A little genealogy...

When I was in Utah one of my cousins (I believe it was Sherri) had mockingly asked "Why do I love sugar so much" But maybe not in those exact words. So I thought I would share some of the family history that I have discovered. I had read somewhere, which I spent all evening trying to find and I can't, that John Young (my 3rd great-grandfather) had a sweet tooth. He loved those desserts. (I will find the document that contained this and quote it... I'm determined!) edit: 3rd great grandpa (thanks Laura!) & for all those cousins & other family that have a sweet tooth - we have a connection to John. BUT the "portly" part came from the Howe's side (his wife's side) :-)

Of course we have no pictures of him but from his pension papers we're told that at 17 he was 5'3" (I think it's safe to say he was on the shorter side) and his complexion was "light".

And the following information is from Fanny Young's letter to her brother Phinehas:

John was 6 years old when his father died and he was taken and bound out as a servant to Colonel John Jones (held that office in the Kings army before the revolution.)

The colonel’s wife didn’t like John (since the rest liked him) and always wanted to whip him because she said he always deserved it. The older ones would instruct him run “like the mischief” if she would come to whip him. So the first time he tried it “the old beldam” had got him up and was lecturing him with a whip in her hand and before she knew it he had fled. He flew from her like a wild deer and she couldn’t catch him, although she ran with all her might in a minute, forgetting her dignity entirely in the heat of her anger. But the little rascal could run like a wild deer and she couldn’t overtake him.

When the Colonel came home the house was in arms because John was worthy of death as well as bonds and it’ll be attended to without delay. Right away the Colonel, the whip and poor John were soon on the way to the barn (which was a considerable distance from the house). John expected he should be whipped to death without doubt. When the door shut the old man began, “John, you dog you, why did you run away from your mistress? Don’t you know I will whip you to death if you do so? So will you do so again?” John promised reformation almost petrified with fear when the Colonel exclaimed and stamping his foot, “Clear out you dog you and don’t you come to the house for three hours. And don’t let me hear of your running away from your mistress again.”

John felt as though he narrowly escaped death. And Fanny often heard him laugh at the satisfaction the dear old woman felt in thinking he was so severely flogged when in fact the merciful old man had done nothing to him.

John was ten years old when war broke out between America and Great Britain. John was longing to be old enough to enlist and when he got to be sixteen years old he sought and soon found an opportunity of enlisting into the army which he did with joy (and he found a way for his brother Joseph to enlist as well).