John Wickersham Woolley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Wickersham Woolley was born to Edwin D. and Mary W. Woolley (the first of Edwin's seven wives) in Newlin, Columbia, Pennsylvania on December 30, 1831. His father was originally a Quaker farmer, but he was converted to Mormonism in 1837. Edwin would later become Brigham Young's business manager, as well as one of his closest friends, and a Bishop from 1853 to 1881.
Woolley held many responsible civil stations, such as Constable, Justice of the Peace, Deputy Sheriff, Deputy Territorial Marshal, and County Commissioner. Within the Nauvoo Legion (in the territory of Deseret) he served as a Lieutenant, Captain, Sergeant and Major. He participated in the Black Hawk War, and was one of the ten who crossed the Little Mountain to meet Johnston's Army in 1857.
Having been ordained a High Priest by Brigham Young, he served on a Bishopric, as a High Councillor in the Davis Stake, and was later ordained a Patriarch. He also was an ordinance worker in the Salt Lake Temple, and he opened LDS General Conference with prayer on more than one occasion. He was married (sealed) to his first wife Julia E. Sirls in March 1851 and was endowed at the same time. He went on later to marry Ann Everington in 1886, and in 1910 married Annie Fisher, with Joseph F. Smith performing the ceremony.[1]
He was among the first to meet the handcart companies in 1856, and in 1860 and 1863, he brought emigrants across the plains himself. On the last occasion Joseph F. Smith acted as the chaplain in his 'company', and they became lifelong friends, with President Smith having picnics with the Woolley family and speaking at his wife's funeral.
He was uncle to LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball, and Qurom of the Twelve members J. Reuben Clark and John W. Taylor, as well as being father-in-law to B.H. Roberts, President of the Seventy.
[edit] Involvement with Mormon Fundamentalism
- See also: Apostolic United Brethren
He is perhaps best known as the father of Mormon fundamentalism and amongst most fundamentalists is considered an Apostle, Prophet, and President of the Priesthood.
At the age of 8 he received a Patriarchal Blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr. who was then the Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church. Within this blessing he was promised he would “be called to responsible stations,” that it would involve having to “receive keys,” as well as “glory and honor” and “worlds of knowledge and power”, and that he would one day “be called the Lord's anointed.” Fundamentalist Mormons see this as a prophesy of the later role he would play as their leader.
According to an account given by his son Lorin C. Woolley: When John Taylor was in hiding there were very few homes in which he felt his safety was secure, and very few people in whom he placed his confidence. John Woolley was one of these men, and his son Lorin acted as a messenger and sometimes a bodyguard for President John Taylor. It was in John Woolley's home that Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith, Jr. allegedly visited President Taylor on the night of September 26th, 1886, and on the following day set five men apart (including John, his son, and George Q. Cannon) as Apostles, with a special commission to keep alive Celestial Plural Marriage, and the authority to set apart others similarly. This account is highly disputed by most Latter-day Saint scholars.
In 1890 LDS church President Wilford Woodruff issued what has become known as the manifesto, officially calling for an end to the practice of plural marriage by church members. Because certain members (Woolley being among them) did not take it seriously, in 1904 another proclamtion, sometimes called the second manifesto, was put forth by church President Joseph F. Smith, which stated that those who did not cease the continuation of the practice would be excommunicated from the church. Again, Woolley did not comply and was excommunicated, from the church.
Some Fundamentalists believe that the excommunication was just a public act that was not privately accepted by Smith and that Woolley actually became Smith's rightful successor in the prophetic office.
Woolley died in 1928, leaving his son Lorin as his successor as leader of the Fundamentalists.
| Preceded by Joseph F. Smith |
Mormon Fundamentalist Leaders 1918–1928 |
Succeeded by Lorin Calvin Woolley |
Some Fundamentalists believe Woolley was a successor to John Taylor or Wilford Woodruff instead.
[edit] Notes
^ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not accept John Woolley as a successor to Joseph F. Smith.
[edit] References
- ^ According to the Mormon Fundamentalism website. Retrieved on Error: invalid time.
