Zina D H Young
Third General Relief Society President, was born January 31,
1821. One of 9 children Zina was taught
the foundations of religion. Her parents,
William and Zina Baker Huntington, were Presbyterians and held daily Bible
study and prayed together morning and night.
Music was a part of their lives and she was taught hymns of praise and
learned to play the cello. Her mother cultured
in her heart the spirit of service.
While her parents were strict in their religion, Zina’s father studied
the Bible to find that the true church was not on the earth. The Huntington ’s met with the missionaries and Zina was baptized by Hyrum Smith August 1, 1835. “…since the day she
picked up the Book of Mormon as a 14-year-old girl and felt the burning in her
heart that it was true, nothing could harden her heart or make her testimony
waver.”
Zina’s family moved to Kirtland and then to Missouri (Zina had one
brother who did not join the church. It
is unclear if he followed or stayed in New
York .). They
arrived while the Saints were receiving much tribulation. Zina and her mother became ill while leaving Missouri . Zina recovered but her mother died. William moved the family and helped others to
Nauvoo.
Henry Bailey Jacobs on March 7, 1841 married Zina. They had 2 sons together. Henry and Zina did not stay together and Zina
married Brigham Young sometime after. Brigham and Zina had a daughter together in
which she gave birth to in a wagon heading west.
Zina learned obstetrics and helped countless women deliver
babies, nurse them to health, and even raised four other children, after their
mother died, as her own.
Zina served along side her dear friend, Eliza R. Snow
traveling and organizing the Relief Society of the Utah Territory Utah and
helped organize and help further the church.
Her emphasis was helping create nursing classes, headed the obstetrician
school, and improved the medical needs of the Saints. She was an advocate of women’s rights and
served as president of the Deseret Silk Association and was matron of the Salt Lake
Temple
Zina’s legacy to the Relief Society was one of love, sympathy,
and tenderness. Her Mona Lisa smile hides
but her eyes are where the stories are told.
You can see her ever conviction to the Lord and her story of faith.
“Sisters, it is for us to be wide
awake to our duties. The kingdom will
roll on, and we have nothing to fear but our own imperfections.” Zina D H Young
Zina died August 28,
1901, Salt Lake City
