John Stillman Woodbury was born on the November 20, 1825, in New Salem, Massachusetts to Jeremiah Woodbury and Elizabeth Bartlett. He and his family were baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1841. They moved as a family to Nauvoo, Illinois and engaged in farming. After joining the exodus west with the Abraham O. Smoot Company to Salt Lake City, Utah, John and his parents settled near Mill Creek and planted crops that were damaged by the swarm of crickets that came upon Utah in the summer of 1848. John was called on his first mission to the Sandwich Islands in 1850, and took his first wife, Elvira Stevens, with him. After they returned from the mission Elvira and John were divorced. John's second mission to the Sandwich Islands in 1856 was cut short in 1858 when he was called home to participate in the Utah War. In 1863, John married his second wife, Martha Alice Parker, and together they had ten children. He was sent to settle St. George in 1861. There he developed farming, horticulture, and began a fruit tree nursery business. In 1876, he was called on his last two missions to Hawaii. He passed away in St. George, Utah, on December 21, 1914.