February 2, 1846 - August 29, 1877
After Smith's death in 1844, Jacobs stood by while Zina was sealed to Smith in the Nauvoo Temple. Later in life, she called herself Joseph's "widow."8 Zina was present at the meeting at which Brigham Young was chosen to lead the church, after Young spoke with the voice and appearance of Smith. Because she believed him to be God's chosen leader, she consented when Young, 20 years her senior, claimed he acted as Smith's proxy, proposed they be married for time (as many other members of the Quorum of the Twelve did with Smith's other plural wives). They were married February 2, 1846, and at the same time she was re-sealed to Smith for eternity. At this point, Young and other church leaders considered her civil marriage to Jacobs canceled, superseded by the spiritual marriages, though no formal divorce was ever documented. In October 1861, Brigham would go on to assert, "There was another way—in which a woman could leave a man—if the woman preferred—another man higher in authority and he is willing to take her. And her husband gives her up—there is no Bill of divorce required in the case it is right in the sight of God." In May 1846, Young called Henry Jacobs to serve a mission to England. During Jacobs's absence, Zina began living openly in a marital relationship with Young and continued to do so for the rest of her life. She had one child with Young, Zina Prescinda Young, in 1850