Near the middle of the nineteenth century, when unreasoning bigotry united with apostolic zeal and fervor to drive the Mormon church from the banks of the Mississippi on which it had begun to erect its “City of Beauty and Everlasting Habitation,” among the number of faithful adherents who attended Brigham Young the renowned head of the church in the perilous and memorable transition across the plains to the new land of hope and promise and who served most capably as one of the Twelve Apostles of the organization was Wilford Woodruff a native of Connecticut and an early convert to the faith. He was accompanied by his wife, Phoebe Carter Woodruff, the mother of Daniel P. Woodruff of this review. She was born and reared in Ohio and on their arrival at Salt Lake they located a block of government land in the city and entered with zeal and industry on the work of building up the new domain which had been selected as headquarters of the hierarchy and in this work they passed the residue of their lives the father dying in 1898 and being at the time of his death the president of the church a position he had held continuously from the death of John Taylor his predecessor in 1887. His labors in behalf of the church were prodigious and far reaching in extent and value and form the theme and subject matter of profound volumes. They included 150,000 miles of travel in missionary tours and an enormous volume of work in Salt Lake City and vicinity. His widow the mother of Mr. Woodruff now resides at Provo, Utah. In Salt Lake City their son David was born on April 4m 1854 and within its he was reared and educated. On reaching his legal majority he went to Bear River and passed six years engaged in cultivating the soil and in raising stock. From there he removed to the cache Valley and soon after to Ashley Valley where he clerked in a store until 1893. In that year he came to Wyoming and located on Wood River. For three years he here prosecuted vigorous and profitable stockgrowing and farming operations until he was elected treasurer of Bighorn County in 1896. He then devoted his attention with energy and close scrutiny to the duties of his office and discharged them in a manner so satisfactory to the people that at the end of his term in 1898 he was forced by public sentiment to accept a reelection which was followed by still another in 1900. When he relinquished official life he returned to his ranch which has since been his home and which has fully occupied his attention and started again in the business of raising stock and the cultivation of the soil. He has 320 acres of land and while he runs a small herd of high-grade cattle his principal stock products is a strain of thoroughbred Hambletonian, Kentucky saddle bred and Hackney horses of which he has usually about 200. These much desired in the markets and hold high place in the esteem of horsemen. In church affiliation Mr. Woodruff is loyal to the faith which his father helped so materially to establish and in the work of the church he has been zealous and diligent from his early manhood. He has filled a number of places of trust in its government and is now a member of the high council of the Bighorn stake. On February 19, 1877 he was married to Miss Arabella Hatch a native of Lehi, Utah daughter of Jeremiah and Louisa (Alexander) Hatch who were early pioneers in the state. Eleven children have been blessed their union, Amy, Phoebe, David P., Wilford L., Willard C., Jeremiah, Louisa, Mary, Erma A., Torrey B., and Beulah A. In the church in business in official life in social circles and in his domestic relations, Mr. Woodruff has ever borne himself with due regard to his own integrity and proper consideration for others and in correspondingly esteemed.
