military official Soldier colonial leader
Youngs was born on April 10, 1623 in Southwold, England. The eldest son of the Rev. John and Joan (Herrington) Youngs, he came to Salem, Massachussets, with his parents, May 11, 1637, and removed with them about three years later to Long Island. The father was leader of the group that settled Southold and built there the first Christian church in Long Island.
Youngs was first heard of as master of a bark operating between the colonies on the mainland and the island. In 1653 he visited several Connecticut towns seeking aid in raising a force to drive the Dutch from New Amsterdam. His mission unsuccessful, he came into conflict with the authorities as a result of his criticism of affairs in Southold and New Haven. The matter was soon adjusted, and from 1654 to 1656, under orders of the colonies, he commanded a patrol in the Sound to prevent the operations of hostile Indians. In 1660 he was appointed deputy from Southold to New Haven, and magistrate. He strongly favored the union of Long Island with Connecticut, and on October 19, 1662, appeared at Hartford to urge the inclusion of this union in the new charter of Connecticut. Eight days later, at Hempstead, he proclaimed the complete jurisdiction of Connecticut in the towns of Long Island. This action was protested by Petrus Stuyvesant in letters to Gov. John Winthrop, Jr. , but during the following year Youngs commanded the Southold militia and a troop of horse in an attack on Flushing, and on May 12, 1664, he became a member of Winthrop's council. During the summer he resumed command of the militia and aided in the capture of New Amsterdam, a service that received special recognition from Gov. Richard Nicolls. On March 1, 1665, he represented Southold at an assembly in Hempstead where Long Island, Staten Island, and Westchester were combined to form Yorkshire, and the laws of the Duke of York were promulgated. Although Youngs was a strong partisan of the English against the Dutch, he preferred the Puritan rule of Connecticut to that of York's agents, and he led a protest against the Duke's laws. When, in 1673, the Dutch retook New York, Southold and neighboring towns, under Youngs's leadership, rejoined Connecticut. They continued this union after the English regained control; in a letter to Gov. Edmund Andros, Youngs and two others justified the action on the ground that during the Dutch attack they had received help only from Connecticut. Youngs finally gave way, however, and on October 31, 1676, Southold accepted a patent from the Duke of York with Youngs and six others as patentees. He served as high sheriff of Yorkshire from 1680 to 1683. On June 29, 1681, he was designated to draw a petition to the Duke of York for a representative assembly in the Colony. The petition was granted and the Assembly held its first meeting in New York on October 17, 1683. Later in the year Youngs was one of the commissioners to determine the boundary between New York and Connecticut. His military record was recognized in his appointment as lieutenant-colonel of horse of Suffolk in 1686, and as colonel of Suffolk County militia in 1689. Named a member of the council to Governor Dongan in 1686, he began twelve years of service in this high office, being appointed to the councils to Governors Sloughter, Fletcher, and Bellomont. In 1691 he was one of the judges who convicted Jacob Leisler of treason for usurpation of the governorship. At his death Youngs was a leading citizen and official of the New York colony.
About 1653 Youngs married Mary Gardner, daughter of his father's third wife; she bore him five children and died in 1689. Some two years later he married Mrs. Hannah Tooker, the thrice-widowed daughter of Barnabas Wines.
