J. Smith Young

John Smith Young (November 4, 1834 – October 11, 1916) was an American lawyer and Civil War veteran who served briefly as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana from 1878 to 1879.

Early life John Smith Young is the sixth of thirteen children born to Dr. John Y. Young (1793-1868) and Eliza Henry Jones (1807-1882). Though born in Wake County, North Carolina, he grew up on family cotton plantations in the frontier borderland area of Fayette County, Tennessee (Lagrange postal area), and Marshall County, Mississippi (Lamar postal area). Circa 1847, following the death of John's older sister, Cornelia (1827-1847), Dr. John Y. Young moved his family westward to several locales in southern Arkansas.

In the early 1850s, John attended Washington Male Seminary in Washington, Arkansas, where his older brother, Edwin Young, was on the faculty. John studied classic literature in their original languages—Greek, Latin, French, and English. Thereafter, Young attended Centenary College at its original location in Jackson, Louisiana, and graduated in 1855.

Lawyer He studied law, was admitted to the state bar, and started his career as an attorney-of-law in Homer, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. The 1860 United States federal census lists John S. Young as an attorney in Homer.

Civil War On August 21, 1861, Young enlisted in Louisiana's 31st Infantry to serve in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of lieutenant.

Slaveholder Young owned slaves.