author
Wilford Woodruff
1807–1898
A miller from Connecticut who became the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he is remembered for tireless missionary work, detailed journals, and major decisions that shaped the church in the late 1800s.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1807, Wilford Woodruff joined the Latter-day Saint movement in 1833. Before rising to church leadership, he worked as a miller and served as a missionary in the United States and Britain, where his preaching brought many converts into the faith.
Woodruff was ordained an apostle in 1839 and spent decades close to the center of early church history. He became known for keeping unusually full journals, which have made him one of the best-documented leaders of his era and an important firsthand witness to events in nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint history.
In 1889 he became the church’s fourth president and led it until his death in 1898. He is especially associated with the 1890 Manifesto, which marked the church’s official end to new plural marriages, and with his strong interest in temple and family history work.