The Young family was part of a ruling class of powerful English-speaking capitalists in majority French-speaking Gloucester County.

His sister Helen married pioneer physician Dr. Alfred Corbett Smith and his brother James Young also became a political figure.

After his father's death in 1866, Young took over the operation of the company and expanded the firm's activities in lobster trapping and canning.

He was commissioner of lighthouses and buoys for the port of Caraquet and represented Gloucester County on the Board of Agriculture.

He also presented a study to the house examining the feasibility of publishing public notices in French newspapers.

The Acadian population considered the bill a threat to the French Catholic education system and to their cultural traditions.

[3] Despite having opposed passage of the Common Schools Act, as the President of the Executive Council, Young had to implement and enforce the law and found himself on the other side of the issue.

In November 1874, members of the Acadian population in Caraquet, most of whom boycotted the school tax, held a meeting to elect parish officials.

[4] The next day, an Acadian mob, many of whom were intoxicated, caused significant property damage in a riot in Caraquet.