Immediately following his ordination,[4] Young began a mission for the church, preaching in Canada in the spring and summer of 1832 with his brother Phineas for four months.

[1] In the fall of 1832, Young joined the gathering of Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio,[4] where he met Joseph Smith, the founder of the church.

Shortly after arriving in Kirtland,[citation needed] Smith asked Young to depart on another mission for the church to Upper Canada, which he served over the winter months of 1832 and 1833 with his brother Brigham.

[5] Young accompanied Joseph Smith and others in a journey to Independence, Missouri, in 1834 as part of Zion's Camp.

As a Seventy, Young served several more missions for the church,[1] including one to New York and Massachusetts with Burr Riggs in 1835 and one to his relatives in the eastern United States with his brother Brigham in 1836.

[citation needed] Young participated in many significant events in early Latter Day Saint history.

[1] Young and his four wives left Illinois in 1846 and settled in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, and later Carterville, Iowa.

He and his wives left Carterville in 1850 to join the Latter Day Saints who had followed his brother Brigham to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah Territory.