I’ve never been one for doing up family trees, etc., except that it does coincide with my work, because when you think about it, a lot of Pitcairn history is like trying to write out a large and complicated family tree. Throw in the “bush babies” and you’ll have a grand old time trying to sort things out! And so I continue on with one of those “bush babies” and we see how Moses Young fared as he advanced into adulthood.
Moses Young was 18 years old when he and his childhood sweetheart Albina McCoy (daughter of Daniel McCoy of “Tanema” fame) got married (oy vey, I just realized I have McCoy blood in me…at least I don’t have Quint…oh dear, her mother was Sarah Quintal…for some reason I feel substantially depressed). Settling down in Adamstown, near the centre of town (at least initially), the two welcomed their first child Mary Elizabeth Young on January 16th, 1849.
One of the interesting events at this time was the visit and stranding of several passengers from the barque Noble. One of them was a writer called Walter Brodie, who wrote a lengthy account of his visit there, and another was Mr. Carleton. The latter, on hearing the islanders singing (Pitcairners were considered at that point in history as the worst singers in the southern hemisphere), rapidly set up singing classes, and found eager students who soon learned to harmonize and sing beautifuly. One of these was Moses, who also learned to play at least two instruments from Carleton, namely the fife and the fiddle. Carleton would soon depart, but Moses remembered his lessons well and continued playing the instruments (which until Carleton had arrived were apparently decorations hanging from the wall of Moses’s home). Another visitor remained for a time, Baron De Thierry, who continued the singing classes, but it was Carleton who was remembered the most. As a result, Moses and Albina called their next child, Charles Carleton Vieder Young, born in April 1850.
The small family would suffer two sad events following the birth of Vieder. First of all, Moses’s grandmother Teraura, who had brought him up since he was a baby, died in 1850, the last of the settlers from the Bounty. Following this, Moses and Albina had another son called David Richard Barker Young, who sadly died a week after his birth in 1852. From what I can gather, this period weighed heavily on the couple, though as the 1850’s continued, things brightened up, with the birth of another daughter, Sarah Grace Young in February, 1856. Of course, as is well known, the people of Pitcairn departed the island on May 3rd, 1856 to settle on Norfolk Island.
Moses and Albina settled on Norfolk with their three children, and while there they had a pair of twins, Eunice Grace Young and Mercy Amelia Young, both born on February 7th. However, both Moses and his wife missed Pitcairn, and while they liked Norfolk they felt that they wanted to return. It would be a few years more, but they would find their golden opportunity and take advantage of that (for which I am very happy, believe me…).
PICTURE: Moses Young later in life.
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