Caroline Young

Description: Maternal Grandmother of the artist and wife of Willam Porter Young (2nd painting in Portraits). She was of German descent and sired 12 children who helped out on the farm along with 6 other children who were orphans that she and William adopted. The mother of the artist, Electa Young, eventually left the farm and married Daniel C. McGovern who was a wire chief and train dispatcher for the Great Northern and Southern Pacific Railroads. Daniel was the son of James McGovern who immigrated from County Cavin, Ireland and Eliza Colligan from County Tyrone, Ireland. It was believed that they both supported the IRA gun runners and gave them safe refuge when needed. Eliza used to say of the English – The devil take the dirty lot of them! James and Eliza moved to Montreal, Quebec where James became a wealthy innkeeper who did not trust the banks, a common sentiment at the time. Disaster struck and he lost his entire fortune when his inn burned to the ground. They subsequently moved to Grand Forks, ND where he opened a successful contracting firm. Some of the homes he built are still lived in today.