This essay about the life of James Frederick Moore Yonge, was written and prepared for publication by my late sister, Bonnie Pauahi Stevens. I found it among her files after her death in 2016.

Yonge was my mother’s paternal grandfather, and my great-grandfather.

Many readers have said they have appreciated earlier bits of my family’s history, so I’m taking the liberty of sharing this extended look at his life. It’s kind of a sprawling saga, beginning with his birth in Germany to English parents, operating a pharmacy in Tombstone, Arizona at the time of the infamous shootout at the OK Corral, and living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Quite a life, demonstrating how much mobility there was during the 19th century. The next time you cringe at the prospect of a long airline flight, think of these globetrotters who traveled the world by ship seemingly without hesitation.