4 Zinas: A Story of Mothers and Daughters on the Mormon Frontier

Mother, daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter—it was an impressive line of prominent women, all named Zina. One converted to Mormonism in New York in 1835. The next married Joseph Smith and Brigham Young successively and served as the church's general Relief Society president. The third assisted her husband, Charles Ora Card, in founding Cardston, Alberta. The fourth married future church apostle Hugh B. Brown.

Collectively this extended family had a significant impact on a large region of the American West. Individually each helped shape her particular era. Zina Young and Zina Card worked tirelessly for woman's suffrage. In addition, they encouraged women to study nursing and to become involved in industry, while also promoting drama and literature. And they inspired women through speeches and through their expressions of spirituality, including speaking in tongues. It was due in part to their efforts that many Mormon women came to feel good about themselves; in the process, the territory became not only habitable but bearable.