Comments on: Wilford Woodruff

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:45:54 +0000

Me, too. I hadn’t seen the recent one — thanks, Niklas.

By: Niklas

Niklas — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:22:02 +0000

I prefer the old one to this new one published in the recent Liahona:
http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/magazines/liahona/2013/04/fr13apr49-Wilford-Woodruff.pdf

By: Bessie

Bessie — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:59:05 +0000

I used my new 11×17 cardstock version of the Lorenzo Snow Children’s Friend poster in Relief Society Sunday. Thank you, I found it a good addition and a great item to pass-around as we began our year’s study—it definitely helped generate interest and recall stories of President Snow. At the close of class one of the sisters brought it back to me wondering where she might get a copy.
I lay it on the bench next to me during Sacrament Meeting. Part way through the meeting, my husband noticed it, leaned over and asked, “Did you do that?” Sure!

By: The Other Clark

The Other Clark — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:26:33 +0000

My favorite WW stories are those that involve his (astonishingly frequent) brushes with death.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:17:08 +0000

Thanks Amy. I’m immersed in pain today, so I will come back when my brain can process more. It sounds like a wonderful project.

By: Amy T

Amy T — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:06:20 +0000

That's funny, David! Julia, I've been working on a project documenting the lives of many of the early female temple workers in St. George, Utah. Years ago, I read the book The Other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff. It tells the story of Wilford Woodruff's vision in the St. George Temple in 1877. From the research I've done since, I learned that Wilford Woodruff said that the Founding Fathers had appeared to him and requested that he do their temple work, so he and the people of St. George started the work right away. They also did the work for some of George Washington's family and for about 50 eminent men of the world Wilford Woodruff selected from a book of biographies he was reading. As far as I can tell, Lucy Bigelow Young probably asked that the temple work be done for the associated women, and she selected about 70 women to have their work done, mostly from the same source. The book The Other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff has a tantalizing little list tucked into its back cover of the women whose temple work was done. A few years ago someone was kind enough to send me a more official list of the women and it also happened to name the St. George women who did the temple work. It took me a couple of years to realize, thanks to a woman named Sarah Arterbury Church, that the most interesting story was about the St. George women who did the temple work, rather than the various literary and political women Lucy selected, so I've been researching and telling the stories of these early Saints. It's been a fascinating project and I keep getting off on tangents, some of them major, like the history of the black slaves in Utah, Mitt Romney's polygamous heritage, and the history of Cyrus H. Wheelock and his family. I've had to take a break from the project for several months -- I kind of crashed and burned when I ran into a story involving a woman who fled St. George in fear of her life -- but I'm about ready to start again. All of the posts should be listed in the Topical Guide, but here's an index I've been keeping as well. (Eminent Women Biographies.) And that is why, plus its popularity in recent decades in Mormon artwork and legend, I look at this picture and wonder why the 1877 vision is not depicted. : )

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:41:40 +0000

I was thinking of the manifesto too. Sorry I don’t have enough Utah history to get the hint Amy. More details? Or a link?

By: David Y.

David Y. — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:05:11 +0000

Ha! And here I was thinking that you were thinking of the Manifesto!

By: Amy T

Amy T — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:33:10 +0000

Oh yeah, fly fishing. That must be what I was thinking of. : ) And all that time Wilford Woodruff spent fishing with his buddy ol-what’s-his-name who told an original fish story about Wilford Woodruff’s vision in the St. George Temple that has been accepted as fact although unsupported by the rest of the historical record. (Yes, I can turn just about every discussion on 19th century Mormonism back to this topic…)

By: David Y.

David Y. — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:01:06 +0000

What is the significant fact that was left out? Why, you must be thinking about how Wilford Woodruff was one of the first to bring fly fishing to the American West.

{said in my most sarcastic voice} Is that what you were thinking of, Amy T?