Richard W. Young: A Biography

RICHARD W. YOUNG. BY ANDREW JENSON, AUTHOR OF L. D. S. BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY." [When the first central committee of the Y. M. M. I. A. was organized, December 8, 1876, John Nicholson, Richard W. Young, and Geo. F. Gibbs, were chosen secretaries. The Era presents in this issue the portrait of Major Young, taken specially for this magazine. He was connected with the associations as a member of the General Board, for several years, to 1898, and continued for some time after his departure for the Philippines. In a literary way, he has frequently aided the cause by contributions for the Contributor, and is a valued writer for the Era. Taking special interest in the welfare of the young people, he is an enthusiastic supporter of the mutual improvement cause. He is now in the active practice of the legal profession in Salt Lake City.—Editors.] Richard Whitehead Young is the son of Joseph Angell Young and Margaret Whitehead, and was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 19, 1858. His education was gained under the tuition of Mrs. Mildred E. Randall, Karl G. Maeser, 0. H, Riggs and others, and also at the Deseret University. During 1871-73 he served as telegraph operator in Richfield, Sevier county. From 1874 to 1878, he taught school, worked as a carpenter, and was employed on railroads. In 1878 he was appointed a cadet to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1882, and for six years served as lieutenant of the 3rd and 5th regiments, U. S. artillery, and as captain and acting judge advocate (on the staff of General W. S. Hancock). In 1884, he graduated from the law school of Columbia College, New York City, and was admitted to the bar of the State of New York.

436 IMPROVEMENT ERA. He wrote a work on "Mobs and the Military," in 1887. In 1888, he resigned from the army, his resignation taking effect April, 1889, since which he has been practicing law in Salt Lake City. From 1890 to 1892, he served as a member of the city council, and from 1891 to 1895 was a member of the board of education, serving as its vice-president. In 1894, he was made brigadier- general, commanding the National Guard of Utah. He was the can- didate of the Democratic party in 1895, and again in 1902, for judge of the supreme court of Utah. During 1894-96, he was manager of the Salt Lake Herald, and was chairman of the code commission which prepared the Revised Statutes (<f Utah, in 1896- 97. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. Elder Young enlisted as a volunteer, and was made captain of Battery A, Utah Light Artillery, MaJ^ 4, 1898. Two months later (July 12, 1898), he was appointed major, commanding Utah Light Artillery. As a soldier. Major Young made an excellent record, participating in the capture of Manila, and in about twenty-five other egage- ments in the Spanish-American war and the Philippine insur- rection. From May, 1899, to June 1901, he served as associate justice and president of the criminal branch of the supreme court of the Philippine Islands. All these positions he filled with credit and fidelity. He was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as a member of the Board of Visitors to attend the annual examination at the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, in 1902. In Church affairs, Elder Young has always been active. He has served as a member of the general board of Y. M. M. I. A., and is at present a member of the council of the 13th quorum of Seventy. On September 5, 1882, he married Minerva Richards, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Richards, of Salt Lake City, and has a family of seven children—five daughters and two sons.