Edgar M. Young (1876-1944)

Edgar Young was junior warden, senior warden and member of the Vestry from the 1922 to the time of his death in 1944.  He served on the property committee, was an auditor of books and was a treasurer even longer (29 years).  He also is noted for keeping the “pew books” of who had ownership or renting the pews.

The Free Lance-Star wrote the following of him ““No man in all of  Fredericksburg is more roundly esteemed as  a good citizen, a good businessman and a good progressive spirit in the intelligent development and expansion of the city’s growth and importance.”  “He has made all of his own success by his … efforts, good judgment and personality”

Young’s first enterprise was in lumber and he continued that association through his life as partner in Young-Schoonover Lumber company.   He was half of the supply company Young-Sweetzer Company from the 1920’s until his death  which later became Farm and Tack Supply in the 1980’s. It is noted for the Purina Grain Tower which marks the Fredericksburg skyline.

They built the warehouse in 1919 and added the grain elevator in 1920. The company provided an active market for the products of farmers in surrounding counties. They bought from farmers and after weighing sorting, storing and bagging  shipped the products to major manufacturers. All forms of transportation were used – rail, trucks and river barges. The volume of the products handled were large for the time  – often two boxcars were shipped out per day.

Young was also a mason, a president of the local rotary, a director in Commerce State Bank and VP of Mutual Building and Loan Association.  He served briefly on the Fredericksburg Council from 1904-07.   He married Mattie Franklin and had three children

Later in his life, he purchased church and service flags for St. George’s in memory of his son, the late Captain Edgar M. Young, Jr.   Later  Bookracks and kneeling benches were given to the church in his memory in 1947.