His parents were Arthur Paʻu Young and of Amipelia or Amepelia. His father's heritage was half-Samoan and half-white; his grandfather was either a British or American surnamed Young and his grandmother was a Samoan woman of Fasito'o (located in the western
Samoan Islands). On his mother's side, Young was a descendant of Tui Manu'a
Taliutafa Tupolo, son of Tui Manu'a
Moaatoa, of the
anoalo class, the lineal descendants of the
Tui Manu'a line. His elder sister
Tui Manu'a Matelita ruled briefly from 1891 to 1895. The family resided in the main two villages of 'o Lumā and Sī'ufaga, on
Ta‘ū, the main island of the
Manu'a group, where his father was a trader. The family lived in a two-story stone house in the center of the two villages near the Protestant Christian church. The family also had connections and lived in the western Samoan Islands at
Apia (capital of
German Samoa). After the short reign of his sister Matelita, the title went to
Tui Manuʻa Elisala (from another branch of the family). He ceded the islands to the United States with the
Treaty of Cession of Manu'a on 16 July 1904 thus becoming a part of
American Samoa. After Elisala's death in 1909, it was noted that "the title effectively died – at least in the eyes of the American government – with him. But the status of the title was not forgotten and the desire for Samoa autonomy lived on." ==Attempted restoration of the Tui Manu'a title==