J.
Harvey Younkin
(1860-1932)
J.
Harvey Younkin was born on June 16, 1860 in Springfield Twp., Fayette
County, PA, the son of Jacob M. and Sarah Jane
(Christner) Younkin. He had a fascinating but disturbing life, and while
musically talented, often had scrapes with the law, and was 'unlucky at love.'
As someone who enjoyed exaggeration, Harvey liked people to think that he actually was born on the Fourth of July, as was reported in at least one newspaper article.
When Harvey was less than a year old, his father was killed in battle during the Civil War. Within a year, on Nov. 23, 1862, the widow married Daniel K. Grim (1836-1923), another Civil War veteran. The Grims went on to have at least 5 children -- Phoebe Ann Grim, Ellen Grim, George Grim, Henry Grim and Lucy Grim.
It's possible that Harvey was raised with his mother and stepfather. Yet within a few years, Harvey's mother died, leaving him an orphan. It's not known who raised Harvey after his parents died, although it's likely that it was his mother's Christner relatives. At age 9, he resided in Pennsville, near Connellsville.
On
Sept. 14, 1869, Harvey entered the Soldiers Orphans School at Jumonville (seen
here in a rare old postcard view) in the mountains above Uniontown, Fayette
County. James Laughery Paul's 1876 book, Pennsylvania's Soldiers' Orphan
Schools, lists Harvey as a student. He resided and was educated there for 7
years, until he reached age 16.
At some point in his life, perhaps in childhood, Harvey's legs became handicapped. Later in life, a newspaper said, this condition "required him to walk with a crutch and a cane..."
Harvey
must have had natural musical talent, because, said the Courier:
"For several years he was a school teacher at Morgan, Dry Hill and other
places near Connellsville. Later he was an organ and piano salesman."
By 1890, when Harvey was age 30, he was jailed for theft while employed as a school teacher at Gibson, Fayette County. According to the July 11, 1890 Courier:
On Saturday he hired a horse and buggy from liveryman Henry and drove to [Normalville], intending to return on Sunday. On Wednesday, Younkin had not returned, and the liveryman, becoming alarmed, sent Constable Campbell to hunt him. He was brought here yesterday. The buggy he had hired was smashed to pieces and the horse worn out. Younkin said he had intended returning the rig when it had been repaired. The school teacher borrowed a watch from the man with whom he had boarded at Gibson, and sold it to a Springfield township farmer for $8. He had also taken his landlord's wife's ring, and presented it to his sweetheart in [Normalville]. Younkin denied the charge of theft, saying he meant to return all the articles.
The end result of the incident is unknown. By 1893, Harvey was residing at White Rock, near Uniontown, and in August of that year spent a few days visiting with the family of his cousin, Susanna (Minerd) Rose in Normalville.
During this period, Harvey apparently continued to teach. Over the Christmas holidays in 1895, he "gave a concert at Jas W. Johnson's." A September 1896 issue of the Courier reported that he "was instructing the Poplar Run people how to sing the past week," and a related article in the Uniontown Genius of Liberty said he was "having quite a number meeting and practicing singing... We can't get too much good singing."
Some
10 years later, in 1906, Harvey was giving private musical lessons, but once
again let his passions get the better of his judgment. In March of that year, he
was boarding in Smithfield, Fayette County, at the home of B.F. Breakiron, where
he was teaching piano the Breakirons' 15-year-old daughter Alice. The Connellsville
Weekly Courier said that he "seemed to be infatuated with Miss
Breakiron to the extent that he undertook to dominate her actions and social
relations with her young lady and gentlemen friends here until his actions had
becoming annoying to the young lady."
Continuing the story, said the Weekly Courier:
Tuesday he fell into a rage with her, because of a difference of opinion between them in reference to a piece of music that she had been practicing. He commenced abusing her by vile and blasphemous epithets, threatened to kill her, and proceeded to execute the threat by attempting to brain her with a chair. He was only prevented from doing so by the girl's mother, who came in at the opportune moment and grabbed the chair as it was descending, warding off the blow which deflected the chair till it struck the wall, knocking off a patch of plaster. Mrs. Breakiron then, with her daughter and daughter-in-law, ran into an adjoining room and locked themselves in. Younkin raved around for some time after when he left the house. It is said that he took the 4.27 train for Connellsville. Mr. Breakiron and his two sons were away at work and it is well for Younkin that they were not present.
Whether the Breakirons pursued legal action is unknown.
A decade after the Smithfield incident, Harvey was in Connellsville, repairing pianos at a used furniture store. He offered to sell pianos from storage for $25 apiece.
As an older adult, he often visited at the homes of cousin Joanna (Minerd) Enos and her daughter Jennie (Enos) Snyder near Normalville. He liked to tell the Snyder children that he had taught school 21 terms and that he played for the opera, though they didn't believe him.
At age 71, in about 1931, Harvey was admitted to the Connellsville State Hospital, where he underwent "treatment for some time." It's quite possible he was terminally ill, and he was discharged and went to live "at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Venersky, 214 South Prospect street, Connellsville," said the Uniontown Morning Herald. He died there a short time later, on Jan. 7, 1932.
The funeral was held at the J.E. Sims Funeral Home, with the service overseen by Rev. E.H. Stevens of the First Baptist Church of Connellsville. Harvey then was laid to rest in either the Chestnut Hill Cemetery or Hill Grove Cemetery in Connellsville. (Two versions of his obituary list separate burial sites.)
Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Connellsville, beyond the bridge
Harvey is mentioned in a Grimm-Grim family history manuscript compiled by the late Luther J. Grimm, a longtime funeral director of Mt. Pleasant, PA. The document is on file at the Uniontown (PA) Public Library.
Copyright © 2002-2003, 2005 Mark A. Miner