Young Family Papers

Mason Pressly Young was born in Due West, South Carolina in 1887. Following his graduation from Erskine College, he taught at Assiut College, Assiut, Egypt for three years. He returned to the United States for medical training and sailed for China in 1916. He met Louise Oehler on the voyage to China and they were married two months after their arrival. They were stationed at Elizabeth Blake Hospital in Soochow, a 250-bed general hospital which had a large psychiatric department. The Sino-Japanese war forced the abandonment of the Soochow facility in 1937; the hospital continued to function in a nearby village for a short time until the patients could be placed in a Shanghai hospital. The Youngs returned to the U.S. on furlough in 1940 and, following World War II, were reassigned to a hospital in Jiaxing (Kashing). Following his return to the U.S. in 1949, Dr. Young practiced medicine in Anderson, South Carolina for ten years. He died in 1960.

Louise Oehler Young was born in Aiken, South Carolina in 1892. Following her graduation from the University of Texas in 1915, she sailed for China under the Presbyterian Church, U.S. Board of Missions and met her future husband en route. In addition to preparing their two children, Louise (b.1918) and Josephine (b.1924), for high school, Louise taught English and Bible classes, served as bookkeeper and treasurer of the hospital from time to time and did evangelistic work. She died in 1986.

Lois Young, sister of Mason, was born in Due West, South Carolina in 1890. Following studies at Erskine College and the Biblical Seminary in New York City, she went to China and took charge of the Mary Thompson Stevens School for Girls in Suchowfu, North China. During World War II, Lois was held prisoner by the Japanese for seven months before her return to the United States in 1942.