WOODRUFF, Wilford, president of the Mormon church, born in Northington (now Avon), Connecticut, 1 March, 1807. He was educated in Farmington, early joined the Mormon church, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1833. Mr. Woodruff followed the church in its journeyings through the United States until it finally reached Salt Lake City. He was ordained one of the twelve apostles on 29 April, 1839, at tear West, Missouri, with the special designation of "the Banner of the Gospel." He has been sent on missions throughout the United States and Europe, and in all has travelled about 150,000 miles. Mr. Woodruff became president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the death of John Taylor in 1887, retaining still that office, having held at that time the place of president of the twelve apostles. He has been a member of the Utah legislative assembly for twenty-two years. He served in 1843 on the editorial staff of the "Times and Seasons " in Nauvoo, Illinois, and in 1843 on the "Millennial Star" in Liverpool. Mr. Woodruff is a believer in polygamy, and entered into that practice before there was any law against it in the United States. See "Early Days of Mormonism," by James Harrison Kennedy (New York, 1888).