Zina P. Young Card

Zina Presendia Young Williams Card (April 3, 1850 – January 31, 1931) was an American religious leader and women's rights activist. A daughter of Brigham Young, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), she was the first "Dean of Women" at Brigham Young Academy (BYA) (now Brigham Young University) in Provo, Utah. She fought on a national level for women's suffrage and the right to practice plural marriage. After moving to a new Mormon settlement at Cardston, Alberta, Canada, she became a major civic and religious leader of the community.

Early life Zina Presendia Young was born April 3, 1850, to Brigham Young and Zina D. H. Young in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. She lived with her mother, twelve of Young's other plural wives, and twenty-nine half-siblings in her father's Lion House. One of her half-siblings was Susa Young Gates. Zina was one of the "big ten," a group of ten daughters of Young born within three years. Zina was her mother's only daughter. She remembered her upbringing fondly, describing it as "joyous." treasurer of the theater and scribe to her father. She was eighteen and he was forty when they married She became a plural wife, and gave birth to two sons: Sterling Williams (b. September 21, 1870) and Thomas Edgar Williams (b. July 21, 1873). On July 17, 1874, Williams died; this was followed by her father's death in 1877 and her son Thomas's death in 1881.

Career and activism Faculty of Brigham Young Academy in 1884After Williams's death, Card supported herself and her sons by "teaching people how to make wax flowers", Together, the Cards traveled to neighboring settlements and delivered speeches; Zina was often deemed "the stronger orator". She served on the Board of Trustees for Brigham Young University from 1918 until her death. was Zina Young Card Brown.

Like her mother, Brown valued education; she studied elocution and domestic science at Brigham Young College in Logan. In 1908 she married future LDS Apostle Hugh B. Brown in the Salt Lake Temple. She gave birth to eight children. While Hugh was stationed in France during World War I, Brown managed his finances and survived the 1918 flu epidemic along with all of her children. The elder Zina visited them in Canada as much as possible, and Brown in turn often visited her mother in Salt Lake City. but fled England at the onset of World War II.

After finishing their years in London, Hugh and Zina Brown returned to Utah and moved to Provo. He worked at Brigham Young University, where seven of their eight children attended school. In 1953, Hugh was called as an Assistant to the Twelve Apostles. Zina accompanied him in his travels around the world, including to destinations such as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Fiji, and was often asked to speak at conferences and events. He was then called as an Apostle in 1958, and then as second counselor to David O. McKay in the First Presidency in 1960. Grave of Zina P. Young Card in the Salt Lake City Cemetery Throughout her life, Card was an academic, political, and spiritual leader, with Maureen Ursenbach Beecher identifying her as "the unquestionable female leader of the Alberta colonies". She served as the "Dean of Women" of Brigham Young Academy, She held multiple leadership positions within the LDS Church, constantly travelling and speaking with varieties of people. As "Cardston's First Lady", she guided the Mormon colonists; through her role as a church leader for the young women, she led women and girls. It is sometimes called "Mother Canton's Flannel Place," a reference to the material Zina Card made and used as wallpaper in her cabin. and approximately 82,000 members of the LDS Church live in the region as of 2020.

Her great-grandson is Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game.