Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff ( born March 1, 1807 in Farmington, Connecticut, USA, † September 2, 1898 in San Francisco, California, United States) was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. During his tenure, the official abolition of polygamy fell within the Church.
Life
He was born on March 1, 1807, the son of Beulah Thompson Woodruff and Aphek Woodruff. On June 11, 1808 his mother died at the age of 26 years of typhus. On November 9, 1810, his father married Azubah Hart. From 1821 he worked as a miller. Together with his brother Azmon and his wife, he moved to Richland in Oswego county, New York, where they bought a farm. On 29 December 1833 he first heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints at a meeting which was held by the two missionaries Zera Pulsipher and Elijah Cheney. Two days later he was baptized by Zera Pulsipher and confirmed. He was shortly thereafter transferred the Aaronic Priesthood on January 2, 1834 by Zera Pulsipher and was ordained therein for teachers.
In April 1834, he met in Kirtland, Ohio for the first time the Prophet Joseph Smith. On November 5, 1834 ordained him a priest Simeon Carter. On January 13, his first mission trip through Arkansas and Tennessee began. On June 28, 1835, he was appointed by Warren Parrish Melchisidekische the priesthood and ordained an elder. On 31 May 1836 he was ordained a Seventy by David Pattern. On 31 May 1837 he embarked on his second missionary journey, this time to the Fox Islands in Maine.
On April 26, 1839, he was ordained in Far West, Missouri by Brigham Young to be an apostle. The call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on July 8, 1838 in Doctrine and Covenants section 118, to find a revelation to Joseph Smith. On August 8, 1839, he broke again to England on a mission to fulfill. There he helped the who joined about 2,000 men of 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 met more missions in the Eastern U.S.. Thus, the Nauvoo Temple was completed in 1844, he collected funds. Twelve days after the death of Joseph Smith, he found out about it and, therefore, returned on August 6, 1844 other apostles back to Nauvoo. On August 8, 1844, he takes part in a conference at the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was confirmed with Brigham Young as President of the Quorum of the members as a governing body of the church. On August 12, he assumes the presidency over the European Mission.
In April / May 1846, he returned to Nauvoo and soon leaves it with the other members of the church of the city to the west. He breaks on April 7, 1847 the first pioneer company to Winter Quarters. On July 24, 1847, he arrives in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. From 1847 to 1850 he also supports to come to Salt Lake City, the members of Winter Quarters and the eastern United States. From 1856 he served as assistant to the historian of the church, which office he held from 1883 to 1889 itself.
From 1 January 1877 to 26 June 1884, he was the first president of the St. George Utah Temple, the first temple of the Church after the exodus from Nauvoo. On October 10, 1880 he was confirmed at the General Meeting as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. At this conference, his predecessor, John Taylor was sustained as President of the Church. On April 7, 1889, he became President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints, whose duties he had performed to a large extent since the death of John Taylor on 25 July 1887 as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The Manti Utah Temple was dedicated on May 17, 1888 by him. On September 24, 1890, by a written statement, known as Official Declaration 1, publicly announced that the members of the Church should henceforth take any more plural marriage. The commenced shortly after the arrival of the pioneers Salt Lake Temple he consecrated on April 6, 1893. Under his supervision, the Genealogical Society of Utah was founded in 1894 on 13 November. He died on September 2, 1898 in San Francisco.