Fourth church president
Wilford Woodruff
1807–1898
2 topics · 10 dated events · 1 source
Their part in each topic
The Succession Crisis of 1844
Apostle and diarist
Woodruff's diary is the closest thing to a contemporaneous eyewitness record of 8 August 1844, and it records the excitement, the postponement and the business — not a miracle. His address to the British Saints published in the Millennial Star in February 1845 is the earliest printed statement that 'the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon' Brigham Young, and he told a far more vivid version publicly in 1872.
Utah Polygamy and the Manifesto
Fourth church president
As president he issued the Manifesto of 24 September 1890 after concluding that continued practice would cost the church its temples and its leadership. He later told congregations at Brigham City and Logan that the Lord had shown him by vision what would happen if the practice were not stopped. In 1891 he testified under oath that the Manifesto was intended to end cohabitation as well as new marriages, and in the years afterward he authorized a small number of plural marriages in Mexico.
In the timeline
10 events across 2 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.
The Saints vote for the Twelvehinge
The quorums took their places as in a solemn assembly. Brigham Young told the congregation that the Quorum of the Twelve held the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world and that no man could put another between the Twelve and the prophet Joseph. He asked whether the Saints wanted a guardian, a prophet or a spokesman; the church's own report says not a hand was raised. On the motion to sustain the Twelve, Woodruff later wrote, 'At once there was a sea of hands, a universal vote; a contrary vote was called and not a hand was raised in a congregation of about fifteen thousand Saints.'
The first printed 'mantle' languagehinge
Wilford Woodruff's address to the officers and members in the British Islands appeared in the Millennial Star. Of the 8 August meeting he wrote: 'It was evident to the Saints that the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon him, the road that he pointed out could be seen so plainly, that none need err therein.' He described no transfiguration, no change of voice and no vision.
The First Presidency is reorganized at Winter Quartershinge
At Orson Hyde's home on the Missouri, nine of the Twelve sustained Brigham Young as President of the Church with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as counselors. A log tabernacle was thrown up at Kanesville so a conference could ratify it. Orson Pratt argued systematically against the change; John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt, both in the Salt Lake Valley, were also opposed, as was Lyman Wight. Had the full quorum been present, historians have argued, it might not have happened.
The first public 'transfiguration' claim
Albert Carrington told a large gathering that he could not tell Brigham Young from Joseph Smith when Young spoke at the stand in Nauvoo. Brigham Young then said that somebody had passed a finger over Carrington's eyes and that he could see no one but Joseph speaking. Wilford Woodruff bore a similar public testimony in April 1872, and dozens of written accounts followed from the 1880s to the 1900s.
John Taylor dies on the underground
Taylor died in hiding, still pursued. Wilford Woodruff, as president of the Twelve, took charge of a church whose property was being escheated and whose leadership was largely in concealment or prison.
The Manifesto is written and releasedhinge
Woodruff wrote in his journal that he was under the necessity of acting for the temporal salvation of the church. He drafted the statement in the third person, intending signatures from the Presidency and Twelve; George Q. Cannon edited it down by roughly 150 words and it went out as a personal declaration over Woodruff's name alone.
The Manifesto sustained in general conferencehinge
Lorenzo Snow moved that the conference accept Woodruff's declaration concerning plural marriages as authoritative and binding, recognizing him as the only man on earth holding the keys of the sealing ordinances. The vote was unanimous. Zina D. H. Young wrote that day that the hearts of all were tried but looked to God and submitted.
Woodruff testifies that the Manifesto covers cohabitation
Asked before the master in chancery whether existing plural relations should also cease, Woodruff answered that that had been the intention. Restoration of the escheated property depended on such assurances. George Q. Cannon testified the same month that he knew of no plural marriage entered into since the Manifesto.
Woodruff explains the Manifesto at Brigham City and Logan
He put a question to the Saints: whether it was wiser to continue attempting plural marriage against the laws of the nation and at the cost of the temples, or to submit. He said the Lord had shown him by vision and revelation exactly what would take place, and that he would have gone to prison himself had God not commanded otherwise.
Enabling Act opens the way to statehood
Congress invited Utah to apply a seventh time. In April of the same year, at a meeting of the Presidency and Twelve in the Salt Lake Temple, Woodruff told George Q. Cannon that the day was near when there would be no difficulty in the way of good men securing noble wives; that year the Presidency authorized plural marriages in Canada, Mexico and two Utah temples.
Sources in their own name
Source records in the database whose author line names this person. Each links to the topic that uses it.
Journal of Discourses, 26 vols.
Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, George Q. Cannon and others
What Brigham Young and his contemporaries actually preached about race and priesthood, in their own words and at length.
Appears alongside
People who share the most dated events with Wilford Woodruff.
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