In the spring of 1830, Joseph Smith Jr. founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Almost 12 years later, in a collaborative revelation between Joseph Smith and women including Eliza R. Snow, Sarah Kimball and Margaret Cook, the LDS Relief Society was formed.
In her book “Women at Church,” Neylan McBain notes “the constructive three-way collaboration between the women, the prophet, and the Lord resulted in a women’s organization that was the first of its kind in the modern world and still thrives today.”
Women of the early Relief Society gave blessings to the sick, did religious rites of washing and anointing to women in childbirth and generally felt they had full access to the Priesthood, even though it was something the men of the church were ordained to and the women were not.