Background
Young was born on August 12, 1803 in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, the posthumous son of Rev. John Young. Both father and mother, Mary (Clarke) Young, were of Scotch-Irish descent.
Young was born on August 12, 1803 in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, the posthumous son of Rev. John Young. Both father and mother, Mary (Clarke) Young, were of Scotch-Irish descent.
Having studied under John Borland in New York City, Young attended Columbia College there for three years, but completed his college work in Dickinson College, graduating in 1823. He became a tutor in the College of New Jersey and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1827.
In 1828 Young accepted the pastorate of the McChord (now Second) Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Kentucky. When the presidency of Centre College, Danville, became vacant in 1830, upon the resignation of Dr. Gideon Blackburn, Young was elected to the place. The institution had graduated only twenty-five young men during the eleven years of its existence, and had a student body of thirty-three. At the time of Young's death in 1857, the college had more than 250 students and an endowment in excess of $100, 000; it had attained a secure place among the strong liberal-arts colleges of the South and Middle West, and had just graduated a class of forty-seven. Young was a notable figure in the development of Presbyterian policies throughout his life. In 1834, in addition to his duties as college president, he accepted the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church of Danville, and so successful was his ministry that in 1852 he organized the Second Presbyterian Church to care for the students of the college without overcrowding the parent church. Twice moderator of the Synod of Kentucky, he became in 1853 the moderator of the General Assembly. Being specially gifted as an extemporaneous speaker, he was frequently heard in the church courts as the spokesman for moderate and practicable measures. In the New-School controversy, he deplored the violent measures that led to the division but remained loyal to the Old-School Assembly. In relation to the slavery issue, he twice freed groups of his own slaves and publicly debated in favor of including in the proposed Kentucky constitution of 1849-1850 a clause providing for the gradual emancipation of the slaves; but he opposed the radical demands of the abolitionists. The habits of his mind were quiet, peaceful, and practicable, and his great success as educator and preacher was due to the happy combination of high principle and common sense. Several of his sermons and addresses were published, among them An Address to the Presbyterians of Kentucky, Proposing a Plan for the Instruction and Emancipation of Their Slaves (1836), written for a committee of the Synod; Scriptural Duties of Masters, a sermon preached in 1846; and The Efficacy of Prayer (1858). Young died on June 23, 1857.
One year later he accepted the pastorate of the McChord (now Second) Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Ky.
Young was twice married: first, November 3, 1829, to Frances Breckinridge, who died in 1837, and second, in 1839, to Cornelia Crittenden, daughter of John J. Crittenden. He was thus connected with two of the most prominent Kentucky families of the period. He had 10 children.