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Woodruff, Wilford, 1807-1898

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1807 - 1898

Biographical History

Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898) served as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 to 1898.

Wilford Woodruff was born March 1, 1807. He was raised in Connecticut. Woodruff was a miller by trade. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1833 and served two missions before being ordained an Apostle in 1839. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, he completed four additional missions, presided over the temple in St. George, Utah, and served six years as Church Historian. He was sustained as Church President on April 7, 1889. As President of the Church, he dedicated temples in Salt Lake City and Manti, Utah, oversaw the organization of the Genealogical Society, and reemphasized the value of historical record keeping. He also received a revelation that the Latter-day Saints should cease the practice of plural marriage. In 1890, he wrote the Manifesto, testifying that the Church had ceased teaching the practice of plural marriage. Woodruff died in San Francisco on September 2, 1898.

Citation:
The illustrated story ... c1982 (1983 prtg.): t.p. (Wilford Woodruff [in title]) p. 5 (b. Mar. 1, 1807; d. Sept. 2,1898)

Woodruff, Wilford. In the whirlpool, 2011: ECIP t.p. (Wilford Woodruff) ch. 1 (once used the moniker Lewis Allen while in hiding)

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1992: p.1580-1582 (Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898), fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; born Farmington, Connecticut on March 1, 1807; April 1834 arrived in Kirtland, Ohio; Zion's Camp; missionary to England; missionary to Southern States in 1835; Quorum of the Twelve in 1839; member of the Nauvoo City Council, chaplain of the Nauvoo Legion, member of the council of Fifty; member of pioneer company of Latter-day Saints to arrive in the Great Basin on July 24, 1847; served in the Utah Territorial Legislature for 22 years; Utah territorial council for 21 years; board of directors of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI); 1889 sustained as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Wikipedia, website viewed 14 October 2010 (Wilford Woodruff, born March 1, 1807 Farmington, Connecticut; Died September 2, 1898, San Francisco, California; LDS Church President, ordained April 7, 1889; LDS Church Apostle, ordained April 26, 1839)

Church History website, via WWW, March 19, 2013 (Wilford Woodruff; b. March 1, 1807; raised in Connecticut; was a miller by trade; joined Church in 1833; ordained apostle in 1839; sustained as Church President April 7, 1889; died. Sept. 2, 1898)

Found in 12 Collections and/or Records:

Samuel Bateman papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 128
Scope and Contents Contains materials documenting Samuel Bateman's personal and family life. Included are some of Bateman's handwritten diaries for the years 1886-1888, 1899-1901, and 1901-1909. Also included are typescripts, microfilm, and scanned copies of these diaries, and typescripts of some correspondence to and from Samuel Bateman, dated 1868-1886. His correspondence discusses guarding John Taylor and his friendship with Wilford Woodruff, who were both Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of...
Dates: 1868-2016

Bush family papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 2217
Abstract

This collection, containing letters, journals, newspaper articles, and other family correspondence, has been organized into folders by year, starting in 1846 and ending in 1960.

Dates: 1846-1960

Moses Franklin Farnsworth papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 1678
Scope and Contents

Correspondence, record books, pension petitions, certificates, pamphlets, articles of incorporation, poems, blessings, poems, and miscellaneous items. The materials relate to Farnsworth's activities particulary in the Mormon Church. Included in the collection are letters from the fourth president of the Mormon Church, Willford Woodruff, patriarchal blessings, letters relating to Mormon polygamy, and a book recording the work done in the Manti Temple of the Mormon Church.

Dates: 1870-1900

George Albert Smith papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 610
Scope and Contents Genealogy sheets, correspondence, a scrapbook, notebooks, photograph album, and memorabilia. The scrapbook was given to Smith by LDS Church leaders on his birthday in 1940 and include birthday cards from these persons. Many of the materials relate to family genealogy and Brigham Young Academy. Some of the materials deal with George Albert Smith (1817-1875), Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898), Elias Smith (1769-1846), Emma Hale Smith (1804-1879), and other prominent Mormons. Also included is...
Dates: 1731-1951

John Smith papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: Vault MSS 803
Scope and Contents

Collection contains papers related to Smith's mission to Denmark, life in Utah with family, and his position as Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church. Includes diaries, letters, articles containing references to John, his personal patriarchal blessing, sheep accounts, family history notes, and copies of patriarchal blessings pronounced by himself. Dated 1848-1962.

Dates: 1848-1962

Lorenzo Snow letter

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230333806]
Identifier: MSS 1149
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a typewritten and signed letter, dated March 22, 1892, and addressed to Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of the Mormon Church. Snow seeks appoval of the decision to organize the Beaver Dam settlement into a ward of the Mormon Church.

Dates: 1892

Ammon M. Tenney papers

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230305614]
Identifier: MSS SC 800
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of typescript. Includes a number of letters written to Tenney by such people as Brigham Young (1801-1877), Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898), and John W. Young (1844-1924) concerning the purchase of land at St. Johns, Arizona, for Mormon settlement, missionary work among the Indians, and obtaining work for Mormon settlers by bidding on raliroad contracts. Some of Tenney's replies are also included. Folder also includes typescript copy of Tenney's journal for 1875-1876.

Dates: 1874-1889

Wilford Woodruff family letters

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 8173
Scope and Contents Letters written between Wilford Woodruff and members of his family. Letters are to his wife Emma S. Woodruff and to his children Clara and Blanch. Also included are letters from Emma Woodruff to Mr. and Mrs. O. C. Beebe as well as letters between Emma Woodruff and her daughter Clara. Letters talk about family activities and contain advice from Wilford Woodruff to his family. One letter is written shortly before Woodruff died in San Francisco. Another is written while Wilford Woodruff was in...
Dates: 1877-1909

Wilford Woodruff invitation

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS SC 2671
Scope and Contents

Printed invitation to the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple of the Mormon Church. Woodruff's signature on the item was placed there by some kind of mechanical reproductive process.

Dates: 1893

Wilford Woodruff letter

 Item — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197233293106]
Identifier: Vault MSS 742
Scope and Contents

Handwritten and signed letter to M. Richards Jr. of Parowan Utah. The item is a request for Richards to surrender a certificate for 300 shares of Deseret Telegraph Stock to Woodruff.

Dates: 1888