William Frederick Young (1911-1973)
Alfred “Fred” Young (1886 – unknown), age 26 of Mattis Point and Mary Alice Camus (abt 1860 – 1896), age 17 of Wood’s Island, Bay of Islands were married at Stephenville, NL on April 21, 1907.
Alfred “Fred” Young (1886 – unknown) and Mary Alice Camus (abt 1860 – aft 1945) had the following children;
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Elizabeth “Lizzie” Young (1909 – 1969)
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William Frederick “Fred” Young (1911 – 1973)
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Robert Young (1913 – 1970?)
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Rufus Francis Young (1915 – 1970)
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Arthur A. Young (1917 – aft 1945)
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Flora Young (1920 – aft 1921)
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Rita C. Young (1923 – 1975)
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Ronald Young (1925 – unknown)
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According to the 1921 census, the family was living at St. George’s, Bay St. George, NL. Included in the household are;
Lizzie – 12 years old
William Frederick – 10 years old
Robert – 8 years old
Rufus – 6 years old
Arthur – 4 years old
Flora – 1 year old
According to the 1935 census, the family is again living at Mattis Point, Bay St. George, NL. Included in the household are;
Rufus – 20 years old
Arthur – 18 years old
Rita – 12 years old
Ronald – 10 year old
Based on the 1935 census for Mattis Point, Mary Alice and her children are living with Charles Roberts. Her husband Fred is missing. It is unclear what has happened to Alfred “Fred”.
Notably missing in the 1935 census of Mattis Point are Lizzie, William Frederick, Robert and Flora.
In 1935, Lizzie would have been 26 years old and Robert would have been 22 years old. William Frederick would have been 24 years old. It is reasonable to assume that they have married and/or moved on.
The outlier is Flora who would have been 15 years old.
10 years later in the 1945 census, Mary Alice and Charles Roberts are living in Corner Brook, NL. Included in the Roberts household are 4 step-children;
Rufus is 30 years old.
Arthur is 28 years old.
Rita is 22 years old.
Ronald is 20 years old.
In 1945, Elizabeth “Lizzie” is married and has also re-located to Corner Brook with her husband, Alexander Kennedy. Also included in the household is Gordon Young, Lizzie’s son from a previous marriage and Thomas Kennedy, Alexander’s son from a previous marriage.
William Frederick and Flora remain missing.
Fast forward to 2012
In April of 2012, I receive an E-mail from a daughter of William Frederick. The daughter had visited my website and presented me with some questions.
She presented me with a copy of her dad’s birth certificate and posed the question; “Could it be possible that the Fred and Mary on the Certificate of Baptism are the same Fred and Mary that you refer to in your Family History?”.
After a little more rsearch, I was able to confirm that yes, indeed they were the same Fred and Mary, with some significant updates.
William Frederick “Fred” Young, indeed was the child of Alfred “Fred”Young and Mary Alice Camus born at Bank Head, Nfld. on the 25th day of June, 1911.
One must keep in mind that most of the people of that time period could not read or write and the spelling of the names was excluively based on the pronunciation.
The mixed cultures in the area included french, english and aboriginal. Names were recorded by the census takers, who were primarily english. In this case, the french pronuncitaion of Camus could easily have been mis-interpreted as Campbell.
My communication with William Frederick’s daughter turned out to be beneficial to us both.
I learned that her dad migrated to Calgary, Alberta as a young man, possibly in his teens. Assuming that William Frederick was about 20 years old (1931), when he arrived in Calgary, which would explain his absense from the 1935 census.
William Frederick owned and operated a business in Calgary called “Alberta Tent and Awning“.
William Frederick married in 1940 and had 3 daughters.
William Frederick “Fred” Young had a scar on his left cheek, which he said was caused by an axe when he was a child.
William Frederick Young passed at Calgary, Alberta on October 30th, 1973.
