21 Facts About Joseph Young

Joseph Young was an early convert to the Latter Day Saint movement and was a missionary and longtime general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1830, while he was a preacher for the Methodist Church in Upper Canada, Joseph Young was introduced to the doctrine of the Church of Christ by his younger brother Brigham.

Joseph Young eventually abandoned the Methodist faith and was baptized a member of the Church of Christ by Daniel Bowen in Columbia, Pennsylvania, on April 6,1832; Brigham followed his brother and became a member of the church one week later.

Later in April 1832, Joseph Young was ordained to the priesthood office of elder by Ezra Landon.

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

Shortly after arriving in Kirtland, Smith asked Joseph 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.

On February 18,1834, Joseph Young married Jane Adeline Bicknell in Geneseo, New York.

In 1835, Smith selected Joseph Young to be one of the leaders of the Seventy of the church.

Joseph Young then became a president of the First Quorum of the Seventy on March 1,1835.

Joseph Young would retain this position in the church from 1835 until his death.

Joseph Young participated in many significant events in early Latter Day Saint history.

Joseph Young was present at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836 and participated in the Kirtland Safety Society.

Joseph Young was present at Haun's Mill, Missouri, when it was attacked by those who opposed the Mormon presence in Missouri.

Joseph Young left Missouri with the Latter Day Saints in consequence of the extermination order which had been issued by Lilburn W Boggs.

Joseph Young relocated Quincy, Illinois, for a brief time before settling in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1840, where he worked as a painter.

Young received his endowment in Nauvoo on February 3,1844, just months before Joseph Smith was killed.

Joseph Young was selected by Smith as an inaugural member of the Council of Fifty on March 1,1845.

At the time Smith was killed, Joseph Young was campaigning on behalf of Smith's bid for the presidency of the United States.

In 1870, Joseph Young served a final mission for the church to the British Isles.

Joseph Young died in Salt Lake City on July 16,1881, at the age of 84.

At the time of his death, Joseph Young had served as a general authority or a missionary of the church for nearly fifty years.