Zina D. H. Young, a midwife and an educator, worked closely with Eliza R. Snow in the Relief Society. In 1870 Brigham Young called Sister Young to promote silk production among the women of the Church as part of the Church’s emphasis on home industry and self-sufficiency. During her presidency the Relief Society affiliated with the United States National Council of Women and campaigned for women’s suffrage. Sister Young continued the Relief Society’s emphasis on health care, grain storage, education, and compassionate service.
The offending sentence, "Widowed by her first husband, she raised two sons from that marriage, one daughter from her later marriage to Brigham Young, and four of Brigham Young’s other children” has been struck.
The original post:
The Church’s website contains, in my opinion, a clear and deliberate misrepresentation of history.
This is the biography of Zina Diantha Huntington Young, the second president of the Relief Society: http://www.LDS.org/pa/display/0,17884,5511-1,00.html (downloaded 9/12/08). I have included the complete text here:
”Zina D. H. Young, a midwife and an educator, worked closely with Eliza R. Snow in the Relief Society. In 1870 Brigham Young called Sister Young to promote silk production among the women of the Church as part of the Church’s emphasis on home industry and self-sufficiency. During her presidency the Relief Society affiliated with the United States National Council of Women and campaigned for women’s suffrage. Sister Young continued the Relief Society’s emphasis on health care, grain storage, education, and compassionate service. Widowed by her first husband, she raised two sons from that marriage, one daughter from her later marriage to Brigham Young, and four of Brigham Young’s other children”
Notice the chronology offered by the text: “widowed by her first husband” and then “later marriage to Brigham Young”. In fact her first husband died 9 years after Brigham.
Here is the actual time line of events:
7 Mar 1841 Marriage to Henry Jacobs
27 Oct 1841 Marriage to Joseph Smith
2 Jan 1842 Birth of Zebulon Jacobs, fathered by Henry Jacobs
27 Jun 1844 Death of Joseph Smith
2 Feb 1846 Marriage to Brigham Young (Zina was 8 months pregnant)
22 Mar 1846 Birth of Henry C. Jacobs, fathered by Henry Jacobs
3 Apr 1850 Birth of Zina Young, fathered by Brigham Young
29 Aug 1877 Death of Brigham Young
1 Aug 1886 Death of Henry Jacobs
Some key elements bear review:
*Zina was married to Jacob in Nauvoo by Mormon clergy. It was a legal and lawful marriage by both US law and Mormon law.
*Both Zina and Henry were active believing members before their marriage.
*Joseph Smith took Zina in a celestial marriage a mere 7 months after she was married to Jacob.
*The marriage to Jacob was obviously still recognized by Zina and Henry since she bore 2 children with Henry after the marriage.
*Brigham Young and Heber Kimball married all of the Joseph Smith “widows” following his death regardless of their relationship to their first husbands.
*Zina did not need to be taken care of; she had a husband who was active in the church.
*Henry never left the Church, he died in Salt Lake City.
*Henry and Zina were never divorced.
*Brigham Young’s relationship with Zina went beyond taking care of a widow since she was no widow and he sired a daughter with her.
Given the above information, the Church’s official biography can only be seen as a lie. This information is well known inside and outside of the Church.
These dates can be verified at http://www.familysearch.org/:
Henry Bailey JACOBS (AFN: 1ZH6-9X)
Zina Diantha HUNTINGTON (AFN: 8R65-S9)
Brigham YOUNG (AFN: 3ZD8-KC)
Zebulon William JACOBS (AFN:234B-S6)
Henry Chariton JACOBS (AFN:1875-4N)
Zina Presendia YOUNG (AFN:1CK9-M2)
You can also read FAIR’s bizarre response to this at:
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences ... r_Men.html