 
and his sons Lea and Pembroke, camped for a period in Bachelor Valley and at 
Paradise Valley, on the east shore of Clear Lake, before coming to Big Valley. 
In the early history of Lake county and Lakeport, Mr. Young was one of the most 
active and prominent men. Of great mechanical ability, he engaged in the sawmill 
business for 35 years, and during the same period conducted grist mills, 
freighting business on the lake and by teaming, and did considerable building. 
Upon the formation of Supervisorial district No. 4, in 1884, the county 
previously having but three districts, Mr. Young was elected Supervisor and 
served until 1888. 
Leander Anderson Young was born near Louisville, Kentucky, July 23, 1835, making 
his age at death 81 years 11 months and 17 days. In 1842 the family moved to 
Texas, but returned to Kentucky two years later. The mother died while the boys 
were young and with their father they crossed the plains in 1850. Like most all 
emigrants of that period, the Young ��..[missing data] other pioneer, who built, 
the first fence in Lake county, on the present section was then wild land, the 
settlers being few in comparison to the available land. The young couple lived 
on the Manning place until 1868 when they moved to Boggs Lake, in the mountains 
south of the present town of Kelseyville. 
At Boggs lake Mr. Young was in partnership in the sawmill business with H. C. 
Boggs, Wm. Manlove and Lindsay Carson. The mill had been built in 1858, the 
first sawmill in the county, by Thomas �Dobe� Boyd. In 1874, Messrs. Young and 
Manlove bought the Smith-Humphrey mill on Bartlett Mountain, and later built and 
operated a smaller mill also there. Then the machinery was moved to Elk 
Mountain. Mr. Young also had a shingle mill on Cobb Mountain. 
During all this active service, Mr. Young built in 1863 the original building on 
the site of the present Whitton building used by the auto stage company. This 
was framed for a mill, but on completion was operateo [sic] as a livery stable 
by Mr. Young, and later by Major Whitton. He was a Mr. Hill, built in 1871, the 
grist mill in the south end of Lakeport, still standing, and which was operated 
for many years by the late Jabez Hanks. The father, Isaac Young was a cooper by 
trade, and had a shop on the lakeshore in the rear of the present Mrs. French�s 
building. For a planning mill, part of the present shore, and later moved up to 
Main street and converted into a public hall. 
An incident related by Lea Young to J. W. Boggs in years past illustrated the 
primitive conditions of early days in Lake county, and also the sagacity of 
Isaac Young. During his brief stay at Paradise Valley, Mr. Young bought cattle 
from Jacob Bower of Burns Valley. When the cattle were delivered, the elder 
Young cleared away the ashes from their campfire, dug into the ground a foot and 
unearthed his money, some two or three thousand dollars. At another time, when 
they lived in Middle Creek, the son saw his father pull one of the big wooden 
pegs, which were used to hang saddles on, from a pepperwood tree, and extract 
his buckskin purse filled with gold. 
The children of Mr. Young, who with their mother, survive him, are Annie, Mrs. 
W. H. Starkey of Lakeport;; ; [sic] Frank Young of Keeler, Inyo county; Alma, 
Mrs. �Jake� Varner of Fortuna; Walter Young of Keeler; Bettie, Mrs. A. Peterson 
of Stockton; and Eula, Mrs. E. Umphred of Oakland. Two children died in infancy. 
All of the living children were present at the funeral. 
The Youngs bought the present family home in Big Valley in 1872, and the son 
Pembroke Young died in 1904. Leander Young had done little work but farming in 
the past decade and had been in poor health for five years past. Death resulted 
from a complication of ailments due to age. 
Mr. Young was a man of generosity, trusting everybody, often to his own 
detriment, upright in character, honest and of a kindly disposition - in all 
respects a good citizen. 
The funeral service was held at the Christian Science church in Lakeport, 
Wednesday afternoon, and was largely attended. Interment was at Hartley 
Cemetery. 

NOTE: Langdon Wilcox, a great great-grandaughter