01Biography
Hiram Young was born into slavery in Tennessee and was brought to Missouri. He first bought his wife Matilda's freedom and then, in the mid-1840s, his own. By 1850 the family had settled in Independence, Missouri, a starting point of the Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails.
Young did not travel the Oregon Trail himself. His link to it is what came out of his shop. He built wagons for freighters, emigrants, farmers and the Army, along with thousands of ox yokes, and by 1860 the business turned out hundreds of wagons a year. Each wagon could haul nearly three tons of freight behind a team of 12 oxen. Black and white men worked side by side in his shop, and he branded his work Hiram Young and Company.
02Why they matter
His Independence shop built wagons and ox yokes for the freighters and emigrants who started west from the head of the trails.
03How they died
During the Civil War, fighting along the Kansas-Missouri border forced the family to flee to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the business suffered heavy losses. After the war they came back to Independence, where Young helped start the first local school for African American children. He died in 1882, about 70 years old, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Independence. A claim he filed for his wartime losses was still unsettled when he died.
04Legacy
A school for Black children in Independence was later named for him, and a National Park Service wayside in the city's McCoy Park tells his story.