User:Cstickel(byu)/sandbox/Abraham O. Woodruff—notes

Quorum of the Twelve Photo

Looking to Wyoming Colony, Salt Lake Herald-Republican 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=11092605&page=5&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Alongside a committee of public and church officials, Woodruff facilitated the purchase of 18,000 acres under the Carey Act on which to establish a new Mormon colony 🤠
 * The Wyoming state government cooperated with Woodruff, who said that the Wyoming representatives gave the committee "every encouragement in this matter". 🤠
 * Woodruff told the Salt Lake Herald-Republican, "Our people are naturally agriculturalists, industrious and thrifty, and if the Big Horn country is what I am told it is, the colony should prove very successful." 🤠

The List and the Manifesto, The Salt Lake Tribune 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=14140323&page=4&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * He was included on a 1910 list of known post-Manifesto polygamists, apparently called "Sporadies" 🤠

Anniversary of L.D.S. College, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1757499&page=4&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Woodruff was present for the celebration of the thirteenth anniversary of the establishment of LDS College 🤠

Two Apostles are Selected, Salt Lake Herald-Republican 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=11397239&page=3&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Woodruff and Matthias F. Cowley were ordained to the Quorum of the Twelve after Abraham H. Cannon died and Moses Thatcher left the church. 🤠

Mrs. A. O. Woodruff, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1966676&page=3&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Helen Woodruff died of smallpox after suffering with the disease for 3 weeks 🤠

Mormons Go to Wyoming, The Salt Lake Tribune 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=13341665&page=3&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * The preparations for the settlement of Big Horn were finalized in March 1900 🤠
 * Land in the basin cost 25 cents per acre for settlers 🤠

Names Dropped Out, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2408561&page=3&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * In 1901, he took part in planning the Brigham Young anniversary celebration 🤠

Conference of Granite Stake, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2439918&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * At a conference of the Granite Stake in 1903, Woodruff quoted Theodore Roosevelt on the value of labor. 🤠

Will Make the Desert Smile, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1948696&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Under Woodruff's direction, 500 Latter-day Saints settled in Big Horn, Wyoming in May of 1900. He was there to greet them upon arrival. 🤠
 * One of the settlers' first projects was the construction of an irrigation system 🤠
 * Woodruff's father supported the project
 * He was the youngest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time 🤠

Official Announcement, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1972851&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * He was succeeded by Charles W. Penrose in his office as apostle 🤠

Off for the Big Horn, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1934418&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * A group of Latter-day Saints from Sanpete County, Utah; Ogden, Utah; and Coalville, Utah left to settle Big Horn, Wyoming in July 1901 🤠

In Granite Stake, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1970686&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * The Woodruffs' memorial service was held in the Granite Stake Tabernacle 🤠

Death of Apostle A. O. Woodruff, Ogden Daily Standard 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=7820462&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * He was kept in an "isolation hospital" in El Paso 🤠
 * As a missionary, he served as branch president in Dresden 🤠
 * Helen died just two weeks before A. O.

Apostle A. O. Woodruff Dead, Coalville Times 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=712081&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * After attending his wife Helen's funeral in Mexico City, he stayed in El Paso, Texas after becoming ill. His doctor diagnosed the illness as typhoid fever, but it was soon revealed that he had smallpox. He appeared to be improving and was making preparations to return home to Salt Lake City when his condition worsened. 🤠
 * The Coalville Times reported that his "direct cause of death" was "heart failure." 🤠
 * He was survived by his four children

Impressive Services, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1971335&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * The Deseret Evening News reported that around 1,500 people were in attendance at the Woodruffs' memorial service 🤠
 * W. W. Maughan "read a biographical sketch of Apostle Woodruff." 🤠

St. George, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2412782&page=2&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * At a stake conference in St. George, Utah, he told attendees of the importance of "improving [their] horses, cattle, sheep and fowls in general." 🤠

In Honor of the Departed, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1970684&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Memorial services for Abraham Owen and Helen Woodruff were held on June 26, 1904. 🤠
 * According to the Deseret Evening News, the memorial was well attended

Ex-Apostle's Daughter Joins Auxiliary Board, Salt Lake Telegram 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=17580030&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Woodruff's daughter, Helen Woodruff Anderson, attended the University of Utah and later became a member of the Relief Society General Board. 🤠
 * According to this, Woodruff served as an apostle from 1897 to 1901.
 * Helen Woodruff Anderson was born on January 1, 1902
 * She was raised by Heber J. Grant and his wife

To Honor A. O. Woodruff, Salt Lake Herald-Republican 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=12229448&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * A memorial service was held in Woodruff's honor in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, with Francis M. Lyman, Seymour B. Young, Junius F. Wells, Martha H. Tingey, Maria Young Dougall, and J. Golden Kimball participating in the program. 🤠

Boxelder Stake Conference, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1787852&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * At another stake conference in Brigham City, Utah, held in the Box Elder Stake Tabernacle, Woodruff spoke on the importance of the Second Coming, preaching the gospel, and marriage. 🤠

Live Stock Incorporation, The Salt Lake Tribune 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=13393776&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * In 1901 he was president of the "Wood River Live-stock company," which focused on establishing a livestock industry in Idaho and Wyoming. 🤠

Left a Small Estate, Salt Lake Herald-Republican 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=11192262&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * When his father, Wilford Woodruff, died, he left his son Abraham Owen two shares in the Zion's Savings Bank and Trust Co. 🤠
 * He also appointed Owen, along with Asahel Hart, David Patten, Newton Woodruff, and Wilford Woodruff Jr., to compile and publish his (Wilford Woodruff's) biography. 🤠

Stake Conferences, Deseret Evening News 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2404863&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * He spoke at a stake conference held in Price, Utah, and, according to the Deseret Evening News, told the audience that "the Saints in general [were] on the improve." 🤠
 * He then motioned for all the bishops and high councilors to stand up; and when it became obvious that only half of them were in attendance, Woodruff told the crowd that he "wished they [the absent bishops and high councilors] would hand in their resignations." 🤠
 * He also read from section 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants, stressing the scripture's importance.

Death of Apostle Woodruff, Iron County Record 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=4144248&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * "Elder Woodruff was one of those unostentatious unassuming sort of men who win the hearts of those with whom they come in contact by making them feel perfectly at home in their society, and that although they are called to hold a prominent place in the administration of public affairs, are not the least bit top heavy in consequence." 🤠

Mormons in Wyoming, Salt Lake Tribune 🤠
URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=13335779&q=Abraham+O.+Woodruff&sort=rel


 * Early in the year 1900, Woodruff traveled to the Bighorn River in Wyoming to scout the availability of resources and determine the feasibility of establishing a colony of Latter-day Saints there 🤠
 * In February, he traveled back to Salt Lake City to make his report to church leadership, traveling on the Northern Pacific Railway through Butte, Montana 🤠
 * The Salt Lake Tribune reported that "Mr. Woodruff stated that he was delighted with eastern Montana and northern Wyoming, which is peculiarly adapted for Mormon husbandry. He said that he and his colleagues would make a favorable report to the higher officials of the Mormon church" 🤠
 * He stayed with Colonel William F. Cody (also known as Buffalo Bill) in Cody, Wyoming during a bout of cold weather 🤠

Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (sketch written by Nephi L. Morris) 🤠
URL: https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/BYUIBooks/id/3351


 * Woodruff attended Brigham Young's funeral as a child (p. 172) 🤠
 * By the time he was ten years old, his job was herding cows (p. 172) 🤠
 * His father's health was deteriorating at the time Woodruff was to serve his mission in 1893 (p. 172) 🤠

Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 2 🤠
URL: https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/BYUIBooks/id/3607/rec/2


 * His mother, Emma Smith Woodruff, was the niece of Abraham O. Smoot (p. 805) 🤠
 * She was a plural wife of Wilford Woodruff, the second he married (p. 806) 🤠
 * Woodruff was named after his uncle Abraham Owen (p. 806) 🤠
 * He was the sixth of eight children (pp. 806–807) 🤠

Utah As It Is: With a Comprehensive Statement of Utah As It Was (1904) 🤠
URL: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Utah_as_it_is/F6w-AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1


 * Note: all info retrieved from p. 378
 * He was born just south of Salt Lake City to Emma Smith and Wilford Woodruff on November 23, 1872 🤠
 * When he began working for the bank, he was 18 years old, and started in the position of collector 🤠
 * His father, Wilford Woodruff, performed his ordination to the office of apostle 🤠
 * Editor and politician S. A. Kenner described Woodruff as possessing "scrupulous honesty, simplicity, implicit faith in God, industry and a total absence of ostentation" 🤠

Prophets and Patriarchs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1902) 🤠
URL: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Prophets_and_Patriarchs_of_the_Church_of/RgpOAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1


 * His childhood home was a log house on the Woodruff homestead that his father, Wilford Woodruff, had established after traveling across the Great Plains as a Mormon pioneer (p. 301) 🤠
 * "he learned to hoe corn, plant and do general farm work." (p. 301) 🤠
 * He did well in math in school as a young boy (p. 301) 🤠
 * He sold watercress from Liberty Park in Salt Lake City for pocket money (p. 301) 🤠
 * He studied under James E. Talmage and Karl G. Maeser at Latter-day Saints College for five years (pp. 301–302) 🤠
 * He studied German at the outset of his mission with the help of his host family, often for two hours a day (p. 302) 🤠
 * Woodruff grew close to his father as his father's health waned (p. 305) 🤠
 * He focused much of his efforts as apostle on establishing new LDS settlements (p. 305) 🤠
 * Of Woodruff, LDS apostle Matthias F. Cowley wrote: "When appointed to any labor, he works with all his might, mind, and strength, coupled with implicit faith in our eternal Father. He is young, healthy, active and faithful in his high calling and will doubtless accomplish a mighty work in the earth, and live to see the redemption of Zion." (p. 305) 🤠

Abraham Owen Woodruff, Mormon Missionary Diaries 🤠
URL: https://lib.byu.edu/collections/mormon-missionary-diaries/about/diarists/abraham-owen-woodruff/


 * On May 3, 1881, he was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 🤠
 * During his young life, Woodruff helped out on the family farm 🤠
 * He went to public school 🤠
 * He began working for Zion's Saving Bank and Trust Co. in 1891 🤠
 * His first area in his mission was Frankfurt 🤠
 * It took him only a few months to find people who wanted to be baptized 🤠
 * It was when he moved to Dresden that he began to preach in secret 🤠
 * He ended his mission in Berlin 🤠
 * He returned to Zion's Saving Bank and Trust Co. to work after his mission 🤠
 * He was twenty-four years old when he became an apostle 🤠
 * As an apostle, Woodruff was a member of the general board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association 🤠
 * He was eventually made director of the Zion's Saving Bank and Trust Co. 🤠

Abraham O. Woodruff, Church Historian's Press 🤠
URL: https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/george-f-richards/people/abraham-o-woodruff?letter=W&lang=eng


 * Birth date: November 23, 1872
 * Parents: Wilford Woodruff and Emma Smith
 * Birth place: Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
 * Married Helen May Winters on June 30, 1896 🤠
 * Died in El Paso, Texas on June 20, 1904 🤠

Post Manifesto Polygamy: The 1899 to 1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen and Avery Woodruff (2009) 🤠
URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cgs31.6?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Introduction

 * On July 17, 1993, Woodruff's body was reinterred in the Salt Lake City Cemetery (p. 1) 🤠
 * It was transported from El Paso, Texas (p. 1) 🤠
 * His wife Helen's body was moved from Mexico City to Salt Lake to rest beside Woodruff's (p. 1) 🤠
 * Woodruff's mother, Emma Smith, was a polygamous wife (p. 3)
 * He had seven older siblings (p. 3)
 * He grew up in a log house and spent his time fishing and hunting (p. 3) 🤠
 * When the U.S. Congress passed the Edmunds Act, Woodruff's father (Wilford Woodruff) went into hiding, seeking to avoid arrest for practicing plural marriage. Then, when Woodruff was fifteen years old, his father became president of the church. (p. 5) 🤠
 * Wilford Woodruff then released the 1890 Manifesto, ending polygamy as an official practice of the church. (p. 5) 🤠
 * Woodruff was a student at LDS College when the manifesto was issued (p. 7)
 * He worked at Zion’s Savings & Trust Co. after his graduation, eventually becoming assistant bookkeeper (p. 7) 🤠
 * From 1893 to 1896, he served as a missionary in the Swiss-German mission, learning the German language from locals and preaching sermons (p. 7) 🤠
 * "Owen labored diligently, even disguising himself as a peasant worker when the German civil officials banished LDS missionaries, so he could continue his work." (p. 7)
 * He married Helen May Winters on June 30, 1897. Wilford Woodruff performed the sealing ceremony. (p. 9) 🤠
 * He then became an apostle on October 7, 1897 and was tasked with "traveling to various LDS congregations to dedicate buildings, call church leaders, and generally oversee the operations of the church." (p. 9) 🤠
 * Helen Woodruff was on the general board of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, so she and her husband would travel together on church assignments (p. 11) 🤠
 * They had a son on October 31, 1899 and named him Wilford Owen Woodruff (pp. 11–12) 🤠
 * Woodruff traveled throughout Utah, Wyoming, Canada, and Mexico in his capacity as apostle (pp. 11–12) 🤠
 * He was the youngest member of the Quorum of the Twelve at the time (p. 12)
 * "Eventually, apparently after much soul-searching, Owen determined to embrace post-Manifesto polygamy because he must have believed that the laws of God would eventually supercede those of the government despite the Manifesto’s promise of the church’s legal compliance." (pp. 12–13) 🤠
 * As an apostle, Woodruff was tasked with creating colonies for church members outside of Utah (p. 13) 🤠
 * He became president of the Big Horn Basin Colonization Company in April 1900 and encouraged church members to migrate to Bighorn Basin, Wyoming (p. 14) 🤠
 * He met Eliza Avery Clark in Star Valley, Wyoming while on one of his trips to Bighorn Basin (p. 16) 🤠
 * They married in January 1901 (p. 18) 🤠
 * He thus entered into plural marriage after his father's 1890 Manifesto declaring the practice discontinued (p. 20) 🤠
 * Woodruff was not alone in entering into post-Manifesto polygamy; there is evidence that other church leaders did the same, recognizing the Manifesto as the end of publicly practicing plural marriage but not privately (p. 20) 🤠
 * His marriage to Clark was largely kept a secret, and it is unknown if Joseph F. Smith, church president at the time, gave permission for the union to take place (p. 21) 🤠
 * Helen also gave birth to three daughters: Helen Mar, June, and Rhoda (p. 23) 🤠
 * On April 11, 1904, Avery gave birth to a daughter, Ruth (p. 36) 🤠
 * Accompanied by Helen and her children, Woodruff visited Avery in Mexico in 1904; "President Smith had sent Owen and Helen to Mexico to avoid the threat of arrest and the possibility of testifying in the Smoot polygamy trials." (p. 36) 🤠
 * The Woodruffs had been encouraged to be vaccinated against smallpox, but Owen had opted not to receive the vaccine. (p. 36) 🤠
 * Helen contracted smallpox and died on June 7, 1904. (pp. 36–37) 🤠
 * Woodruff contracted the disease as well. He traveled back to the US, arriving in El Paso, Texas, but died on June 20, 1904, in line with a prophecy given to Owen and Helen by President Wilford Woodruff that they "would not be separated in death by more than two weeks." (p. 38) 🤠