Born in Connecticut, Wilford Woodruff was the son of Aphek and Beulah (Thompson) Woodruff and learned milling and farming from his father. A lifelong student of scripture, he began as a teenager to read histories and keep a comprehensive daily journal, practices he continued throughout his life. Called "God's Fisherman," he was known both for his skill at fly-fishing, learned in England, and for missionary work; during his lifetime, he baptised 2,000 souls. Guided by right and wrong in his search for truth, he was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Richland, NY, on 31 Dec. 1833, beginning a lifetime of total commitment to serve Jesus Christ. He was associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith in Missouri and Illinois, came to Utah with the 1847 pioneers, served missions near and far, and was called as an Apostle in 1838. Industrious in every occupation, devoted to his families, and unpretentious, he was portrayed as a messenger of peace who simply did what was asked of him. Randolph, Utah, was settled in 1870, and the next year he moved one wife, Sarah Brown Woodruff, and family there along with his older son Wilford and family; the two men built this house in 1872, where both families lived. While there he loved to fish and farm and helped develop Randolph, though other responsibilities kept him from being there steadily. The Woodruff families left Randolph in 1876, but ownership of their homes did not pass to John Snowball until 1898. In later years he devoted himself to business, farming, and church work including temple service and labor in the Church Historian's office, and he traveled extensively with Brigham Young. After Young died in 1877 and John Taylor led the Church for a decade, Woodruff assumed leadership upon Taylor's death in 1887 and was sustained as Church President in 1889 at age 82. He died while visiting San Francisco, Calif., at age 92 years, 6 months, 1 day, and was buried in Salt Lake City.