Young, Zina D. H.
From The Encyclopedia of Mormonism
See this page in the original 1992 publication.
Author: Woodward, Mary Firmage
Zina Diantha Huntington Young (1821-1901), third general president of the Relief Society, possessed great faith and compassion. Sometimes called "the heart of the women's work in Utah" (Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association [Salt Lake City, 1911], p. 21), "Aunt Zina" led the Relief Society from 1888 to 1901.
Born January 31, 1821, in Watertown, New York, Zina Diantha was the eighth of William and Zina Baker Huntington's ten children. Her father served in the War of 1812, and his father, William Huntington, Sr., in the Revolutionary War. Zina's great-great-uncle, Samuel Huntington, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Zina spent her childhood on the family farm learning the skills taught girls of that time-spinning, weaving, soap making, candle dipping, and other household skills. She attended school intermittently and acquired a basic education.
When Zina was fourteen, LDS missionaries, including Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer, visited the Huntington home in Watertown. The family listened, prayed, and believed, and all but the oldest son, Chauncey (Chancy), joined the Church.
Zina was a spiritually sensitive young woman. She later wrote that soon after her conversion, "the gift of tongues rested upon me with overwhelming force." Somewhat awed, she endeavored to repeat the experience but discovered that the gift had left her, and she feared she had offended the Holy Spirit. "One day while mother and I were spinning together, I took courage and told her of the gift…and how…I had lost it entirely. Mother appreciated my feelings, and told me to make it a matter of earnest prayer, that the gift might once more be given to me" (Young, pp. 318-19). Zina thereafter spoke in or interpreted unknown tongues on many occasions throughout her life (see Gifts of the Spirit).
Counseled by Joseph Smith, Sr., father of the Prophet Joseph Smith, to unite with the Latter-day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, the Huntingtons sold their home and property in New York and moved to Ohio in October 1836. Their nineteen months in Kirtland were a period of great physical privation but rich spiritual experiences.
In May 1838 the Huntington family joined the Saints' migration to Far West, Missouri, arriving at the height of bitter mob persecution, which resulted in the infamous Extermination Order issued by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs. Zina's father helped coordinate the Saints' evacuation. The family then settled with other Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, where Zina's mother died of cholera in July 1839. Joseph and Emma Smith cared for Zina and others of the sick in their home.
On March 7, 1841, Zina married Henry Bailey Jacobs. She later married Joseph Smith and, after Joseph's death, Brigham Young. She had two sons, Zebulon William and Henry Chariton Jacobs, and one daughter, Zina Presendia (Prescindia, Precindia) Young.
Following the expulsion from Nauvoo, Zina migrated with the Saints to the West. In the 1850s she studied obstetrics and subsequently helped deliver the babies of many women, including those of some of the other plural wives of Brigham Young. At their request, she anointed and blessed many of these sisters prior to their deliveries. Other women in need of physical and emotional comfort also received blessings under her hands.
Zina helped establish Deseret hospital, built in Salt Lake City in 1872, and served as its vice-president. She also organized a nursing school and instructed in a school for obstetrics.
In 1876 the Deseret Silk Association was organized, and Zina was appointed president by her prophet-husband Brigham Young. She traveled extensively throughout the territory to promote this home industry.
In 1880 the general organization of Relief Society, encompassing all local Relief Societies, was formed. Eliza R. Snow, the president, selected Zina as her first counselor. They were instrumental in the development of the Relief Society, the Young Ladies' retrenchment association, and the Primary Association for children.
In the winter of 1881-1882, the First Presidency sent Zina to the East to advocate women's suffrage and dispel misinformation about the Church. She attended the Women's Congress in Buffalo and the National Suffrage Association Convention in New York. She also addressed many temperance societies.
Following the death of Eliza R. Snow in 1887, President Wilford Woodruff appointed Zina general president of the Relief Society. She continued in that capacity until her death August 28, 1901.
In her later years she wrote of her hope to have accomplished some lasting good: "As the mantle of time is fast draping its folds around many of us [w]hen we go hence to our rest, after our sacrifices may it be…that many in the future may have reason to praise God for the noble Women of this generation" (Zina Card Brown family collection). Inscribed on her gravestone is the Relief Society motto: Charity Never Faileth.
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