Young, Levi Edgar, 1874-1963

Author, Utah educator, president of the Swiss-Austrian Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1902-1904, and one of the first seven presidents of Seventies of that church. Levi Edgar Young was born on 2 February 1874 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was the fourth child and second son of twelve children born to Seymour Bicknell and Elizabeth Riter Young. His grandfather, Joseph Young, was a brother to Brigham Young. He graduated with a BS degree from the University of Utah in 1895. After three years of teaching English in the Salt Lake public schools and Latter-day Saints College (1896-98), he left Salt Lake City in the summer of 1898 to attend Harvard University. In 1899 he returned to Utah to accept an instructor's position in the Department of History at the University of Utah. One year later he obtained a leave of absence from the university in order to accept a mission call to Germany issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served as a missionary during 1901-1902, and was appointed mission president of the Swiss-Austrian Mission 1 June 1902. He remained in that calling until his release in 1904. After attending lectures at the University of Strassburg, he returned to Salt Lake City and his position at the University of Utah. He married Valeria Brinton in Salt lake City on 12 June 1907. Three children were born to them: Harriet Wollerton (Mrs. Mitchell Kline), Jane Seymour (Mrs. Rulon Wells Rawson), and Eleanor Brinton (Mrs. Harris Van Orden). Following his marriage Young attended Columbia University (New York) where he received a Master of Arts degree in 1910. Young was also a student here 1924-1925. During that same year Young was called to the First Council of Seventy in the LDS Church. He remained a member (and later Senior President) of this council until his death in 1963 fulfilling many responsibilities, including president of the Temple Block Mission in Salt Lake City. He continued to teach at the University of Utah during this same time period where he was professor of Western History, 1922-1936 and head of the department of history and political science from 1936 until his retirement in 1939. Young was an avid writer and published both books and articles for periodicals. Books he authored include Economic and Social Development of Utah Under Brigham Young's Leadership, 1910 (Master’s thesis); Chief Episodes in the History of Utah, 1912; History of the Mormon Tabernacle, 1918; The Founding of Utah, 1923; and A Study of the Old Testament, 1938. Levi Edgar Young died at home in Salt Lake City on 13 December 1963 at the age of eighty-nine. [The above biographical information was drawn principally from Who Was Who, 1969-73, Vol. 5 and Who's Who in America, 1948-49.]

From the guide to the Levi Edgar Young papers, 1903-1964, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)

...