Levi Edgar Young was born on February 2, 1874 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to parents Seymour B. Young and Elizabeth Riter. Young attended University of Utah and graduated in 1895 with a B.S. degree. After graduation he taught at the Lowell School in Salt Lake City and the LDS College before becoming a history professor at the University of Utah. Young was also active in his church service. He was called on a mission to Europe from 1901 to 1904, during which he presided over the Swiss and Austrian mission from 1902 to 1904. After returning home he married Valeria Brinton on June 18, 1907, and over the years they had three children together. In 1909, Young was called to be one of the first seven presidents of the Quorum of the Seventies for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Young continued his education and studied history at Harvard and Columbia, eventually earning an M.A. degree from the latter in 1910. Eventually, in 1936, he was appointed as head of the Department of Western History at University of Utah. He died on December 13, 1963, in Salt Lake City, Utah.