Joseph Young

Who was 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. He was an elder brother of Brigham Young.

Young was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, the eighth child born to John Young and Abigail Howe.

In 1830, while he was a preacher for the Methodist Church in Upper Canada, Young was introduced to the Book of Mormon by his younger brother Brigham. Joseph eventually abandoned the Methodist faith and was baptized a member of the Church of Christ by Daniel Brown in Columbia, Pennsylvania on April 6, 1832; Brigham followed his brother's example and became a member of the church one week later. Later in April 1832, Joseph was ordained to the priesthood office of elder by Ezra Landon. Immediately following his ordination, Young began a mission for the church, preaching in New York and Upper Canada in the spring and summer of 1832 with his brother Phineas.

In November 1832, Young joined the gathering of Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, where he met Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the church. Shortly after arriving in Kirtland, 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.