Wilford Woodruff and the St. George Temple
The St. George Utah Temple, originally named the St. George Temple, and the only temple completed during Brigham Young’s 30-year tenure as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the oldest operating temple of the Church and the first built in Utah. It was privately dedicated on 1 January 1877 in a series of three dedicatory prayers: the baptistry by Wilford Woodruff, the main floor by Erastus Snow, and the sealing room by Brigham Young, Jr. The St. George Utah Temple is also the first temple where endowments for the dead were performed, and it is also there that temple ordinances were put into a written form for the first time.
Elder Bruce C. Hafen, former president of the St. George Utah Temple and emeritus General Authority, during a presentation titled “Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and the St. George Temple” at the Church History Museum in 2014 noted that “the temples in Kirtland, Nauvoo and St. George were all necessary for bringing about the restoration of important priesthood keys and ordinances.” Wilford Woodruff and the Temple Work of the Founding Fathers by Keith L. Brown | May 25, 2015 | Early History
Christopher Columbus: A Latter-day Saint Perspective
Arnold K. Garr With a foreword by DeLamar Jensen Published by the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah http://rsc.byu.edu
While many books have been written about the life of Christopher Columbus and his New World discoveries, this one has a different thrust—that Columbus was not just a skilled, courageous sailor but was also a chosen instrument in the hands of God. This book profiles the man from Genoa who apparently yearned from childhood for the seafaring life and who early began to acquire the nautical knowledge and experience that would make him the most widely traveled seaman of his day and would help him rise to the top ranks in that career.
Arnold K. Garr, Christopher Columbus A Latter-Day Saint Perspective, (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992), 71–72.
Epilogue
For Latter-day Saints, the story of Christopher Columbus does not begin with his birth in 1451; nor does it end with his death in 1506. Because they believe that everyone associated with this earth lived as spirit children of our Heavenly Father in a premortal state before they came to earth, they believe that Columbus lived before he came here. And because they believe that life continues after death, they believe he is now in the Spirit World awaiting the resurrection with millions of other spirits who have passed from this life.
But Latter-day Saints are more involved in Columbus’ life than just believing that he lived in a premortal state and waiting for him to be resurrected. They believe that he was an instrument in the Lord’s hand to discover the Americas to the Europeans. That in turn brought the Founding fathers here to establish the United States of America. Its freedoms made it possible to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. And there is still more.
They have a tradition that President Wilford Woodruff, while he was serving as the President of the St. George Temple, was visited by the spirits of several great men who requested him to perform vicarious baptism for them in the temple. Speaking of that experience, President Woodruff said:
“The spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, “You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.” These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I thought it very singular , that notwithstanding so much work had been done, and yet nothing had been done for them. The thought never entered my heart, from the fact, I suppose, that heretofore our minds were reaching after our more immediate friends and relatives. I straightway went into the baptismal font [in the temple] and called upon brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others.” (JD 19:229)
On the same day these ordinances were performed, President Woodruff records in his journal that he baptized brother McCallister “for 21, including Gen Washington & his forefathers and all the Presidents of the United States that were on my list except Buchanan Van Buren & Grant Sister
Lucy Bigelow Young went forth into the font and was Baptized for Martha Washington and her family and seventy (70) of the Eminent women of the world. . . . There were Baptized in all to day 682” (Woodruff, Journal 7:367–69). All these proxy ordinances are performed for the dead so they as spirits in the Spirit World may accept or reject them.
As President Ezra Taft Benson presided over the Church in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ epic voyage, it seems appropriate to quote his appraisal of the man and the other “eminent men” whose temple ordinances were performed by President Woodruff:
The temple work for the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence and other founding fathers has been done. All these appeared to Wilford Woodruff when he was President of the St. George Temple. President George Washington was ordained a High Priest at that time. You will also be interested to know that according to Wilford Woodruff’s journal, John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus were also ordained High Priests at the time. When one casts doubt upon the character of these noble sons of God, I believe he or she will have to answer to the God of heaven for it. (Benson 604)
[I have a friend named Oak Norton who has a copy of the St. George temple records and Lord Nelson from Britain was also ordained a High Priest. It’s written out to the side as Elder Benson must have missed it.] You can clearly see below how High Priest is written for Lord Nelson.
See John Wesley and Christopher Columbus but here is says Elder only.
Arnold K. Garr continues, “Notwithstanding the mistakes he made in his life and the human faults he had, Christopher Columbus was a man of notable spiritual sensitivity. Given the powers of repentance and forgiveness, it should come as no surprise that President Wilford Woodruff vicariously had his endowments done and ordained him a High Priest three days after he was baptized for him.”
Arnold K. Garr
Question: According to Wilford Woodruff’s journal, President George Washington, John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus were ordained high priests when they appeared within the sacred walls of the St. George Temple. Why did these ordinations take place in our sphere by a mortal man?
Answer: These ordinations took place in our sphere, by a mortal man because these ordinances must be performed in this life. After the resurrection comes the judgment, when the books will be opened and it will be eternally too late to enter ordinance work into the ledger. The ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood, along with sealings, endowments, baptisms, and confirmations, all must happen in this life, and must be recorded in this life. Thus, the dead will “be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6). askgramps.com
Eminent Men and Women Baptized in the St. George Temple
Temple work was performed on behalf of the following well-known and respected men and women in the St. George Utah Temple in August 1877 Compiled By Glen W. Chapman- January 2002)
Founding Fathers: William Hooper(NC), Joseph Hewes (NC), John Penn(NC), Button Gwinnett(GA), Lyman Hall(GA), George Walton(GA), Edward Rutledge(SC), Thomas Heyward Jr.(SC), Thomas Lynch(SC), Arthur Middleton(SC), Samuel Chase(MD), William Paca(MD), Thomas Stone(MD), Charles Carrol(MD), George Wythe(VA), Richard Henry Lee(VA), Thomas Jefferson(VA), Benjamin Harrison(VA), Thomas Nelson Jr.(VA), Francis Lightfoot Lee(VA), Carter Braxton(VA), Robert Morris (PA), Benjamin Rush(PA), Benjamin Franklin(PA), John Morton(PA), George Clymer(PA), James Smith(PA), George Taylor(PA), James Wilson(PA), George Ross(PA), Caeser Rodney(DE), George Read(DE), Thomas McKean(DE), Philip Livingston(NY), Francis Lewis(NY), Lewis Morris(NY), Richard Stockton (NJ), John Witherspoon(NJ), Francis Hopkinson(NJ), John Hart(NJ), Abraham Clark(NJ), Josiah Bartlett(NH), William Whipple(NH), Matthew Thornton(NH), Samuel Adams(MA), John Adams(MA), Robert Treat Paine(MA), Elbridge Gerty(MA), Stephen Hopkins(RI), William Ellery(RI), Roger Sherman(CN), Samuel Huntington(CN), William Williams(CN), and Oliver Wolcott(CN).
Note: Temple work was not done for John Hancock or William Floyd as it had already been completed previously.
Presidents of the United States: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Knox Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson.
Note: Temple work was not done for James Buchanan, Martin Van Buren, or Ulysses S. Grant.
Other eminent men baptized by Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Utah Temple in August 1877 include: Sir Edward Gibbon, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Oliver Goldsmith, Henry Grattan, Humboldt, Alexander von Irving, Washington Jackson, Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Johnson, Samuel Ju~rez, Benito Pablo Kemble, John Philip Liebig, Baron Justus von Livingstone, David Macaulay, Thomas Babington Nelson, Lord Horatio O’Connell, Daniel Peabody, George Powers, Hiram Reynolds, Sir Joshua Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Scott, Sir Walter Seward, William Henry Stephenson, George Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vespucci, Amerigo Webster, Daniel Wesley, John Wordsworth, William Parepa, Count Dimitrius, Martha Washington and her family, John Washington(Great Grandfather of George Washington), Sir Henry Washington, Lawrence Washington (Brother of George Washington), Augustine Washington (Father of George Washington), Lawrence Washington (Father of Augustine), Lawrence Washington, Daniel Park Custis, John Park Custis (Son of Daniel and Martha Parke Custis), and Martin Luther.
Eminent Women baptized include: Jean Armour (1767—1834) of Scotland, Jean Armour Burns (Wife of Robert Burns) (1759—1796), Jane Austen (1775—1817) of England, novelist, Mary Ball (1708—1789) of America, Mary Ball Washington (Mother of George Washington) (1732—1799), Sarah Bernard (1800—1879) of England, Sarah Barnard Faraday (wife of Michael Faraday (1791—1867), Charlotte Bronte (1816—1855) of England, novelist, Felicia Dorothea Browne (1793—1835) of England, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806—1861) of England, poet, (wife of Robert Browning) (1812—18?), Martha Caldwell Calhoun (d. 1802) of America (mother of John Caldwell Calhoun) (1782—1850), Martha Parke Custis (1755—1773) of America (Daughter of Martha Washington) (1732—1802), Martha Dandridge Washington (1732—1802) of America (wife of George Washington) (1732—1799), Rachel Donelson Jackson (1767—1828) of America (wife of Andrew Jackson (1767—1845), and Abigail Eastman Webster (1737—1816) of America (mother of Daniel Webster (1782—1852), to name but a few. Temple work was performed for a total of 70 eminent women.
A Salute to Michael Bedard -Artist of the Eminent Men and Women
Michael Bedard has created countless pieces of fine art, built three art studios, and raised a family of seven kids. He is a man who is confident in his abilities and always looking to improve them. He worked several jobs and served in the national guard while obtaining his BFA at Brigham Young University and MFA at Washington State University, all while raising a growing family. Michael is now living in Nauvoo, Illinois, with his wife and youngest son, establishing another gallery there. He has come a long way, developing his art over the years and through life’s challenges. The simple desire to create something greater popped into existence when a little Michael saw a mural made of tiny tiles at the public pool one summer. The flippant thought came to him, “I can do that!” This little boy looked at a simple piece of art and grew to create masterpieces that shape and are shaped by the world around him. With support from his young single mother, encouragement from schoolteachers eager to get the rebel to do something productive, and later many more people, the young man began to doodle, grow, draw, and paint. From that point he began his mission to change himself and the world. “When you create great art that literally frees people, it lifts them up and gives them wings.”
See all of Michael’s beautiful Art HERE! https://bedardfinearts.com/
Big News:
Michael is currently painting the 85 Indian Chiefs. See him paint live in Nauvoo, IL. Below is a preview from Sept 2021
Michael Bedard’s Founding Fathers & Ladies
Wilford Woodruff and the Temple Work of the Founding Fathers
tp://emp.byui.edu/davisr/121/70%20Eminent%20Women%20baptized.htm
See additional resources of information visit:
Joseph Smith Foundation Here!
Eminent Women of the St George Temple Here
LDS Living Article
85 Indian Chiefs baptized Aug 29, 1877 at the St. George Temple, one week after the Founding Fathers. Read the Annotated Book of Mormon by David Hocking and Rod Meldrum page 554
Detailed story at my blog here:https://www.bofm.blog/85-native-american-chiefs-baptized-at-the-st-george-temple/
Photo copy of page 196 St George Temple Baptisms Aug 29, 1877. Picture taken by Rod Meldrum
