Arminta Young

Arminta Young

National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, Ohio

Quick Facts

Significance:

Mother of Charles Young

Place of Birth:

Kentucky

Date of Birth:

1842

Place of Death:

Wilberforce, Ohio

Date of Death:

November 14, 1933

Place of Burial:

Zanesville, Ohio

Cemetery Name:

Greenwood Cemetery

Arminta Bruen Young was Charles Young’s mother. Born enslaved in 1842, she worked in the house of the Willet family in May’s Lick, Kentucky. Little is known about Arminta’s life as an enslaved person. Her mother taught her to read and write; these were valuable but risky skills during the time because it was illegal in many places to teach educate enslaved people. 

During the Civil War, Arminta married Gabriel Young. Their only son, Charles, was born on March 12, 1864. While Charles was still an infant, his parents self-emancipated, eventually settling in Ripley, Ohio. Arminta gave her son the foundations of learning while in Ripley. She taught him how to read and write before he entered school there and continued to encourage Charles to pursue better and higher education.

After the death of her husband in 1894, Arminta moved to Wilberforce, Ohio, with her son, where the two bought a house. At the time, Charles was on detached service assignment at Wilberforce University teaching military science and tactics. Arminta lived in Wilberforce for the rest of her life. She died on November 14, 1933. She was buried next to her husband at Greenwood Cemetery in Zanesville, Ohio.