Show I BIOGRAPHICAL I Sketch of the Active Life of the Deceased I De-ceased President Wilford Woodruff fourth president of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints vas born at Farmin ton now Avon Hartford county Connecticut Connecti-cut on March 1 1807 His father was Aphck Woodruff who married Beulah Thomson They had three sons of whom rUord was the youngest He came of a longlived stock His great grandfather Josiah Woodruff lived to the age of 100 years and his grandfather grand-father Eldad Woodruff also attained a rIDe old age In youth and early manhood Wilford assisted his father in his business of a flour miller and later conducted a similar business on his own account In 1832 he purchased a farm and sawmill saw-mill near Richmond Oswego county N Y and settled there BAPTIZED IN 1834 I lIe was always of a religious turn of mind conscientious and upright in all his dealings He first heard the gospel gos-pel of the Mormons preacHed on Dec 29 1833 by Elders Zera Pulsipher < and Elijah Cheney and sQ quickly became convinced or its truth that he was baptized into the faith on Jan 1 of the following year In April he went to KIrtland 0 and became acquainted acquaint-ed with Joseph Smith the prophet and In May accompanied the little band of Mormons called Zions camp to lIls sour sourHe He was > elzed with a strong desirer desire-r k 4 to become a missionary and in November No-vember 1834 was ordained a prIest and went on a missionary tour through Arkansas Tennessee and Kentucky where his labors were attended with marked success In May 183 he commenced a second missionary tour which extended over three years this time visiting Maine and Fox islands April 26 1839 he was elevated to the rank of apostle at Far Vest lolo In August following he went to England Eng-land on a mission and established the first branch of the Mormon church In London His preaching was attended by such success that In eight months he baptized 1800 persons He returned to Nauvoo in 1841 and two years later was agaIn laboring as a missionary in the eastern states but returned to Nauvoo on hearing of the assassination of Joseph Smith the prophet In 1844 he made another missionary trip to England returning In time to Join the exodus of the Mormon peoplo from Nauvoo CROSSED THE PLAINS IN 47 He came across the plains with the earliest pioneers in 1847 Leaving hIs family and friends at Winter Quarters he traveled with Brigham Young and the pioneer company of 143 men a thousand thou-sand miles across the desert into the midst of the Rocky Mountains arrlv i Ing in the valley of the Great Salt Lake on July 24 1847 He assisted in laying out the future city of Salt Lake and in building a fort President Woodruff ploughed a furrow fur-row and planted a half bushel of potatoes po-tatoes which he had brought on a lot a little east of where the Knutsford hotel now stands He assisted I building build-ing dams and constructing irrigation ditches and other Improvements necessary neces-sary to make the Diace habitable In 1848 he returned to the east on missionary mis-sionary work and came back to Salt Lake by wagon in 1850 ELECTED STATE SENATOR In that year he was elected to the senate of the provisional tate of Des eret and served for 21 years in the legislative assembly of Utah He was closely Identified with every movement for the advancement of Utah and the state owes much to hIs untirIng efforts and patriotic zeal BECAME PRESIDENT IN 1889 At the general conference of ADrU 1889 he became the president of the church with George Q Cannon and Joseph F Smith as counselors The multifarious duties which devolved de-volved upon him as president of the church kept him constantly busy and his dally life up to the last was one of activity quite extraordinaryfor n man of his years He enjoyed good health generally and it was seldom that he was not in his office by 9 In the mornIng morn-Ing where he generally worked till 4 or s In the afternoon In addition to his work and responsibIlities responsi-bIlities as head ot the church which iIf required him to sign and approve of every draft and official document he I was president of Zions Savings bank and the Z C Y L two immense financial and mercantile establishments establish-ments He was also director In various companies and was Identified with other minor business interests HIS FAMILY He had 32 children 21 of whom are Continued on Page 3 |