Articles

Big Questions Come, Follow Me Insights Volunteer Spotlights

Aug 29, 2022

“Throw a Cloak of Charity over My Imperfections”

by Erin Hills

After Wilford Woodruff was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his greatest desire was to have his family accept the gospel. He diligently corresponded with them and often included his testimony in his letters.

Insights in the Papers: Karly Lay

by Karly Lay

Have you ever experienced a moment of intense pain—physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual?

Aug 23, 2022

Steven Harper: Starting right—how an assumption led to apostasy

by Steven C. Harper

The following is the first in a series of articles written by Steven Harper, a professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU. This series will be published every other Tuesday and will explore the miracle of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

How God Helped Wilford Woodruff Through Struggles

by Denise Waldram

In June 1877, Wilford Woodruff lost his 20-year-old son, Brigham, in a tragic drowning accident. In his journal, Wilford described his feelings and how God comforted him and helped him have an eternal perspective.

Aug 9, 2022

Filling in the Gaps: How the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project is changing our modern-day perspective of the Restoration

by Ashley Chilcutt

The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is often referred to as a corner stone of religion for Latter-day Saints. Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is said to have been “the most important journal keeper in Church history.” 

Wilford Woodruff’s Call to the Quorum of the Twelve

by Alex Baugh

In 1832, twenty-five-year-old Wilford Woodruff, along with his older married brother Azmon and his wife Elizabeth, left their immediate family and life-long home of Farmington (now Avon), Connecticut, and moved to Richland, New York, where the two brothers put a down payment on a 140-acre farm that included a home and a sawmill. The move proved to be providential and life-changing for both.

FamilySearch Partnership Announcement

by Lyndie Jackson

On July 25th you may have received a notification from FamilySearch with the news that your ancestor is one of the 8,000 individuals included in Wilford Woodruff’s records. The Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation is partnering with FamilySearch.org to allow users to mine information about their ancestors’ lives, including their baptisms, marriages, missions, and other important events recorded by Wilford Woodruff between 1828 and 1898. Wilford Woodruff served as the Church His ...

Jul 28, 2022

A Life Devoted to the Lord

by Lyndie Jackson

In 1999, Renee Furgeson returned to BYU, determined to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree, when her love of history eventually developed into a love for family history. Renee felt drawn to Church historical events in various classes, which prompted her to write papers on pioneer voyages and immigration. Renee has dedicated hours upon hours to different projects designed to make Latter-day Saint history universally accessible, such as the Mormon Immigration Index and indexing the British R ...

Jul 27, 2022

An Instrument in the Lord’s Hands

by Michael Pulsipher

As a young man living in Utah, I was used to people sharing facts about their ancestors who participated in early Church History events. In these discussions, I often related that my fifth great-grandfather, Zerah Pulsipher, baptized Wilford Woodruff. In fact, I shared this story so much that, in my mind, Zerah Pulsipher morphed into a special individual with the unique ability to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands for missionary work. In my own life, on the other hand, I felt tha ...

Jul 25, 2022

“The Movement of a Great Nation”: A Momentous Chapter in Our History

by Richard Bennett

The above title comes from Wilford Woodruff of the Council of the Twelve Apostles as he surveyed the sprawling, westward-bound encampments of the Latter-day Saints at Mt. Pisgah, Iowa Territory on June 30, 1846.