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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 35 Collections and/or Records:

John Smith correspondence, 1848-1911

 Series
Identifier: Vault MSS 803 Series 2
Scope and Contents

Contains letters to and from Smith from family members and acquaintances, including his aunt Emma Smith Bidamon, his wife Hellen, his sons Alvin and Hyrum, his step brother Joseph F. Smith, and his cousin Joseph Smith III. Also includes some letters from LDS Church Presidents, including John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff. Dated 1848-1911.

Dates: 1848-1911

John Smith letters received, 1848-1911

 Sub-Series
Identifier: Vault MSS 803 Series 2 Sub-Series 2
Scope and Contents

Letters written to John Smith from family members and acquaintances, including Alexander Hale Smith, Hyrum F. Smith, Hyrum Gibbs Smith, George A. Smith, Hellen Smith, Joseph Smith III, Joseph F. Smith, Samuel H. B. Smith, John Taylor, Charles Lowell Walker, Orson F. Whitney, and Wilford Woodruff. Dated 1848-1911.

Dates: 1848-1911

John Smith letters sent, 1854-1911

 Sub-Series
Identifier: Vault MSS 803 Series 2 Sub-Series 1
Scope and Contents

Letters written by John Smith and sent to family members and other acquaintances, including his wife, Hellen, sons Alvin and Hyrum F., cousin Joseph Smith III, and step-brother Joseph F. Smith. Dated 1954-1911.

Dates: 1854-1911

John Smith personal papers, 1852-1962

 Series
Identifier: Vault MSS 803 Series 3
Scope and Contents

Contains papers related to Smith's personal and family life, genealogical information, business interests, and his role as Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church. Includes patriarchal blessings given to him, as well as those he gave to others. Also includes tithing receipts, legal documents, documents regarding stock held by Smith, commendations for Smith, miscellaneous correspondence, documents related to Joseph Smith III, and articles regarding John Smith. Dated 1852-1962.

Dates: 1852-1962

Scott G. Kenney research materials

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 2022
Scope and Contents

Photocopies of correspondence, minutes, journals, and subject research files of Scott Kinney. These materials relate to Joseph F. Smith (1832-1918) sixth President of the LDS Church. The bulk of the collection deals with the years 1870 to 1918. These research files are documentation for Kinney's proposed biography of Smith.

Dates: 1820-1984

Abraham Alonzo Kimball family papers

 Collection — Box 1: [Barcode: 31197232476082]
Identifier: MSS 2322
Scope and Contents This collection contains two journals belonging to Abraham Kimball, Sr. which record his missionary service from 1877-1879 and papers which include personal and Church related papers spanning the years between 1887-1888. Also included in the collection are family patriarchal blessings and histories, as well as two journals of Abraham A. Kimball Jr. which chronicle his mission to the Southern States from 1896-1898. This collection contains personal records of the Kimball family. Included...
Dates: 1875-1898

Legal instruments relating to Mormons in Utah

 Collection — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197233292769]
Identifier: Vault MSS 707
Scope and Contents Miscellaneous legal documents. The collection consists of an account balance slip signed by Brigham Young, a stock certificate signed by Wilford Woodruff, John Bernhisel, among others; an incorporation bond; a record of trespass action against Lyman E. Johnson; a record of a court action; four receipts of per diem signed by Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, Orson Hyde, and Parley P. Pratt; and a petition for payment to E. D. Mecham, a member of the Mormon Battalion, from the estate of...
Dates: 1838-1895

Joseph Bates Noble papers

 File — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 705
Scope and Contents

Handwritten letters, deeds, histories, newspaper clippings, and an autograph album. Family papers include an autograph album owned by Noble's wife, Mary Beeman Bates, which includes a prophecy by Wilford Woodruff about the end of the world. Also included are property deeds on a lot in Nauvoo, Illinois, and a bishop's court document from 1848 in Salt Lake City, Utah, which involves a dispute over foodsuffs in payment for services.

Dates: 1832-1897

Photographs of Wilford Woodruff

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS P 422
Scope and Contents

Collection includes photographs, including cartes-de-visite, prints, and photocopies of images, of Wilford Woodruff and other leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also includes images of a statue of Woodruff. Photographs were taken between the 1870s and the 1940s.

Dates: approximately 1870-1949

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