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    Cohn Shoshonitz Zundel (ca. 1864–1949)

    Cohn Shoshonitz Zundel was a pioneer among the Northwestern Shoshone people, being the first Shoshone woman to be called into the Relief Society presidency of the Washakie Ward.1 She was born to Tickamadakey (Sarah) and Yellow (Alma) Shoshonitz, who had survived the Bear River Massacre on 29 January 1863. Historical records have her birth as occurring near Willard, Utah Territory, between 1863 and 1865.2 Isaac E. D. Zundel, the first Euro-American bishop of the Washakie Ward, named Cohn’s father as one of the “principal men” in the colony of Washakie in 1884.3

    On 5 May 1873, Cohn—identified as “Corn”—was numbered among the first one hundred Shoshone to be baptized and confirmed into the church by George Washington Hill, a Euro-American Latter-day Saint missionary who baptized several hundred Shoshone and Bannock during the 1870s.4 She was most likely among the youngest of those first hundred, as she was somewhere between eight and ten years old at the time. On 7 December 1882, Cohn married a Shoshone Latter-day Saint known as Moroni in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, with the ceremony performed by Daniel H. Wells, a former member of the First Presidency.5 Two years later, Euro-American Latter-day Saint leader Seymour B. Young gave Moroni the surname Zundel—evidently derived from Bishop Zundel—when he ordained Moroni to the office of seventy on 12 April 1884.6 Cohn also adopted Zundel as her surname. Following the completion of the Logan Temple, Cohn and Moroni performed proxy temple work for her grandmother, great-grandmother, and sister-in-law from 11 to 13 March 1885.7 The couple had at least three children, two of whom survived to adulthood: Nephi (circa 1875–1951) and Lucy (1889–1966).8

    On 20 May 1883, apostle Lorenzo Snow and his sister Eliza R. Snow—the church’s Relief Society general president—visited Washakie to organize the ward’s Relief Society.9 Euro-American Elizabeth Harding Zundel, wife of Bishop Zundel, was chosen as the president, and she chose Melissa Johnson Hunsaker as her first counselor. President Zundel then selected Cohn as her second counselor.10 Elizabeth Zundel saw her task as not only instructing the Shoshone sisters about the Latter-day Saint religion, but also teaching them sewing, quilting, and other Euro-American domestic skills.11 Some months later, Zundel taught the sisters of the Relief Society to make “rag rugs”—mats made of used fabric.12 When Zundel was released in 1891, she was replaced as Relief Society president by Eliza Voss Ward. President Ward evidently operated without counselors during her tenure, with Phoebe Zundel Ward, who was called as secretary and treasurer, listed as the only other officer on the Relief Society rolls during the 1890s. However, a 1920s history of the Washakie Ward Relief Society described Cohn as continuing to serve as a counselor in the presidency, suggesting that she may have acted as an unofficial adviser for the new president.13

    In 1891, Cohn and Moroni’s teenage son Nephi lost his leg in an accident. On 11 July 1891, physician and Seventy Seymour B. Young “fitted the wooden leg to the little Indian boy Nephi Zundle.”14 The following year, on 8 February 1892, Cohn’s beloved husband, Moroni, died from typhoid fever. She subsequently married Moroni’s cousin Johnny Anneboey, also known as Indian Johnny or Johnny Fly, on 13 January 1893.15 Together they had at least three children, with two surviving into adulthood: Jessie (1896–1990) and Emily (1898–1975).16 Johnny passed away on 30 December 1899.17 When the 1900 census was taken, Cohn was again using the last name Zundel for herself and her four living children.18

    Relief Society minutes beginning in the 1890s paint a portrait of Cohn as a dedicated member of the church. Although she struggled with the English language her entire life, she was a trusted intermediary between the Euro-American leadership and the Shoshone sisters.19 Euro-American Relief Society secretary Phoebe Zundel Ward, who kept the earliest extant minutes, was among the first people to add an “h” to Cohn’s written name in an effort to more accurately render the sound, sometimes rendering it as “Chon” and other times as “Cohn,” which subsequently became the standard spelling.20

    When President Eliza Ward was released in 1904, her successor Mary Ann Morris Ward—wife of the new bishop, George M. Ward—called Cohn back into the presidency, this time as first counselor.21 She frequently conducted meetings, offered prayers, and bore testimony to the sisters.22 In 1906 Cohn “explained the great changes that have been wrouth [wrought] upon the sisters since the Relief Society work has been introduced unto them, showing how thankfull we should be for the priviledges that we are permited to enjoy also the advantage of living a good life.”23 After decades of dedicated service, Cohn was released on 6 May 1919.24 On 6 May 1933, on the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Relief Society in the Washakie Ward, Cohn was honored as one of the original members and spoke to the crowd “in the Lamanite language.” She reminisced about the “white building south of the village” where the Shoshone Saints would worship in the community’s early days and how “all were willing to do their part.” She testified that she knew “it [was] a good work.”25

    Cohn spent her final years surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She also filled her time working with leather and beadwork, making moccasins, gloves, purses, and belts, skills for which she was remembered.26 She passed away in Washakie on 17 November 1949, due to old age and pneumonia.27 Her great-grandson Rios Pacheco later reflected on her legacy of caring for people in the community, “not just because of the calling that she had, but because of the type of person she was.” For the sick and afflicted, “she would sit up with them. And that’s what part of that calling was, to sit with those who were ill or that had difficult times.”28

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    Cohn Shoshonitz Zundel (ca. 1864–1949), Native Saints, accessed May 28, 2026 https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/native-saints/biographies/cohn-shoshonitz-zundel

      Footnotes

      1. [1]“Cohn Shoshonitz,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      2. [2]George Washington Hill, Note, ca. 1882, Indian Records, 1873–76, George W. Hill Collection, 1840–1908, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (Church History Library hereafter cited as CHL); Washakie Branch, part 1, images 158, 203, Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, CHL; Washakie Branch, part 2, image 452, Record of Members Collection, CHL; biography of Alma Shoshonitz; “Sarah Shoshonitz,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      3. [3]“Bishops Zundell’s Wards,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 9 Sept. 1884, [3]; “Isaac Eberhard David Zundel,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      4. [4]“The Northwestern Shoshone Mission”; George W. Hill, Journal, p. 1, George W. Hill Collection, CHL; “George Washington Hill,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org. As late as 1883, Euro-American record keepers heard her name pronounced as “Corn.” See, for example, Endowment House Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884, microfilm 183408, vol. I, p. 294, 7 Dec. 1882, FamilySearch Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (FamilySearch Library hereafter cited as FSL); and Isaac E. D. Zundel, Journal, 2 June 1883, Isaac E. and Elizabeth J. Zundel Journals, 1882–1922, CHL.

      5. [5]Endowment House Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–1889, microfilm 183402, vol. L, p. 383, 7 Dec. 1882, FSL; biography of Moroni Zundel; “Daniel Hanmer Wells,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      6. [6]Seventies Quorum Records, 1844–1975, Quorum 52, vol. 1, image 37, 12 Apr. 1884, CHL; Phoebe Zundel Ward, interview by Charles Dibble, July 1945, transcript, p. 8, Utah Humanities Research Foundation, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; “Seymour B. Young,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      7. [7]Washakie Ward Record of Members, 1885–86; 1938, p. 72, CHL.

      8. [8]Biography of Lucy Zundel Alex; “Nephi Zundel” and “Harriett Zundel,” Church Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org. Later family records also identify two additional sons—Lehi, born around 1880, and Alexander, born around 1891—who died as children. (Salt Lake City, UT, Patron Ordinance Submission Sheets, 1969–1991, microfilm 1553338, no. F884099-010, image 526, FSL.)

      9. [9]Eliza R. Snow, “An Interesting Trip: The Lamanites Improving, Relief Society News—Silk Industry,” Woman’s Exponent (Salt Lake City), 1 July 1883, 17.

      10. [10]Washakie Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1847–1965, image 11, CHL; “Elizabeth Jane Harding,” and “Melissa Caroline Johnson,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org. Elizabeth Harding Zundel referred to Cohn variously in her diary as “Con” and “Conn.” See, for example, Elizabeth Harding Zundel, Journal, 3 June 1883; 17 Aug. 1883; and 12 Aug. 1884, Isaac E. and Elizabeth J. Zundel Journals, 1882–1922, CHL.

      11. [11]Elizabeth Harding Zundel, Journal, 11 July [Aug.] and 12 Aug. 1884, Isaac E. and Elizabeth J. Zundel Journals, CHL; “The Washakie Ward.”

      12. [12]Elizabeth Harding Zundel, Journal, 25–26 May 1885, Isaac E. and Elizabeth J. Zundel Journals, CHL.

      13. [13]Malad Idaho Stake Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1888–1973, vol. 1, p. 38, 11 July 1891, CHL; Seymour B. Young, Journal, 12 July 1891, Seymour B. Young Papers, 1857–1924, CHL; Washakie Ward Minutes, 1883–1910, pp. 31, 54, 76, 6 Aug. 1904. CHL; “History of Washakie Ward Relief Society,” in Washakie Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1926–37, 1959–61, vol. 1, p. 3, CHL; “Eliza Voss” and “Phebe Maria Zundel,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      14. [14]Seymour B. Young, Journal, 11 July 1891, Seymour B. Young Papers, CHL.

      15. [15]Washakie Ward Record Book, 1887–1909, image 24, CHL; Box Elder Co., UT, Marriage Licenses, 1887–1966, DGS 4540840, vol. 1, p. 124, 13 Jan. 1893, familysearch.org; Shoshone Language Notes, n.d., image 17, Mae Timbimboo Parry Collection, ca. 1880–1990, CHL; “Johnny Annebooey (Fly),” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      16. [16]“Ceasor Annebooey,” “Jessie Anneboey,” and “Emily Anneboey,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org. FamilySearch identifies two additional children, Booey Fly and Cecil, but neither appears in church records. See “Booey Fly, ca. 1844–Deceased,” Individual Record, Family Tree database (Ancestor ID: M7YY-V72), FamilySearch, accessed 12 Feb. 2026, available at familysearch.org; and “Cecil Annaboey, 1900–Deceased,” Individual Record, Family Tree database (Ancestor ID: MY44-88J), FamilySearch, accessed 12 Feb. 2026, available at familysearch.org.

      17. [17]Washakie Ward Record Book, 1887–1909, image 96, CHL.

      18. [18]1900 U.S. Census, Washakie, Box Elder Co., UT, enumeration dist. 207, p. 14A.

      19. [19]See Washakie Ward Minutes, 1883–1910, p. 127, 31 May 1908; p. 129, 11 July 1908; p. 157, 2 June 1910, CHL.

      20. [20]See Washakie Ward Minutes, pp. 34, 46, CHL; “Phoebe Elizabeth Harding,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org. Eliza R. Snow spelled her name as Kohn in 1883. Washakie clerks continued to spell her name as both “Chon” and “Cohn” until 1929, the last attested example of “Chon” in the Native Saints dataset. (Snow, “An Interesting Trip,” 17; Washakie Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, vol. 1, image 200, CHL; “Phoebe Elizabeth Harding,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.)

      21. [21]Malad Idaho Stake Relief Society Minutes and Records, vol. 1, 6 Aug. 1904, CHL; “Mary Ann Morris” and “George Moroni Ward,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      22. [22]Washakie Ward Minutes, images 64, 85, 97, 1 Apr. 1905; 16 Feb. 1907; 16 Nov. 1907, CHL.

      23. [23]Washakie Ward Minutes, p. 97, 17 Mar. 1906, CHL.

      24. [24]Washakie Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, vol 3, p. 2, 6 May 1919, CHL.

      25. [25]Malad Idaho Stake Relief Society Minutes and Records, image 7, CHL.

      26. [26]Marjorie A. Pacheco, transcript, 1978, image 5, Marjorie A. Pacheco Oral History, 1978, 1987–2013, CHL; biography of Lucy Zundel Alex.

      27. [27]Washakie Branch, part 2, image 452, Record of Members Collection, CHL.

      28. [28]Rios Alex Pacheco, interview by Paula B. Watkins, 18 Apr. 2013, transcript, p. 19, CHL.