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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 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

Eunice Pease Haws Stewart notes and diary

 Item — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230330976]
Identifier: MSS SC 3208
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a microfilm copy of a handwritten diary kept from 4 March 1855 to 2 April 1858. There are many gaps. Stewart writes about her experiences while her husband is on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Nevada and Australia. She lived in Provo, Utah. Wilford Woodruff, Apostle in the Mormon Church, briefly lived with her family when Salt Lake City, Utah, was evacuated during the Utah Expedition in 1858.

Dates: 1855-1858

Story of the underground

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230329978]
Identifier: MSS SC 3054
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a typewritten account of a time when Wilford Woodruff, later president of the Mormon Church, was avoiding federal marshals in St. George, Utah. The date of the composition of the item is uncertain.

Dates: 1920

John Taylor letters

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197232491081]
Identifier: MSS 677
Scope and Contents

Photocopies of typed copies of letters sent by John Taylor to his wives and to such LDS Church leaders as Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff. The materials deal largely with family and Church matters. Also included are photocopies of handwritten notes on Taylor's various wives.

Dates: 1839-1887

Sarah Taylor autograph album

 Collection — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197233289229]
Identifier: Vault MSS 369
Scope and Contents

Autograph book which contains the signatures of many prominent Mormons with person remarks and poems addressed to Sarah Taylor.

Dates: 1884-1896

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 ticket

 Collection — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197233284048]
Identifier: Vault MSS 114
Scope and Contents

Mechanically reproduced ticket with the stamped signature of Wilford Woodruff on it. The item admits the bearer to the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple of the Mormon Church.

Dates: 1893

Wilford Woodruff diary excerpt

 File — Folder 1: [Barcode: 31197230348218]
Identifier: MSS 1342
Scope and Contents

Photocopy of a handwritten diary excerpt that includes a copy of an unattributed vision or a dream which Woodruff had obtained. The vision claimed to foresee of the last days in which a great loss of life and a great destruction would befall the the cities of the eastern United States. Photocopy includes entries from June 14 to 22, 1878.

Dates: 1877

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