In 1847, Young travelled with his family and a group of Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley.

Young was a missionary for the LDS Church in England from 1854 to 1856, working in Liverpool, Manchester, and Bradford.

Over the next few years, Young was involved in the lumber industry, running several sawmills in canyons by Salt Lake City.

In 1872, Young was called to preside over the Sevier District of the church in present-day central Utah.

[6] Young served only a few months before dying unexpectedly in Manti, Utah Territory, at the age of forty.