Philip Younce was born in Ashe County, North Carolina, about 1775, of German parentage. The German name Yontz, Philip always wrote Younce. He is said to have been a member of the army of General Anthony Wayne, against the Indians in 1794. His regiment marched from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. About 1808, he was married to Margaret Byrket, also of German descent. In 1813, with his wife and two little boys, he emigrated to Miami County, Ohio. He was then already a minister in the church. In the summer of 1814, about three or four thousand Indians were encamped around Greenville, while the second Treaty of Greenville was being negotiated with them. It was a festive occasion. Sister Younce baked a large basket of sweet cakes, and shared them with the Indian mothers, who called her children “the white papooses.” Elder Younce was always held in the highest respect by the Indians. He was an entertaining preacher and had fine social qualities. The early growth of the church in Miami and Darke counties was largely the result of his labors. His early Ohio home was close to Nashville, near West Milton. He died April 16, 1864, at the home of his son, Abraham, who lived northwest of Pleasant Hill. He was buried in the Sugar Hill cemetery by the side of his wife, who had preceded him in 1862. No stone marks his grave.

Their children were John, Joseph, Andrew, George, Abraham, Isaac, Catherine, Eli, Davis and Mary. John, born May 6, 1809, moved to Indiana, and became the first elder of the Mississinewa Church. Abraham, also a minister, is noticed below. Davis, born in 1827, was called to the ministry when young and became an interesting preacher and evangelist. As an exhorter, he was rarely excelled. He did much funeral preaching and married many couples. His trade was that of a wagon maker in Newton. His wife was Mary A. Helmick. In 1872, he moved to Philadelphia, to take charge of the Brethren Church there, but returned in two years to his former home, finally moving to Syracuse, Indiana, where he died in 1897.

Several of Elder Philip Younce’s sons were deacons. No encomium is too great to bestow upon him and his family, for the pioneer church work done by them in Southern Ohio.

NOTE: Elder Younce was born ca. 1789. He did not serve under General Wayne and was not at the Treaty of Greenville signing.