John Stillman Woodbury

Older brother of Orin N. Woodbury; born in New Salem, Massachusetts; baptized along with his family in New Salem in 1841; immigrated to Salt Lake Valley in 1847; married Elvira Stevens prior to receiving mission call to the Pacific; left Salt Lake City for mission to the Pacific in company with his wife, Parley P. Pratt, William and Patty Perkins, Francis and Mary Jane Hammond, and others in April 1851; reached Hawai‘i in August 1851 in company with the Hammonds and Philip and Jane Lewis; his wife, who had stayed behind in San Francisco, joined him later, though she remained less than a year before returning to the U.S.; labored primarily on Moloka‘i, where he served as conference president, also on Big Island and O‘ahu; released in 1855; divorced by his wife some time before June 1856; called on second mission to Hawai‘i in 1857; returned to Utah because of the Utah War; helped settle St. George in 1861; married Martha Alice Parker in 1864; served third mission to Hawai‘i, 1877–1879; ordained patriarch for St. George Stake in 1896; died in St. George. (See Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men, 1260; Woodbury, History of the Jeremiah Woodbury Family, 71–76; Spurrier, Sandwich Islands Saints, 82–94; MMH, biographical sketches; Woodbury diaries; GQC journal, frequent references, Aug. 1851–July 1854)