-- Nov 24, 1845
[Nauvoo Temple] Painters continued working in the attic, while two stoves were put up in the large room. Others began to clean up the rooms. Work on the font continued with several of the oxen and their tin horns, in place. (1)
-- Jan 20, 1846
[Nauvoo Temple] The Times and Seasons reported that "the font, standing upon twelve stone oxen, is about ready" and that the second story floor was being laid. (1)
-- Feb 7, 1846
[Nauvoo Temple] Last day of endowments given in the attic, as well as the last day that baptisms for the dead were administered. 5,083 persons received their endowments. By this date there had been 15,626 proxy baptisms performed in the temple. (1)
-- Apr 15, 1846
[Apostle Wilford Woodruff Journal] 15th + In company with Father and Mother Woodruff And Phebe cousin Betsey Cossett Sister Smoot & others we visited the Temple. We all went through each appartment of it from the font in the basement to the hall of the tower And had a view of all Nauvoo & the surrounding country. And after taking a view of each Appartment of the Temple we again desended to the ground.
I rode out on the prairie & sold mr William Allen my lot of land of 12 Acres & 20 of Br Pulsi-phers. I also sold my House And lot in which I am now living in for $675. I had a vary busy day. (2)
-- July 1846 - July 1847
Members of the Mormon Battalion administered ritual [of baptism for health, which] expanded to wherever Church members were located, including to branches outside of the Great Basin, to the Pacific Islands, and to Britain. (3)
-- Aug 8, 1846
On April 15 or Aug 2, 1846, Wilford Woodruff married Mary Ann Jackson (married at the Nauvoo Temple or at Winter Quarters) Mary Ann was twenty-eight, Wilford was thirty-nine. They had one child, James Jackson, but divorced in 1848. Mary Ann had been born on February 18, 1818, in Liverpool, England, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Lloyd Jackson, and Wilford Woodruff met her on his English mission. In his journal, on August 8, 1845, he wrote: I recieved 2 letters & wrote 2. 4 m. Sister Mary Jackson commenced labour with us this day." On August 2, 1846, Woodruff wrote: During the evening President Young And Dr Richards Called at my tent. President Young deliverd an interesting lecture upon the priesthood And the principal of sealing there being present: Phebe W. Woodruff / [Mary] Caroline Barton / Caroline [mistake for Sarah] Brown / Mary Jackson." There is a picture of a large heart with four keys. This is a typical pre-1852 cryptic reference to plural marriages. On August 8, at a time of rebaptisms, Woodruff baptized the trio, and got the names right: Caroline, Sarah, Mary. He also has the names correct on August 26: Caroline Barton and Sarah Brown. He describes them there as members of my family. Alexander writes, While in England he had met Mary Ann Jackson, a twenty-eight-year-old Liverpool native, who had converted to Mormonism in May 1843. Working for the Woodruffs as housekeeper, she returned with Phebe and a party of emigrants via New Orleans in January 1846. On April 15, two days after his return to Nauvoo for a reunion with his wife and children, Wilford and his family and friends visited the temple. The records are contradictory, but he married Mary Ann on that occasion or on August 2, at Winter Quarters. The marriage produced one son, James Jackson Woodruff, who was born on March 25, 1847, at Florence, Nebraska. Mary Ann and Wilford subsequently divorced, but James remained on good terms with his father. "" Mary Ann died Oct. 25, 1894 in Salt Lake City. Wilford Woodruff spoke at her funeral. (4)
[Wilford Woodruff] Woodruff family rebaptized (5)
-- Aug 15, 1846
[Apostle Wilford Woodruff Journal] 15th I met in Council with the Twelve to attend to such business as our circumstances requred. I Baptized Phebe in the evening for the restoration of her health. It seemed to be a benefit to her. (2)
Footnotes:
1 - Brown, Lisle (compiler), Chronology of the Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction of the Nauvoo Temple
2 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
3 - Stapley, Jonathan & Wright, Kristine, '"They Shall Be Made Whole": A History of Baptism for Health,' Journal of Mormon History, Fall 2008
4 - Compton, Todd, 'The Wives of Wilford Woodruff', http://www.geocities.com/athens/oracle/7207/WWfamilies.htm
5 - Kenny, Scott (editor), Wilford Woodruff's Journals 1833-1898, Chronology Signature Books, Midvale, Utah, http://bit.ly/wwjournal
LDS History Chronology: Unconventional Baptisms
Mormon History Timeline: Forms of Rebaptism in LDS History
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
