(Written in 1954 by Arnold McNaughton)

        Christina McNaughton, elder sister of Finlay McNaughton of Hemmingford, Donald of Havelock, and Catherine, Mrs. John McFee, married John Young sometime during the early 1800s. Little is known about them other than the fact that they remained in Scotland and were buried there. They had three children, Duncan, William and Catherine. It had been the desire of Christina's brother John, called the Drover, to adopt her eldest son Duncan, but this was not agreed upon, for it was her desire to keep her three children together. However, John did educate Duncan and later won his sister into agreeing to let adopt William. Donald, her elder brother who went to America in 1831, wished to adopt one of the boys also, but at that time she let it be known that none of her sons were up for adoption. William, the younger son, went to live with his uncle John McNaughton and the latter’s wife Catherine, and as a young lad went to Australia where some years later he died unmarried. He had been left considerable money by his uncle John on the latter's death on the Isle of Skye off the west coast of Scotland.

        Duncan, when he finished his schooling, came out to America and joined the army along with so many of his cousins, for in those days there was a good deal of fighting. He stayed longer in the army than any of the others, but finally retired when he married Isabella Breckinridge in 1851 at thirty-nine years of age. Mrs. Young’s sister Frances was married to Joshua McFee, a first cousin of Duncan, some years before.

        Duncan then bought a farm two miles from St. Chrysostome close to Havelock where his uncle Donald McNaughton’s family lived and about ten miles from Hemmingford where Uncle Finlay and Aunt:Catherine, Mrs. John McFee, lived. He built a large stone house to which he gave the name of Oak Plains after the Oak Plains back in Scotland, probably the community in which his parents had lived. Duncan and Isabella made every one welcome, and for the next two generations Oak Plains was associated with a tradition of generous hospitality. He died in 1900 at the age of eighty-eight, but just when Isabella died is not known.

        They had eleven children including two sets of twin sons. The eldest son was Finlay McNaughton Young who married his second cousin Jane Nicolson, daughter of Louisa McNaughton of Hemmingford and Kutusoff Nicolson. In 1897 they left for the Canadian west where they bought property at Killarney, south of Winnipeg. Finlay became a member of the Manitoba Legislature where he was Speaker for a number of years. When he was called to the Senate by the Earl of Minto they went to live in Ottawa but later returned Killarney where he died in 1916.

        The second son of Duncan Young was William who lived only two years. Next came the twins John and Charles both of whom lived and married, Charles married Hannah Coulter and went to the west, settling at Winnipeg. They had no family but they brought up Hannah's niece, Vivienne Nelson, after her mother died, Charles went into the grain business and represented his cousin Alexander McFee in Winnipeg for a number of years. When the Laurier Government decided to build a second transcontinental railway, the Grand trunk Pacific, he was appointed to the organizing committee. That railway had since become part of the Canadian National Railways, Charles died in Winnipeg.

        John, his twin, remained in the east and managed the farm at Oak Plains during his father's lifetime and afterwards He married his cousin Angeline McFee, daughter of John McFee and Eliza Gordon, They had seven children including one set of twins but only four of the family lived to grow up. The eldest was Isabella or Bella who died in 1946, then Charles who died at Montreal in 1949, Eliza who lived for about one year, Duncan who now resides at St. Lambert across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, Irene and lan the twins, the former having passed away at the age of thirty-nine and the latter having died at birth, and little Edith who passed away when she was only five years old from scarlet fever.

        The fourth son of Duncan and Isabella Young was Donald, but he lived for only a few days and was buried in the family plot at Russeltown, Que. The next son was Duncan who married Christina Minto. They had two children Minto and Hilda both of whom live in Winnipeg.

        The sixth son of Duncan Young was Frederick William who married Margaret Hettle and lived in the Canadian west. They had a family of eight children, of whom three are living today and are in Winnipeg.

        The seventh and eighth sons of the family were the second set of twin sons Coll McFee and James Johnston, but they lived little less than one year.

        The eldest daughter of Duncan Young and Isabella Breckinridge was Isabella Frances Ann who married Joseph Merlin. They lived at Hemmingford on a farm and were buried in the village cemetery several years ago. They had five children, but two daughters died in infancy. The eldest son was Duncan, but it is not known if he is still living. He married Annie Bishop and had three children, William of Winnipeg, Kenneth of Toronto, and Ina of Portage La Prairie, Man. The second son was John who died a few years ago at Hemmingford. He had married Eva Payne, but while their daughter Phyllis was a little girl she left him. For many years he farmed north of Hemmingford near Barrington, and in later years he looked after the farm for Mrs. Hayes where he passed away. Philip was the third son of the Merlin family and for many years had a farm at Barrington where his two daughters Doris, Mrs. Lawrence Hebert of Hemmingford, and Mildred, Mrs. Robert L. McLeod of Delray Beach, Florida, were born. Then some years ago they sold their farm and retired to the village of Hmmingford where Mrs. Merlin now resides.