[Deseret Weekly News, , 366.]
THE DESERET WEEKLY.
[Column 1]
PRESIDENT WOODRUFF'S BIRTHDAY.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
On Sunday, , at 2
p. m., and on the following day, Mon-
day, , at 10 a.m., were exer-
cises in the Tabernacle in honor of the
ninetieth anniversary of the birth of
Elder Wilford Woodroff, President of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, and one of the first com-
pany of Utah Pioneers that entered
the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
For this occasion the Tabernacle
has been beautifully decorated.
The speakers' stands are ornamented
in white and old gold, with numerous
flowers and potted ferns and other
plants and around the organ. The
table at the foot of the stands is covered
with flowers, and in front of this seats
are raised above the floor for President
Woodruff and wife to occupy during
the reception on Monday. Over this
is a canopy draped with the Stars and
Stripes, with electric lights in the top
to throw light upon the couple. This
canopy will remain thrown back upon
the table until the time of the recep-
tion. The upper stand, which will be
occupied by the President and his
wife during the rendering of the pro-
gram, has been raised about sixteen
inches higher than its usual posi-
tion so that a full view can be
had of them from every part of the
building. In front of and near the top
of the organ is a beautiful star com-
posed of sixty-one electric lights; over
this and extending from south to
north across the building is a white
streamer bearing the inscriptions
"Glory be to God," "Honor to His
Prophet," and the three dates, 1807,
1847, 1897. Around the gallery boot-
ing is stretched, with a star over each
post, and at the rear of the building is
the inscription, "We honor the man
so honored of God." Above the rear of
the gallery is a banner on which is
painted 1847-1897. Below this is a
Union flag which passed through the
war.
Herewith is a brief sketch of Presi-
dent Woodruff's long and eventful life,
furnished by himself:
I was born , at Northing-
ton, part of the Farmington (now Avon),
Hartford county, Connecticut. In
my early life I worked as a farmer
and miller. Of course my childhood
was passed under the influence of the
remnants of the Blue Laws of Con-
neticut. I remember the day well
when the Baptists and the Methodists
in Connecticut were almost as un-
popular as the Mormons afterwards
became. Presbyterians and Congre-
gationalists were the ruling religions
of New England in my childhood.
In attending Sunday school in my
early boyhood, under Dr. Noah Porter,
and learning chapters of the Bible
by heart, I saw what Jesus Christ and
the Apostles taught. Those principles
were so firmly imprinted on my mind
that I could never join any church,
because the churches of that day did
not believe them, until I heard Zara
Pulsipher, a Mormon Elder, preach to
me and my brother Azmon, and a
large congregation of neighbors, at
Richland (now Dansville), Oswego
county, New York, on the . On hearing the first
sermon I and my brother Azmon were
convinced, and we went forth and
[Column 2]
were baptized on the
I went in Zion's camp, in the spring
of 1835, to Missouri, to the assistance
of our people who had been driven
out of Jackson county. Very few of
the members of that Camp are living
today. That thousand miles' journey
with the Prophet Joseph Smith was to
me a school of experience that I shall
never forget in this world or the world
to come. When the Prophet returned to
Kirtland with most of his company I
remained in Clay county, Missouri,
until the , when
I left Lyman Wight's, in company
with Henry Brown, to go on a mission
to the Southern states. We passed
through Jackson county, Missouri, and
through Arkansas, and from Little
Rock to Memphis, Tennessee. I spent
two years in Tennessee and Ken-
tucky. While there I was ordained to the
office of an Elder under the hands of
Warren Parrish, and afterwards a
member of the Second quorum of the
Seventy, under the hands of David
W. Patten. I ordained A. O. Smoot to
the office of an Elder in 1836, and he
traveled with me through Kentucky
and Tennessee, and accompanied me
to Kirtland in the fall of that year. I
organizd four branches of the Church
in Tennessee and Kentucky.
In 1837 I traveled through part of
Canada, New York, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Maine and Fox
Islands. During that mission I bap-
tized several hundred persons and
organized five branches of the Church
in Connecticut, Maine, and Fox Is-
lands. In January, 1837, I was ap-
pointed to the First quorum of Seven-
ties.
In 1838 I traveled on three islands of
the sea and in twelve states of the
Union, established three preaching
places and organized one branch of
the Church in Farmington, Conn.,
with nine of my relatives, including
my father's house.
On the , myself
and George A. Smith were ordained
to the Apostleship, on the Temple cor-
ner at Far West, Missouri. The same
year I crossed the Atlantic ocean in
company with John Taylor, to Eng-
land, spending the next year there with
the Twelve Apostles. First I went
to Staffordshire and organized three
branches. Then I went to Hereford-
shire, Worcestershire and Gloucester-
shire, where, in eight months, I
brought 1,800 souls into the Church,
including 600 of the United Brethren,
who had broken off from the Wes-
leyan Methodists, with forty-five
preachers, baptizing all of that sect
but one member. I established three
conferences and fifty-eight preaching
places, and organized forty-seven
branches of the Church.
I then went to London with Heber
C. Kimball and George A. Smith.
We organized the first branch of the
Church in that city, consisting of
eighty-five members.
In 1841, I traveled over 7,000 miles
through England, Wales and parts of
the United States, with the Twelve
Apostles, to attend to the affairs of the
Church.
I spent most of 1842-3 in Nauvoo, at-
tending to the printing office and other
business. An important year was 1844,
in which the Prophet Joseph Smith and
his brother Hyrum were killed. That
[Column 3]
year I traveled over 10,000 miles in
Canada and the United States, visit
ing the churches, attending meetings,
etc. In the fall of the year I was ap-
pointed to go to England to pre-
side over the British mission, setting
sail at New York , and
arriving at Liverpool ,
during which year I traveled in Eng-
land and Scotland, presiding over the
churches, published 3,000 copies of the
Doctrine and Covenants, and secured
the copyright of the same in London.
In 1846 I returned from England to
the United States, and gathered with
the Saints at Winter Quarters on the
Missouri, where I spent the winter.
On the , I
left my family and friends at
Winter Quarters and traveled
with President Brigham Young and
the Pioneer company of 143 men, a
thousand miles across the plains into
the midst of the Rocky Mountains,
arriving in the valley of the Great
Salt Lake on the . We
laid out Great Salt Lake City and built
a fort around ten acres. President
Young and some others of us returned
to Winter Quarters the same season.
In traveling across the plains, for
three days and nights, we met an al-
most endless number of buffalo, going
to their summer ranges to break up
into smaller herds to feed in the Platte
country. They were so numerous that
we could scarcely |find| our way through
them.
In the spring of 1848 I took my
family and returned to Boston, Mass.,
spending the rest of the year and also
1849 in traveling through the New
England states and part of Canada,
gathering up most of the Saints re-
maining there and sending them to the
Rocky Mountains.
On the , with my
family and about a hundred other
Saints, I left Boston, and with steam-
boats, railroads and wagons again
traveled to the Rocky Mountains,
where I arrived on the ,
having traveled 4,617 miles.
From 1851 to 1877, twenty-six years,
I spent mostly in Utah, traveling and
preaching considerably among the
Saints, and also otherwise fulfilling
the duties of my calling as one of the
Twelve Apostles.
President Young died , John Taylor succeeding him as
President of the Church.
From 1877 to 1887, during the Presi-
dency of John Taylor, I spent most of
my time traveling, preaching in Utah
and Arizona, and laboring in St.
George temple for the salvation and
exaltation of the living and the dead.
When John Taylor was accepted as
President of the church, , I became president of the
council of the Twelve Apostles.
President Taylor died ,
and it fell to my lot to succeed him in
presiding.
I was accepted as the President of
the Church , with George
Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as
my counselors, since which time I
have endeavored to attend to the du-
ties of that office to the best of my
knowledge and ability.
I was appointed assistant historian of
the Church in 1855, and historian in
1881. Franklin D. Richards was sus-
tained as my successor in that office
.