Ella (Steele) Young, The Original Groupie? (52 Ancestors #5)

Ella (Steele) and Thomas Andrew Young, Washington County, Ohio, circa 1910.

Ella (Steele) and Thomas Andrew Young, Washington County, Ohio, circa 1910.

You might remember the man in the photo from a previous 52 Ancestors post. I suspect that Thomas Andrew Young, my great-great grandfather, was an original member of ZZ Top. If he was, does that make the woman in the photo — his wife, Ella Steele Young — the original groupie? (Maybe I shouldn’t continue this analogy much further!)

Ella, the daughter of James and Mary (Belt) Steele, was born in Washington, D.C. in 1855. The Steeles moved to Washington County, Ohio sometime before 1880. (More likely before 1879, as Ella and Thomas were married there 10 August 1879.)

If you look at just the 1910 census for Ella, you would get an incomplete (and inaccurate) picture of her life. According to it, she was the mother of 0 children, 0 of whom were living. In reality, she was the mother of 3, only 1 of whom was still living in 1910:

  • Robert Andrew, born 1880, died 1953. (I’m quite thankful he lived; he’s my great-grandfather!)
  • Mary Elizabeth, born and died 1885
  • Clara Adah, born 1893, died 1894

Ella M. (Steele) Young died in Licking County, Ohio (where her son Robert lived) 5 November 1937. She is buried in Lynch Cemetery in Washington County with her husband Thomas.

Sources:

  • Washington County, Ohio birth and death records.
  • Young, Ella M. death certificate, certificate 70109 (Ohio, 1937), Licking County, Ohio, downloaded from FamilySearch.org.
  • Young, Thomas, 1910 U.S. census, Fearing Twp, Washington Co, Ohio, page 5A.
  • Young, Thomas A. Civil War pension file application 1122569, certificate 1000598.
  • Young, Thomas A. and Ella M. Steele marriage record, vol. 6, entry #5819, Washington County, Ohio marriage records.

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