Young, George (1841-1913)

Transcription of obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by G.W.K.

By the decease of Mr. George Young Hebburn Colliery church and Jarrow Circuit have lost a loyal and faithful servant. For more than fifty years he was in close association with the church, serving it as school secretary, superintendent, class leader and local preacher in the Thornley, South Shields, Sunderland and Jarrow-on-Tyne circuits. A Primitive Methodist of the old-fashioned type, for half a century he never shirked his duties, never neglected a preaching appointment, and was exemplary in attendance at the means of grace.

Our friend touched the sorrowful places of life. His father died when he was but a child, his mother passed away before he reached manhood, and he lived to see seven of his own children pass away—one of them tragically. At one time he was what is known in mining circles as “a sacrificed man.” Add to these experiences, the fight for the last eight months of his life with a disease that was torture, it has to be said that George Young was well acquainted with grief.

Nevertheless, he was a happy man, and rejoiced greatly in the Lord. A few months only before his death Mr. and Mrs. Young celebrated their golden wedding in Hebburn Colliery Church. On April 23rd, 1913, he departed this life, leaving a widow and six children to mourn their loss, and was interred in Jarrow cemetery on April 27th.

Family

George was born abt1841 at Gilesgate, Co. Durham, to parents George, a coal miner (1851), and Margaret.

Census returns identify the following occupations for George.

1851 scholar
1861 coal miner
1871 coal miner
1881 coal miner
1891 coal miner
1901 coal miner waste man
1911 retired miner

He married Elizabeth Park (1843-1926) in late 1862 in the Sunderland Registration District, Co. Durham. Census returns identify seven of thirteen children.

Thomas (1868-1939) – a house joiner (1901); emigrated to Canada in 1912 and later to USA in 1923
Margaret Jane (1870-1928) – married William John Curtis, a coal miner, in 1889
George (b1872) – a coal miner (1891)
Isabella (1879-1918) – married George Fletcher, a coal miner, in 1899
Elizabeth (b1882) – a dressmaker (1901)
Robert John (b1885) – apprentice joiner (1901)
Mary Alice (b1887) – a dryers assistant (1911); married Ernest Holmes, an underground pipe fitter and pumpman (1921), in 1911

George died on 23 April 1913 at Hebburn, Co. Durham.

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1913/997

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers