Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff (born March 1, 1807 in Farmington , Connecticut , USA; † September 2, 1898 in San Francisco , California, USA) was the fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . His tenure was the official abolition of polygamy within the Church.

Life

He was born on March 1, 1807 to Beulah Thompson Woodruff and Aphek Woodruff. On June 11, 1808, his mother died of typhus at the age of 26 . On November 9, 1810, his father married Azubah Hart.

From 1821 he worked as a miller. He and his brother Azmon and his wife moved to Richland, Oswego County, New York, where they bought a farm. He first heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 29, 1833 at a meeting held by missionaries Zera Pulsipher and Elijah Cheney. Two days later he was baptized and confirmed by Zera Pulsipher. Shortly thereafter, on January 2, 1834, Zera Pulsipher conferred the Aaronic priesthood on him and was ordained a teacher therein.

He first met the Prophet Joseph Smith in April 1834 in Kirtland, Ohio . On November 5, 1834, Simeon Carter ordained him a priest. His first missionary tour of Arkansas and Tennessee began on January 13th. On June 28, 1835, he was conferred the Melchisidek Priesthood by Warren Parrish and ordained an elder. He was ordained a seventy by David Pattern on May 31, 1836. On May 31, 1837, he went on his second mission trip, this time to the Fox Islands in Maine .

He was ordained an Apostle by Brigham Young on April 26, 1839 in Far West, Missouri . The call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on July 8, 1838 is found in Doctrine and Covenants section 118, a revelation to Joseph Smith. On August 8, 1839, he left for England to serve another mission. There he contributed to the fact that about 2000 people joined the church. During this time he secured the copyright for the Book of Mormon in London . On October 6, 1841, he returned to his family in Nauvoo . From July to November 1843 and from May to August 1844 he fulfilled other missions in the eastern United States . In order for the Nauvoo Temple to be completed, he raised money in 1844.

He learned of this twelve days after Joseph Smith's death and returned to Nauvoo with other apostles on August 6, 1844. On August 8, 1844, he attended a conference at which the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with Brigham Young as president, was approved by members as the governing body of the Church. On August 12, he recognized the Presidency of the European Mission.

In April / May 1846 he again returned to Nauvoo and soon afterwards left the city with the other members of the Church for the west: he set out on April 7, 1847 with the first pioneering division in Winter Quarters and came on July 24, 1847 in the valley of the Great Salt Lake . From 1847 to 1850 he assisted members of the Winter Quarters and the Eastern United States in coming to Salt Lake City as well. From 1856 he served as assistant to the Church's historian, an office he held from 1883 to 1889 himself.

From January 1, 1877 to June 26, 1884, he was the first President of the Temple of St. George Utah , the first temple in the Church after the Exodus from Nauvoo. On October 10, 1880, he was sustained as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in general conference . At that conference, his predecessor, John Taylor, was sustained as President of the Church. He became President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 7, 1889, much of whose duties he had served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since the death of John Taylor on July 25, 1887.

The Manti Utah Temple was consecrated by him on May 17, 1888. On September 24, 1890, it was publicly announced through a written declaration known as Official Declaration 1 that members of the Church should no longer enter into plural marriage. He dedicated the Salt Lake Temple , which began shortly after the arrival of the pioneers, on April 6, 1893. Under his supervision, the Utah Genealogical Society was founded on November 13, 1894 . He died on September 2, 1898 in San Francisco.

Web links

Commons : Wilford Woodruff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Stations in the life of Wilford Woodruff
• Literature by and about Wilford Woodruff in the catalog of the German National Library

predecessor	Office	successor
John Taylor	President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints 1889 - 1898	Lorenzo Snow