(15 May 1849-6 April 1927), newspaperman. (C. W. Young, Charles W. Young, Charlie Young) (date of birth 17 May 1847 also found) Born at Georgetown, Ont. Parents: Mr and Mrs James Young. He was educated locally, and learned the printing trade working for the Hamilton Spectator and Toronto Leader; while with the former newspaper, he took part in the Battle of Ridgeway (1866) against the Fenians. Afterwards, he went to the United States, where he worked on the New Orleans Picayune and (in “reconstruction days”) worked in Jackson, Mississippi. Having come back to Canada in the late 1870s, he worked for the Stratford Beacon before buying the Cornwall Freeholder from Henry Sandfield Macdonald in 1885. Young was editor and proprietor of the Freeholder for the next 42 years, till his death. Described in his obituary as a lifelong Liberal, he ran the Freeholder as the Cornwall Liberal paper in opposition to the Conservative newspaper the Standard, which was operated during the heavily overlapping period of 1888 to 1932 by another long-term editor, William Gibbens.

     Young was not a Glengarrian, but he was necessarily much in contact with Glengarrians, contributing to shaping their opinions through his newspaper. Throughout his very long period of service his newspaper reported steadily on GC affairs, with the closest attention being to the part of GC nearest to Cornwall. Many a GC obituary and many a passage relating to GC’s reputation for achievement and “specialness” was shaped by Young in his role as author or editor. The Freeholder remained a weekly up to the end of his life. Three years before his death he turned the active work of editing the paper over to his son, W. R. Young.

     In 1893, C. W. Young was press agent to the Ontario government’s Commission at the Chicago World’s Fair. He was president of the Canadian Press Association, 1911. He was interested in lacrosse, gardening and fishing, and he published articles on fishing in sportmen’s magazines in Canada, the United States and Europe. He died at his home in Cornwall. Anglican. Like Gibbens, he was a member of Trinity Church, Cornwall. Mason. He was married in Dec. 1879 to Caroline Carthew (d. 1931), who was a descendant of Laura Secord, and whose father was collector of customs at Guelph. (two children) His brother Robert Evans Young was a prominent surveyor and public servant.

     For comparison of the two Cornwall editors and their newspapers, see also the entry for William Gibbens. In 1932, the Freeholder and Standard were merged as the Standard-Freeholder.

Cornwall Freeholder 7 & 14 April 1927 (includes portrait, editorial of tribute, comments and tribute from other journalists), Cornwall Standard 7 April 1927, Glengarry News 8 April 1927 * his life in Morgan (1898) and Morgan (1912) * his brother Robert Evans Young’s life in Morgan (1912) and MDict * obituary of C. W. Young’s wife, CF 11 March 1931 * Harkness 375, 377, portrait * Marin 483 (death 1969 of his daughter Blanche, social editor of Standard Freeholder) * prosecuted for libelling R. R. (Big Rory) McLennan, CS 10 March & 5 May 1887, Glengarrian 11 March & 6 May 1887, The Toronto Daily Mail, 11 & 15 March 1887 * under attack in squabble about purchase of shirts for lacrosse team, Glengarrian 7 Oct. 1887 * CS attacks, teases, him for having, as gardener and Liberal, got a contract to supply plants for the Cornwall Canal properties, CS 17 May & 8 Nov. 1912 * his recollections of Battle of Ridgeway, CF 1 June 1916