Jacob M. YOUNKIN, CWV

                   This  is the father of the Harvey ( minor that is mentioned in the Pension
file)  He married twice ( bigamist)

most of the information on this family is taken from the pension file of
Havey (minor son of Jacob M.) other confirmation is from the files of
Otto Younkin.
Marriage: by Rev. Adam F. Snyder minister of the Du_co_d Church in Upper
Turkeyfoot Twp., Somerset Pa. on 26 June 1859. Minister's pension file
affidavit said he was a minister in the mennonite church.

They lived in  Springfield from the time of their marriage until he went
into the Civil War.

Jacob M. Younkin
(1840-1863)

It seemed to be a typical Civil War tragedy.  Jacob M. Younkin, a farmer boy from the mountains, got married and went off to fight for his country, and was killed in action.  The government agreed to pay a pension to his grieving widow to compensate her for the devastating loss.  In short, it was a cut-and-dried case, with all the facts in order, however sad.

Except for one key complication.  Two women stepped forward after his death, each claiming to have been his wife, each having proof that they had been united in marriage with him in a ceremony performed by a minister of the gospel.  This is the story of the effort to untangle the matrimonial mess, involving "Widow Sarah" Younkin and "Widow Mary Jane" Younkin, one of them legitimate, the other bogus.

The soldier, Jacob M. Younkin, was born on a farm near Kingwood, Somerset Co., Pa., in 1840, the son of John M. and Laura (Minerd) Younkin.  It is not known if he attended school, or what he did for fun, though he probably stayed close to home.  It was later stated that he had "lived in what is known as the Mountain, and was probably never in Uniontown twice in his life" before the war.

In about 1860, Jacob moved to Normalville, Pa.  A year later, when the Civil War had been underway only a few months, he left home to enlist in the 85th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.  He was mustered into the regiment on Nov. 7, 1861 at Uniontown.  The 85th trained there at Camp Fayette for a short time before marching toward the battle lines in Virginia.

Among the regiment's early activities were siege operations in front of Yorktown and an engagement near Williamsburg.  In May 1862, the regiment marched to Fair Oaks Station and began to fortify the area.  The men were busy constructing a redoubt on May 31 when the enemy attacked.  The 85th took a position in rifle pits on the right side of the main work.

During seven days of extended fighting, Union and Confederate losses totaled 11,000 men.  The 85th Pa. Infantry itself had 87 casualties.  One of the dead was Jacob M. Younkin.

On Oct. 1, 1862, four months after Jacob's death, a 26-year-old woman named Sarah Floyd Miller Younkin ("Widow Sarah") appeared before a Fayette County official.  She said she was the widow of Jacob Younkin of the 85th Pa. Infantry.  As per the provisions of a recent Act of Congress, she claimed to be entitled to a widow's pension.  She had documents to prove she was married to the soldier in Uniontown on Nov. 16, 1861, shortly before the regiment left town, but had no offspring.  Her friends Amanda Miller and Ann Floyd swore oaths confirming her claims.

The paperwork was in order.  On April 4, 1863, the government approved Widow Sarah's pension, at a rate of $8.00 a month, to be retroactive to May 31, 1862, the date the soldier died.

The monthly payments suddenly stopped five months later.  Something, or someone, was amiss.  It turned out that officials had discovered something that Widow Sarah may never have been told -- that her husband was also married to a woman named Mary Jane ("Widow Mary Jane") and had a young son named Harvey Younkin living back home in the mountain.

Confusion ensued.  Investigations were launched.  The dust did not settle for years.

Documents and witnesses were furnished to show that the soldier had married Mary Jane Christner near Kingwood on June 26, 1859, about two years before the war began.  Soonafter, they moved to near Normalville and "lived together as man and wife, and were so reputed in the Neighborhood."  Witnesses testified about the birth of the couple's one and only child, Harvey Younkin, in July 1860.  Although Widow Mary Jane had since remarried, to one Daniel K. Grim, and died within a few years, her son Harvey had a legitimate claim to his late father's pension.

Harvey's guardian, postmaster John W. Sherbondy of Normalville, wrote a rather blunt summary:

           Jacob Younkin was in camp at Uniontown twenty odd miles from home. He is reputed to have married Sarah Floyd of Uniontown, at which place was located Camp Fayette, the Rendevouz of said Regt, and just four days before the Regt marched to the front. This Sarah Floyd was a reputed [prostitute], taking all the circumstances. I am satisfied that Younkin was drunk when he married this Sarah Floyd, who was well known as a [prostitute], and that he did not care, as he would not then be detected as the Regt was then under marching orders.  The witnesses who testified that he left no child surviving him, could only have known him while in camp at Uniontown....

With all the new facts in hand, the government recognized Widow Mary Jane as the soldier's true wife, and it granted young Harvey Younkin's pension in August 1869, over seven years after his father's death.  It is doubtful that Harvey even remembered his father.  Under the terms, the payments were retroactive to the date of death, and thus Harvey would have received a lump sum of about $688 in back payments, a huge amount at the time.  He then was to receive monthly payments of $8 until his 16th birthday, to occur in July 1876.  After his mother's death, he "was educated at the Uniontown Soldiers Orphans School at Jumonville being a student there from the time he was eight until 16 years of age," said his obituary.  "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.  On account of advancing age and crippled condition which required him to walk with a crutch and a cane he was unable to work the latter years of his life."  He died unmarried at the age of 70 in 1931.

   How Widow Sarah reacted, or whether she ever refunded the money erroneously paid to her, remains a mystery.

As for Jacob Younkin, it is not known precisely where he is buried.  Soldiers killed at the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines are interred at the Richmond National Cemetery and the Seven Pines National Cemetery, which contain the graves of approximately 6,950 unidentified soldiers.  Most likely he is one of these unknowns.

This biography is adapted from the article, "The Soldier Who Had Two Widows" in the July 1993 edition of the Younkin Family News Bulletin, by Mark A. Miner.

Copyright © 1993, 2000 Mark A. Miner