Zina D. H. Young’s Witness of the Book of Mormon
Published October 17, 2026 at 12:07 AM
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Young Woman's Journal Research
Zina D. H. Young reports that in 1835, when she was 13 years old, Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer visited her home. Upon seeing the Book of Mormon on a window sill, she experienced a profound spiritual sensation and conviction of its divinity, claiming she knew it was brought forth by an angel's hand.
According to the Joseph Smith Papers biography of Zina Diantha Huntington Young, she was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Hyrum Smith in Watertown on August 1, 1835.
In Their Own Words
“I was fourteen years of age when the gospel was first preached in my father's house in Watertown, Jefferson county, New York. Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer were the elders. When I heard them preach, I knew it was the truth. I remember the Book of Mormon was lying on the window sill. I went and took it up, and as I looked at it, I felt such a thrill of joy run through me that I could not express it. I clasped it to my bosom and felt that it was the truth. I knew it was the word of God. I have never doubted it from that day to this.”
— Zina D. H. Young, 'How I Gained My Testimony of Truth,' The Young Woman's Journal, Vol. 4, No. 7 (April 1893), 316–317
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 12 no. 6 (June 1901). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/10245 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Young Woman's Journal, Vol. 4, No. 7 (April 1893), pp. 316–317 https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/11206/rec/4 Additional sources (periodical research): The Joseph Smith Papers, 'Young, Zina Diantha Huntington,' https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/zina-diantha-huntington-young; Church of Jesus Christ Church History Topics, 'Zina D. H. Jacobs Young,' https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/zina-d-h-young?lang=eng
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