Wilford Woodruff was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. He was known for his missionary work,
the formation of the Genealogical Society, his witness of church history
extensively recorded, and for writing the manifesto that officially
prohibited plural marriage within the Church.
Wilford Woodruff was born on March 1, 1807, in Connecticut. His mother died
when he was only fifteen months old, but his father remarried three years
later and his stepmother raised him. He grew up on a farm, went to school
and helped his father run his sawmill.
Wilford Woodruff pondered religious things and became convinced that the
Church of Christ was no longer on the earth in its pure form.
When he was 26 years old Wilford Woodruff heard a sermon given by a Mormon
missionary. President Woodruff knew he had found what he was looking for. He
was baptized as a member of the Mormon Church just two days after hearing
the sermon, on December 31, 1833.
In 1834, Wilford Woodruff was sent on the first of six missions. His call
was to the Southeastern United States. He returned home from his mission in
1836 and recorded that he had traveled over 9,800 miles, held over 300
meetings, organized 4 branches of the Church, baptized 70 people and
confirmed 62, performed 11 priesthood ordinations, and healed 4 people by
the laying on of hands, and that he had been delivered from the hands of 6
different mobs.
President Woodruff was ordained an elder in 1835 and then as a Seventy in
May, 1836. Just a year after his return, he served another full-time mission
to the Fox Islands off the coast of Maine. During this mission he found a
group of people searching for the truth and baptized over one hundred. Also
while on this mission, President Woodruff received a letter from Thomas B.
Marsh. The letter informed him that he had been called to be an apostle and
that he would be asked to serve a mission in Great Britain.
President Woodruff was ordained an apostle on April 26, 1839, and just a
short time later left for Great Britain. When he returned home, he helped
Latter-day Saints travel to the Salt Lake Valley. He was with Brigham Young
and the first company of saints. Once the Mormons were finally settled in
Utah, President Woodruff was not sent on any more missions. Instead, he was
sent to check on different settlements across the West including Arizona and
Idaho.
The entire time President Woodruff served as an Apostle (1856-1883), he
filled the role of Church Historian. He loyally kept a journal, and keeping
a record of the Church's history came naturally. On July 25, 1887, President
John Taylor passed away. President Woodruff was then the presiding officer
and felt the burden of leading the Church. He recorded in his journal
This places me in a very peculiar situation. It is a position I have never
looked for during my life. But in the providence of God it is laid upon me,
and I pray God my Heavenly Father to give me grace equal to my day. It is a
high and responsible position for any man to occupy and a position that
needs great wisdom. I never expected to outlive President Taylor. . . . But
God has ordained otherwise. . . . I can only say, marvelous are Thy ways, O
Lord Almighty, for Thou hast truly chosen weak instruments to perform in Thy
hand Thy work on earth. May Thy servant Wilford be prepared for whatever is
required at his hands by the God of Heaven (Preston Nibley, The Presidents
of the Church, 13th ed., p.129).
On April 7, 1889, Wilford Woodruff was ordained as the President and Prophet
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When Wilford Woodruff was ordained as the prophet, the Church was being
penalized by the government for practicing polygamy. The situation made
President Woodruff ponder the issue constantly, he finally went to the Lord
for help in the matter and was told that the Church should stop the practice
. He issued a statement to the members of the Church as well as the world
explaining that the practice would be stopped within the Church on September
24, 1890. President Woodruff continued to guide and lead the Church until
he passed away on September 2, 1898.
