Zina D. H. Young

Family Background

1821. January 21: Born Zina Diantha Huntington in Watertown, New York. She married Henry B. Jacobs in March, 1841, and was sealed to Joseph Smith seven months later, seven months pregnant with Jacobs's child.

T. B. H. Stenhouse reported that some time after Joseph Smith's death, "within the hearing of many Saints … [Brigham Young] ordered those walking in other men's shoes to step out of them. 'Brother Jacobs,' Young declared, '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 is, in this behalf, with her children, my property. You can go where you please, and get another, but be sure to get one of your own kindred spirit.'"

In 1846 Jacobs "stood approving as [Zina's] earlier sealing to Joseph Smith was confirmed by proxy in the Nauvoo Temple," and "witnessed her sealing 'for time' to Brigham Young."

Zina and Brigham had only one child, but she also reared four of his children by Clara Ross after the death of their mother.

Convert:

1835. After baptism by Hyrum Smith, Zina's entire family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where she exercised the "gift of tongues and interpretation thereof." Eliza R. Snow and Zina often worked as a revelatory team, one speaking in tongues while the other interpreted.

Pioneer Midwife and Teacher:

Zina D. H. Young took a medical course in the early 1850s and became a midwife and nurse. She also taught school. She frequently administered "washings and anointings" to women prior to childbirth.

As president of the Church Silk Association, she traveled the territory promoting the cultivation of mulberry trees and silkworms. She was the manager of Brigham Young's cocoonery.

Plural Marriage Advocate

1876. At a women's mass meeting in Salt Lake City she proclaimed, "The principle of plural marriage is honorable. It is a principle of the Gods, it is heaven born. God revealed it to us as a saving principle; we have accepted it as such, and we know it is of him for the fruits of it are holy. Even the Savior, himself, traces his lineage back to polygamic parents. We are proud of the principle, because we know its true worth, and we want our children to practice it, that through us a race of men and women may grow up possessing sound minds in sound bodies, who shall live to the age of a tree."

She advised, "I think that much of the unhappiness found in polygamous families is due to the women themselves. They expect too much attention from the husband, and because they do not get it, or see a little attention bestowed upon one of the other wives, they become sullen and morose, and permit their ill-temper to finally find vent."

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. The marriages which we read of in the Old Testament were not love matches, as of instance, the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah, of Jacob to Leah; and we believe in the good old custom by which marriages should be arranged by the parents of the young people."

Third President of the Relief Society

1888. A charter member of the Nauvoo Relief Society, Zina D. H. Young was selected second counselor to President Eliza R. Snow in 1879. In 1888 Wilford Woodruff called her to be the third president of the Relief Society.

Death

1901. August 28: Died of old age—sexton's records list "senility"—at her home at 146 Fourth Street in Salt Lake [p.418] City at the age of eighty. Buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery family plot of her first husband, Henry B. Jacobs, who had died of Bright's disease in 1886. Her epitaph is the motto of the Relief Society: "Charity never faileth."

Zina D. H. Young Sources
Brodie, Fawn M. No Man Knows My History, 2nd ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971.
Clark, James R. Messages of the First Presidency. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1970.
Jenson, Andrew. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson Historical Company, 1901-1936.
New York World, 17 November 1869.
Stenhouse, T. B. H. Rocky Mountain Saints. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1873.
Woman's Exponent, 7 (1878): 98.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents

introduction Elijah Abel Almon W. Babbitt John C. Bennett John M. Bernhisel Sam Brannan George H. Brimhall Fawn M. Brodie Hugh B. Brown Abraham H. Cannon Frank J. Cannon George Q. Cannon Martha Hughes Cannon Butch Cassidy J. Reuben Clark Oliver Cowdery Matthew Cowley Richard L. Evans Green Flake Susa Young Gates William S. Godbe Heber J. Grant Jedediah M. Grant Jacob Hamblin Martin Harris Bill Hickman Orson Hyde	Anthony W. Ivins Heber C. Kimball J. Golden Kimball Jesse Knight Harold B. Lee John D. Lee Amasa Lyman Amy Brown Lyman Francis M. Lyman Karl G. Maeser Thomas B. Marsh David O. McKay Edward Partridge David W. Patten Romania Pratt Penrose W. W. Phelps Orson Pratt Parely P. Pratt Alice Louise Reynolds Willard Richards Sidney Rigdon B. H. Roberts Porter Rockwell Aurelia Rogers Ellis Shipp Emma Smith George A. Smith	George Albert Smith Hyrum Smith Joseph Smith Joseph F. Smith Joseph Fielding Smith Lucy Mack Smith Reed Smoot Eliza R. Snow Erastus Snow Lorenzo Snow Fanny Stenhouse James E. Talmage Annie Clark Tanner John Taylor John W. Taylor Moses Thatcher Chief Walker Daniel H. Wells Emmeline B. Wells David Whitmer John A. Widtsoe Wilford Woodruff Brigham Young Brigham Young Jr. Zina D. H. Young cover


	Zina D. H. Young (1821-1901)

				Zina D. H. Young was a plural wife of the prophets, third president of the Relief Society, and women's rights advocate. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.


	Family Background 1821. January 21: Born Zina Diantha Huntington in Watertown, New York. She married Henry B. Jacobs in March, 1841, and was sealed to Joseph Smith seven months later, seven months pregnant with Jacobs's child. T. B. H. Stenhouse reported that some time after Joseph Smith's death, "within the hearing of many Saints … [Brigham Young] ordered those walking in other men's shoes to step out of them. 'Brother Jacobs,' Young declared, '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 is, in this behalf, with her children, my property. You can go where you please, and get another, but be sure to get one of your own kindred spirit.'" In 1846 Jacobs "stood approving as [Zina's] earlier sealing to Joseph Smith was confirmed by proxy in the Nauvoo Temple," and "witnessed her sealing 'for time' to Brigham Young." Zina and Brigham had only one child, but she also reared four of his children by Clara Ross after the death of their mother. Convert: 1835. After baptism by Hyrum Smith, Zina's entire family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where she exercised the "gift of tongues and interpretation thereof." Eliza R. Snow and Zina often worked as a revelatory team, one speaking in tongues while the other interpreted. Pioneer Midwife and Teacher: Zina D. H. Young took a medical course in the early 1850s and became a midwife and nurse. She also taught school. She frequently administered "washings and anointings" to women prior to childbirth. As president of the Church Silk Association, she traveled the territory promoting the cultivation of mulberry trees and silkworms. She was the manager of Brigham Young's cocoonery. Plural Marriage Advocate 1876. At a women's mass meeting in Salt Lake City she proclaimed, "The principle of plural marriage is honorable. It is a principle of the Gods, it is heaven born. God revealed it to us as a saving principle; we have accepted it as such, and we know it is of him for the fruits of it are holy. Even the Savior, himself, traces his lineage back to polygamic parents. We are proud of the principle, because we know its true worth, and we want our children to practice it, that through us a race of men and women may grow up possessing sound minds in sound bodies, who shall live to the age of a tree." She advised, "I think that much of the unhappiness found in polygamous families is due to the women themselves. They expect too much attention from the husband, and because they do not get it, or see a little attention bestowed upon one of the other wives, they become sullen and morose, and permit their ill-temper to finally find vent." 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. The marriages which we read of in the Old Testament were not love matches, as of instance, the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah, of Jacob to Leah; and we believe in the good old custom by which marriages should be arranged by the parents of the young people." Third President of the Relief Society 1888. A charter member of the Nauvoo Relief Society, Zina D. H. Young was selected second counselor to President Eliza R. Snow in 1879. In 1888 Wilford Woodruff called her to be the third president of the Relief Society. Death 1901. August 28: Died of old age—sexton's records list "senility"—at her home at 146 Fourth Street in Salt Lake [p.418] City at the age of eighty. Buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery family plot of her first husband, Henry B. Jacobs, who had died of Bright's disease in 1886. Her epitaph is the motto of the Relief Society: "Charity never faileth." Zina D. H. Young Sources Brodie, Fawn M. No Man Knows My History, 2nd ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971. Clark, James R. Messages of the First Presidency. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1970. Jenson, Andrew. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson Historical Company, 1901-1936. New York World, 17 November 1869. Stenhouse, T. B. H. Rocky Mountain Saints. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1873. Woman's Exponent, 7 (1878): 98.