Canadian Prophetesses
Zina Young Williams
Card’s husband recorded many of her experiences with glossolalia. Born in Salt
Lake City in 1850, the daughter of Brigham Young and Zina D. H. Young, Zina was
named after her mother and was one of the “big ten,” which was President Young’s
affectionate name for his oldest daughters (Susan Young Gates, The Life
Story of Brigham Young [New York: The Macmillan Company, 1938], 345).
Married at age
eighteen to Thomas Williams, she became a widow with two young sons at age twenty-four.
Zina was a refined, educated woman who served as the dean of women at B.Y.
Academy and as one of Utah’s two delegates to the First Congress of
Suffragettes in Washington, D.C., in 1879. In 1844, she became the second
polygamous wife of Cache Stake President Charles Ora Card. In 1887, President
John Taylor called the Cards to form the settlement in Canada (Kate B. Carter, Treasures
of Pioneer History, 6 vols. [Daughters of Utah Pioneers: Salt Lake City,
1953], 2:50-53). She became known as the “Mother of the Canadian Colonies” and
also could be called the “Mother of the Frontier Prophetesses” (Ibid., 50).
According to J.D. Higinbotham, “Mrs. Card was a fluent and convincing speaker
[who] exercised a far-reaching influence of the life of Southern Alberta” (J.D.
Higinbotham, When the West Was Young [Lethbridge, Alberta: Herald
Printers, 1978], 130).
Zina Card was
outspoken about religion (C. Frank Steele, "Latter-day Saint Settlement in
Canada," The Instructor, Vol. 83, No. 10 [October 1948]:454) and
may have also been frank about her experience with glossolalia. Research shows
seven different instances when she participated in the gift of tongues between
1894 and 1899 (Zina D.H. Young, A Weary Traveler: The 1848-50 Diary of Zina
D.H. Young, ed. Marilyn Higbee [University Scholar Project, Brigham Young University,
1992]). She may have been introduced to this gift of the Spirit by her mother.
Zina’s mother, who served as the third General Relief Society president, “was called
on regularly to share her spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues” (Higbee, 2).
For instance, in a diary from 1848-50, Young recorded eight different
experiences with the gift of tongues (Higbee, 2, 20, 35, 19, 21, 29, 31). The
two Zinas had a close mother-daughter relationship, and Mother Zina called her
daughter from Canada in June 1897 to serve as her general secretary to the
Relief Society (Card, 409).
On one occasion, when
Mother Young was visiting her daughter, they participated in the gift of
tongues together. President Card was conversing with a Brother Jacobs, who had
been called on a mission to Europe. At one point in the conversation, Charles
Card prophesied that Jacobs would “do a good work.” Zina Young then blessed him
in tongues, and Zina Card interpreted. The message included the promise that
Jacobs would “return in peace and safety.” Zina also informed him that “his
wife behind the veil watched over him, and that his present wife should bring
forth many noble spirits, among them prophets of the Lord” (Ibid., 332-33).
At a meeting in the
Aetna Ward in the Cardston Stake, the gift of tongues was also manifest by two
other women, with Zina again as the interpreter. Bishop Hammer and his wife had
planned a meeting with the Relief Society. During the meeting, a Sister Hansen and
Sarah Hinman “enjoyed the gift of tongues.” Zina Card and Nellie Hinman then “had
the gift of interpretation of tongues.” “Many blessing[s] were pronounced upon
those present” through the spiritual manifestation (Ibid., 302-3).
The same women who
participated in this incident were blessed on several occasions with this same
spiritual gift. Nellie Hinman was blessed with the gift of tongues five times
with Zina Card as the interpreter. On one of these occasions, the message for
the Saints was as follows:
Angels are watching
over us. Some of you think you are exiled from the Church, not so. You are part
of the church. Many of your sons here will fill missions in this land for there
are many in this land yearning for the gospel and yet this nation will seek you
for wisdom. The Lord is watching over us. (Ibid., 296)
Another woman who had
multiple experiences with glossolalia was Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hammer, who first
received this gift at a young age at a testimony meeting in Cardston. Elizabeth
began to bear her testimony when “all at once she threw off her shawl and hat
and burst out in tongues which was accompanied by the Spirit of prophecy [and]
blessed all about her especially the leading priesthood.” She told President Card
that he was “the right man in the right place and doing all for the people [he]
could and Saints should cease finding fault.” In addition, she informed Card he
would “yet behold the face of [the]Redeemer.” She also blessed Cardstone Stake
Patriarch H.L. Hinman. Nellie Pitcher interpreted for Elizabeth and “added
comforting words to . . . others and rebuked those that spoke evil against
others [who] had the first of tongues and interpretation of tongues” (Ibid.,
327).
Two days later,
Lizzie Hammer again “had the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues
accompanied by prophecy.” She told a member of the congregation that if he
would take a trip to Utah, his children would turn to the Lord and he would be
healed. She also told his wife that she was “one of the choice handmaidens of the Lord.” The manifestation ended with a message for President Card and a
directive for the membership. Card was to lift up his heat, for he would have
every righteous desire, and the congregation was to show more respect for Card’s
work (Ibid., 328). In September of that year (1896), President Lorenzo Snow of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and several other Church leaders from Salt
Lake City, including John W. Taylor, came to Canada for a conference. During
their visit, Hammer experienced glossolalia again, along with “several other
sisters.” On this occasion, President Card did not relate the message but did
state that the visiting Apostles were the ones who interpreted her message (Ibid.,
356).
Young women seemed to
display this gift often, whereas no records have been found of young men
displaying glossolalia in southern Alberta during this time. Rachel Gregson Archibald,
for example, was first blessed with the gift of tongues at the age of fifteen
during a fast meeting in August of 1896. Zina Card interpreted the exhortation,
which told the Saints they should “rise and bear testimony” (Ibid., 354). (Mary
Jane Woodger, “Frontier Prophetesses: The Gift of Tongues as Manifested by
Latter-day Saint Women in Southern Alberta, 1894-1930,” in Dennis A. Wright,
Robert C. Freeman, Andrew H. Hedges, and Matthew O. Richardson, eds., Regional
Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Western Canada [Provo, Utah:
Brigham Young University, 2000], 123-38, here, pp. 126-28)
