--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Jenson, Andrew collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 6 number: 6 published: 1903-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Andrew Jenson, "Richard W. Young: A Biography," *Improvement Era* 6, no. 6 (April 1903): 435–436.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0606unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0606unse start_page: 435 end_page: 436 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0606unse publication_year: 1903 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1903, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # 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 (