His mother's name was Beulah Thompson. The family on his mother's side, for generations lived at Farmington, Connecticut. The Woodruff family name is English and is derived from the occupation of its bearers who in the days of William the Conqueror guarded the woods and forests for the use of noblemen and who were considered among the most honored officers in the land. From Wilford Woodruff's account of his forefathers it appears that they were hardy and long-lived people. He says: "My grandfather, Josiah Woodruff, lived nearly one hundred years. He possessed an iron constitution and performed a great deal of manual work up to the time of his death. His wife's name was Sarah. She bore him nine children: Josiah, Appleton, Eldad, Elisha, Joseph, Rhoda, and Phoebe. There were two of this family whose names are not given. My grandfather, Eldad Woodruff, was the third son of Josiah. He was born in Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut in 1751. He likewise possessed {4} a strong constitution and it was said of him that for several years he performed more labor than any man in Hartford County. From over exertion and hewing timber he was attacked with rheumatism in his right hip which caused a severe lameness for several years before his death. He married Dinah Woodford by whom he had seven children: Eldad, Elizabeth, Samuel, Titus, Helen, Aphek, and Ozem. My grandfather died in Farmington from spotted fever in 1806 at the age of fifty-five years. My grandmother, Dinah, died in the same place in 1824 from the effects of a cancer in her breast; her sufferings were very great. "My father, Aphek Woodruff, was born in Farmington, November 11, 1778. He married Beulah Thompson who bore him three sons: Azmon, born Nov. 29th, 1802; Thompson, born December 22nd, 1804; and myself, born March 1st, 1807. My mother died from spotted fever January 11th, 1808 at the age of twenty-eight years, leaving me a babe of fifteen months. My father married a second wife, Azubah Hart. She bore him six children. He was a man of a strong constitution and did a great amount of labor. At eighteen years of age he began work in a flour mill and saw mill and continued at his occupation there for about fifty years. Most of that time he labored eighteen hours a day. He never made any profession of religion until I baptized him into the Church of Jesus Christ on the first day of July, 1838. He was a man of great charity, honesty, and integrity and made himself poor by giving to the poor. He was liberal in accommodating his fellow men by lending money and by becoming surety for his neighbors. He generally said yes to every man who asked a favor at his hands." "I assisted my father in the Farmington mills until I was twenty years of age and continued in the occupation of a miller until I was thirty-one." {5} CHAPTER 2. A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS.