Wilford Woodruff
| Wilford Woodruff | |
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Wilford Woodruff in 1889.
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| 4th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | |
| April 7, 1889 – September 2, 1898 | |
| Predecessor | John Taylor |
| Successor | Lorenzo Snow |
| President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | |
| October 10, 1880 – April 7, 1889 | |
| End reason | Became President of the Church |
| Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | |
| April 26, 1839 – April 7, 1889 | |
| End reason | Became President of the Church |
| Apostle | |
| April 26, 1839 – September 2, 1898 | |
| Reason | Replenishing Quorum of the Twelve |
| Reorganization at end of term |
Rudger Clawson ordained |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 1, 1807 Farmington, Connecticut, United States |
| Died | September 2, 1898 (aged 91) San Francisco, California, United States |
| Resting place |
Salt Lake City Cemetery 40°46′33″N 111°51′45″W / 40.77592°N 111.86247°W |
| Spouse(s) | Phoebe Whittemore Carter Mary Ann Jackson Sarah Elinor Brown Mary Caroline Barton Mary Meeks Giles Emma Smith Sarah Brown Sarah Delight Stocking Eudora Young Dunford |
| Children | 34 |
| Parents | Aphek and Beulah Woodruff |
| Signature | |
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Wilford Woodruff Sr. (March 1, 1807 – September 2, 1898) was an American religious leader who served as the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1889 until his death. Woodruff's large collection of diaries provides an important record of Latter Day Saint history, and his decision to formally end the practice of plural marriage among the members of the LDS Church in 1890 brought to a close one of the most controversial periods of church history.
Woodruff was known as a conservative religious man, but was also enthusiastically involved in the social and economic life of his community. He was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying fishing and hunting. Woodruff learned to fly fish in England, and his 1847 journal account of his fishing in the East Fork River is the earliest known account of fly fishing west of the Mississippi River. As an adult, Woodruff was a farmer, horticulturist and stockman by trade and wrote extensively for church periodicals.
Woodruff was one of nine children born to Bulah Thompson and Aphek Woodruff, a miller working in Farmington, Connecticut. Wilford's mother Bulah Thompson died of "spotted fever" in 1808 at the age of 26, when Wilford was fifteen months old. He was raised by his step-mother Azubah Hart. As a young man, Woodruff worked at a sawmill and a flour mill owned by his father.
Woodruff joined the Latter Day Saint church on December 31, 1833. At that time, the church numbered only a few thousand believers clustered around Kirtland, Ohio. On January 13, 1835, Woodruff left Kirtland on his first full-time mission, preaching without "purse or scrip" in Arkansas and Tennessee.
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