Zina D. H. Young: Encyclopedia - Zina D. H. Young

Zina D. H. Young

Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young (1821–1901) was the third general President of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a leader in the LDS movement, and a social activist.

Zina Huntington was born in Watertown, New York on January 31, 1821, the eighth child of William and Zina Baker Huntington. She was taught family related skills, such as spinning, soap making, and weaving, and received a basic education. She developed musical talent by learning to play the cello. She was a member of the Kirtland Temple Choir. She later 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)

On April 1, 1841, Zina was civilly married to Henry Bailey Jacobs by Nauvoo mayor John C. Bennett. They had two sons, Zebulon William and Henry Chariton Jacobs. She was later sealed to Joseph Smith, Jr. as a plural wife. After Smith's death, she married Brigham Young on February 2, 1846, at age twenty-five. They were married for thirty-one years and had one daughter, Zina Prescinda Young. She also reared four of Young's children by Clarissa Chase after their mother's death.

After migrating to the Salt Lake Valley, Zina Young became involved in a number of public service activities. 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. Zina Young 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's Suffrage Association convention in New York. In 1891, she was a vice president for the Utah National Council for Women. Zina D. H. Young died on August 28, 1901 at age 80.

Zina D. H. Young - Church Membership and Service

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 baptised by Hyrum Smith on August 1, 1835. After receiving advice from Joseph Smith, Sr., the Huntington's sold their property and relocated to the Church's headquarters in the community of Kirtland, Ohio. Nineteen months later, they moved again to Far West, Missouri. They arrived at a time of violence between Missouri residents and the newly arrived Mormons. After Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issued the Extermination Order, Mr. Huntington helped coordinate the evacuation of church members to Illinois. During a 1839 cholera epidemic in Nauvoo, Illinois, Zina and her mother became ill. Mrs. Huntington died but Zina recovered after receiving care in the home of Joseph and Emma Smith. After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., Zina Young joined the LDS migration to the Rocky Mountains, arriving in Utah in September 1848.

President Brigham Young, by then her husband, encouraged the Utah settlers to develop home industries. In 1876, Zina Young was appointed president of the Deseret Silk Association (see Utah's Silk Industry), a short-lived group which 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 Young 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 auxilliaries, including the Young Ladies' Retrenchment Association and the Primary Association for Children. On Snow's death, Zina Young succeeded her as the Relief Society's third general President in 1888, and served as President until her death in 1901.

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