Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints / History of His Life and Labors, as Recorded in His Daily Journals

by Wilford Woodruff

Early in the month of February we find him in Smithfield, where he was building a new home for his family. His journal shows considerable impatience over the delay in the work on his house. He was himself a man of action. Whatever he had to do, he went at with all his might. His presence, however, had the desired effect, and it was not long before his home was completed and his wife and children thereby made more comfortable.

On his return to Salt Lake he manifested great interest in the condition of Orson Pratt and Charles C. Rich, who were both in a critical condition physically. On the 20th, feeling that Elder Pratt's mission in this life was nearly ended, and to the end that his last days might close in peace, he gave him a blessing of comfort that he might be resigned to the will and purposes of God concerning life and death.

It was a practice with Wilford Woodruff whenever he gave an important blessing, to record it in his journal. In blessing Elder Pratt, he says: "It has been your lot to dwell as an Apostle in the flesh and stand in the Church and Kingdom of God longer than any other man in this generation. It has been your lot to cross the ocean to proclaim the words of salvation more than any other man. Let your heart be comforted. Let your soul be full of joy, for the Heavenly hosts are watching over you."

Before the close of February, Elder Woodruff started again for St. George. His associations there were always to his mind those of the most heavenly character. There was, perhaps, no place in the Church ever settled by a choicer class of men than those who were called to St. George. The men and women of that place possessed spiritual natures that were in harmony with the life and aspirations of Elder Woodruff. St. George has, therefore, in his journal, a very prominent place. On the anniversary of his birth, in St. George that year, he says: "I have passed my birthdays in this Temple in the years 1870, 71, 72, and 74. My seventy-third birthday I passed in Sunset, Arizona. This is one of the most glorious days of my life. This morning there appeared at the Temple two hundred and thirty-nine persons for endowments. Many of these had come to assist him in his Temple work. He also records the fact that for his dead there had been performed two thousand seven hundred and forty-nine baptisms, two thousand and thirty-seven had been endowed, and seven hundred and five couples sealed.

On March 22nd he returned to Salt Lake. After the spring Conference of that year Elder Woodruff was prostrated by a sickness which lasted most of the month of April. On May 1st, however he attended the Quarterly Conference in Logan and held meetings in Smithfield, Franklin, and other places. The summer months of that year he was occupied in visiting the leading stakes of Zion, both north and south of Salt Lake City.

On the 2nd of July he expressed his horror at the shocking news of the assassination of President Garfield. Respecting the celebration of the Fourth of July that year he writes, that as a people they do not consider it proper to be celebrating while the President of the United States lies in the agonies of death, brought about by the hand of an assassin.

On the 16th he records the death of Joseph Young, aged eighty-seven years, three months and nine days. Joseph Young was at the time of his death senior president of the Seventies, and had been from the first organization of the first council to the end of his life.

October 3rd he records the death that day of Apostle Orson Pratt. At the funeral Elder Woodruff spoke at some length on the life of Elder Pratt, and read the revelation given through Joseph Smith to Orson Pratt in 1830. "Brother Orson Pratt has lived in the Church longer than any other man, perhaps he has lived in it longer than any former man could ever live in the Church. He has crossed the Atlantic Ocean sixteen times and has traveled more miles than any other man in the Church. He has preached more sermons; he has brought many thousands to a knowledge of the truth. He had this revelation given to him which I have read in your hearing. He has lifted up his voice long and loud. He has done a great work and I cannot mourn his death. I cannot mourn over the death of inspired men who have died in the faith. Any man or woman who has kept the Celestial Law of God on the earth and has died in the faith will open his or her eyes to a scene of glory and blessings and eternal life that men cannot obtain from any other principle."

After the October conference, Elder Woodruff accompanied President Taylor and party to all the stakes in the southern part of the Territory. They were absent three weeks. That visit gave to the Saints new courage and awakened a stronger desire to attend to their duties. Elder Woodruff was present the early part of January, when the Gardo House was opened and a reception given on that occasion by President John Taylor, who shook hands with something like two thousand people. On the 8th he was also in the Assembly Hall when the Temple Block was dedicated.

In the early part of 1882 the Saints began to feel the effects of the agitation abroad against them, and Congress was beset by the enemies of the Church, who importuned that body to pass the most drastic measures against the Mormons. Throughout the United States the most vicious and absurd stories were circulated. The President and the Twelve made special efforts to get the facts before the country, and especially before the Congress of the United States. The spirit, however, of anti-Mormonism had worked itself into a state of frenzy. Ministers of the United States held frequent meetings in all parts of the country.