Zina D. H. Young
Encyclopedia
Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young (31 January 1821 – 28 August 1901) was an American social activist and religious leader who served as the third general president of the Relief Society
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1888 until her death. She was a polygamous wife of Joseph Smith
, and later Brigham Young
, each of whom she married while she was still married to her first husband, Henry Jacobs.
the eighth child of William
and Zina Baker Huntington. She was taught household skills, such as spinning
, soap
making, and weaving
, and received a basic education. She developed musical talent by learning to play the cello
. In 1835, when Zina Huntington was fourteen, her family was contacted by Hyrum Smith
and David Whitmer
, missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. With the exception of her oldest brother, the entire family joined the newly formed church. Zina was baptized by Hyrum Smith on August 1, 1835.
After receiving advice from Joseph Smith, Sr.
, Zina's father sold their property and relocated to the Church's headquarters in the community of Kirtland, Ohio
. Zina was a member of the Kirtland Temple Choir. Nineteen months later, they moved again to Far West, Missouri
. They arrived in Far West at a time of violence between Missouri residents and the newly arrived Mormons. After Missouri Governor
Lilburn Boggs
issued the Extermination Order, Zina's father helped coordinate the evacuation of church members to Illinois. During an 1839 cholera
epidemic
in Nauvoo, Illinois
, Zina and her mother became ill. Her mother died but she recovered after receiving care in the home of Joseph and Emma Smith
. Zina was eighteen years old.
(Van Wagoner 1992, p. 44). Zina declined the proposal and on March 7, 1841 she married Jacobs. Nauvoo mayor
John C. Bennett
conducted the ceremony.
Zina wrote that within months of her marriage to Jacobs, Smith sent word to her that he had "put it off till an angel with a drawn sword stood by me and told me if I did not establish that principle upon the earth I would lose my position and my life." She and Smith were married on October 27, 1841, a date Zina celebrated as her anniversary of her marriage
to Smith. At the time of her marriage to Smith, she was about seven months pregnant with a child (Zebulon William Jacobs), which has been confirmed to be that of Jacobs by DNA evidence. Jacobs was eventually aware of the wedding, because after Smith's death in 1844 Jacobs stood by while Zina was sealed to Smith in the Nauvoo Temple
. After the 1841 wedding, Zina and Henry Jacobs continued to live together, except when he was away serving a mission Zina and Henry Jacobs had another son, Henry Chariton Jacobs, on March 22, 1846, almost two years after Smith's death.
Soon after Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, Zina was married to Brigham Young. In May 1846, Brigham Young called Henry Jacobs to serve a mission to England. During Jacobs' absence, Zina began living openly in a marital relationship with Brigham Young, and continued to do so for the rest of her life, without ever obtaining a divorce from Henry Jacobs.
One account, written by a former Mormon, states that soon before Henry was to leave on his mission, after the Latter-day Saints had left Illinois and were camped in Iowa,
Henry struggled with the arrangement and, in later years wrote to Zina, “...the same affection is there...But I feel alone...I do not Blame Eny person...may the Lord our Father bless Brother Brigham...all is right according to the Law of the Celestial Kingdom of our God Joseph.”
In later life, Zina commented that women in polygamous relationships "expect too much attention from the husband and . . . become sullen and morose. . . ." She explained that "a successful polygamous wife must regard her husband with indifference, and with no other feeling than that of reverence, for love we regard as a false sentiment; a feeling which should have no existence in polygamy."
, arriving in Utah
in September 1848. After migrating to the Salt Lake Valley
, Zina Young became involved in a number of public service activities. She became a school teacher and studied obstetrics
under Dr. Willard Richards
. As a midwife, she "...helped deliver the babies of many women, including those of the plural wives
of Brigham Young
. At their request, she anointed and blessed many of these sisters before their deliveries. Other women in need of physical and emotional comfort also received blessings under her hands." (Ludlow, p. 654) In 1872, she helped establish Deseret Hospital in Salt Lake City and served on its board of directors and for twelve years as president. She also organized a nursing school, with courses in obstetrics. In 1876, Zina was appointed president of the Deseret Silk Association, Utah's Silk Industry, a group which for 30 years attempted to cultivate silk worms and mulberry
trees for the local production of cloth. She was also involved in LDS temple
work, acting as matron to female temple workers.
When the LDS Relief Society was reorganized in 1880, Zina was selected as first counselor by President Eliza R. Snow. The new presidency was active in refining the society's organization and functions, and helped develop additional church auxiliaries, including the Young Ladies' Retrenchment Association and the Primary Association
for Children. Zina was active in the temperance
and women's suffrage
movements, and, in the winter of 1881-82, attended the Women's Conference in Buffalo
and a National Woman Suffrage Association convention in New York. In addition to Snow, Zina counted other prominent women in the Relief Society as her friends, including Bathsheba Smith and Emmeline B. Wells
. (Bradley and Woodward, p. 197)
In 1888, following the death of Eliza R. Snow, Zina succeeded her as the Relief Society's third general president and served as president until her death in 1901. In 1891, she was a vice president for the Utah National Council for Women
. Zina died on August 28, 1901 at age 80.
Relief Society
The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA and has approximately 6 million members in over 170 countries and territories...
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1888 until her death. She was a polygamous wife of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
, and later Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
, each of whom she married while she was still married to her first husband, Henry Jacobs.
Childhood
Zina Huntington was born in Watertown, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
the eighth child of William
William Huntington (Mormon)
William Huntington was an early leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , most prominently during the time the Mormon pioneers were moving from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City....
and Zina Baker Huntington. She was taught household skills, such as spinning
Spinning (textiles)
Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...
, soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
making, and weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
, and received a basic education. She developed musical talent by learning to play the cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. In 1835, when Zina Huntington was fourteen, her family was contacted by Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
and David Whitmer
David Whitmer
David Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates.-Early life:...
, missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. With the exception of her oldest brother, the entire family joined the newly formed church. Zina was baptized by Hyrum Smith on August 1, 1835.
After receiving advice from Joseph Smith, Sr.
Joseph Smith, Sr.
Joseph Smith, Sr. was the father of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Joseph Sr. was also one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, which Mormons believe was translated by Joseph Jr. from the Golden Plates. In 1833 Joseph Sr...
, Zina's father sold their property and relocated to the Church's headquarters in the community of Kirtland, Ohio
Kirtland, Ohio
Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, USA. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census. Kirtland is famous for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Origins of Kirtland:...
. Zina was a member of the Kirtland Temple Choir. Nineteen months later, they moved again to Far West, Missouri
Far West, Missouri
Far West, Missouri, was a Latter Day Saint settlement in Caldwell County, Missouri.-Foundation and early history:The town was founded by Missouri Mormon leaders, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer in August 1836 shortly before the county's creation. The town was platted originally as a square area,...
. They arrived in Far West at a time of violence between Missouri residents and the newly arrived Mormons. After Missouri Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Lilburn Boggs
Lilburn Boggs
Lilburn Williams Boggs was the sixth Governor of Missouri from 1836 to 1840. He is now most widely remembered for his interactions with Joseph Smith and Porter Rockwell, and Missouri Executive Order 44, known by Mormons as the "Extermination Order", issued in response to the ongoing conflict...
issued the Extermination Order, Zina's father helped coordinate the evacuation of church members to Illinois. During an 1839 cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
in Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
, Zina and her mother became ill. Her mother died but she recovered after receiving care in the home of Joseph and Emma Smith
Emma Hale Smith
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was married to Joseph Smith, Jr., until his death in 1844, and was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, during Joseph Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...
. Zina was eighteen years old.
Marriages and children
Zina recorded in her autobiography that when she was twenty and being courted by Henry Bailey Jacobs, she received a secret proposal from the prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr. As Smith was already married to his wife Emma, Zina claimed Smith explained to her that the Lord was restoring the ancient order of plural marriagePlural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
(Van Wagoner 1992, p. 44). Zina declined the proposal and on March 7, 1841 she married Jacobs. Nauvoo mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
John C. Bennett
John C. Bennett
John Cook Bennett was an American physician and a ranking and influential—but short-lived—leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as second-in-command to Joseph Smith, Jr., for a brief period in the early 1840s....
conducted the ceremony.
Zina wrote that within months of her marriage to Jacobs, Smith sent word to her that he had "put it off till an angel with a drawn sword stood by me and told me if I did not establish that principle upon the earth I would lose my position and my life." She and Smith were married on October 27, 1841, a date Zina celebrated as her anniversary of her marriage
Wedding anniversary
-Official recognition:In the Commonwealth realms, one can receive a message from the monarch for 60th, 65th, and 70th wedding anniversaries, and any wedding anniversary after that...
to Smith. At the time of her marriage to Smith, she was about seven months pregnant with a child (Zebulon William Jacobs), which has been confirmed to be that of Jacobs by DNA evidence. Jacobs was eventually aware of the wedding, because after Smith's death in 1844 Jacobs stood by while Zina was sealed to Smith in the Nauvoo Temple
Nauvoo Temple
The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States in 1836. When the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois in the...
. After the 1841 wedding, Zina and Henry Jacobs continued to live together, except when he was away serving a mission Zina and Henry Jacobs had another son, Henry Chariton Jacobs, on March 22, 1846, almost two years after Smith's death.
Soon after Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, Zina was married to Brigham Young. In May 1846, Brigham Young called Henry Jacobs to serve a mission to England. During Jacobs' absence, Zina began living openly in a marital relationship with Brigham Young, and continued to do so for the rest of her life, without ever obtaining a divorce from Henry Jacobs.
One account, written by a former Mormon, states that soon before Henry was to leave on his mission, after the Latter-day Saints had left Illinois and were camped in Iowa,
- Brigham Young spoke in this wise, in the hearing of hundreds: He said it was time for men who were walking in other men's shoes to step out of them. "Brother Jacobs," he says, "the woman you claim for a wife does not belong to you. She is the spiritual wife of brother Joseph, sealed up to him. I am his proxy, and she, in this behalf, with her children, are my property. You can go where you please, and get another, but be sure to get one of your own kindred spirit."
Henry struggled with the arrangement and, in later years wrote to Zina, “...the same affection is there...But I feel alone...I do not Blame Eny person...may the Lord our Father bless Brother Brigham...all is right according to the Law of the Celestial Kingdom of our God Joseph.”
In later life, Zina commented that women in polygamous relationships "expect too much attention from the husband and . . . become sullen and morose. . . ." She explained that "a successful polygamous wife must regard her husband with indifference, and with no other feeling than that of reverence, for love we regard as a false sentiment; a feeling which should have no existence in polygamy."
Church service and leadership
After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., Zina Young joined the Mormon Exodus to the Rocky MountainsRocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, arriving in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
in September 1848. After migrating to the Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably West Valley City, Murray, Sandy, and West Jordan; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010...
, Zina Young became involved in a number of public service activities. She became a school teacher and studied obstetrics
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
under Dr. Willard Richards
Willard Richards
Willard Richards was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served as Second Counselor in the First Presidency to church president Brigham Young in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death.Willard Richards was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to...
. As a midwife, she "...helped deliver the babies of many women, including those of the plural wives
Plural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
of Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
. At their request, she anointed and blessed many of these sisters before their deliveries. Other women in need of physical and emotional comfort also received blessings under her hands." (Ludlow, p. 654) In 1872, she helped establish Deseret Hospital in Salt Lake City and served on its board of directors and for twelve years as president. She also organized a nursing school, with courses in obstetrics. In 1876, Zina was appointed president of the Deseret Silk Association, Utah's Silk Industry, a group which for 30 years attempted to cultivate silk worms and mulberry
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
trees for the local production of cloth. She was also involved in LDS temple
Temple (LDS Church)
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time...
work, acting as matron to female temple workers.
When the LDS Relief Society was reorganized in 1880, Zina was selected as first counselor by President Eliza R. Snow. The new presidency was active in refining the society's organization and functions, and helped develop additional church auxiliaries, including the Young Ladies' Retrenchment Association and the Primary Association
Primary Association
The Primary is a children's organization and an official auxiliary within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
for Children. Zina was active in the temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
and women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
movements, and, in the winter of 1881-82, attended the Women's Conference in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
and a National Woman Suffrage Association convention in New York. In addition to Snow, Zina counted other prominent women in the Relief Society as her friends, including Bathsheba Smith and Emmeline B. Wells
Emmeline B. Wells
Emmeline Blanche Woodward Harris Whitney Wells was an American journalist, editor, poet, women's rights advocate and diarist...
. (Bradley and Woodward, p. 197)
In 1888, following the death of Eliza R. Snow, Zina succeeded her as the Relief Society's third general president and served as president until her death in 1901. In 1891, she was a vice president for the Utah National Council for Women
International Council of Women
The International Council of Women was the first women's organization to work across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington D.C...
. Zina died on August 28, 1901 at age 80.