Samuel Hall Young

Born in 1847, Samuel Hall Young was an American Presbyterian minister whose work became closely tied to Alaska during the late nineteenth century. He studied at the University of Wooster and Western Theological Seminary, was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and went on to serve as a missionary in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

Young is especially remembered for his years in southeastern Alaska, where he worked in communities including Wrangell and became part of the region's early non-Native settler history. He also traveled with naturalist John Muir, and those journeys later fed into his writing about Alaska's landscapes and frontier life.

In later years, he wrote memoirs and historical reflections, including Alaska Days with John Muir, helping preserve a firsthand account of an era of exploration, missionary work, and rapid change. He died in 1927, leaving behind a record of both religious service and life on the northern frontier.