The Founding Fathers and 100 Eminent Spirits Appeared in the St. George Temple and Demanded Their Temple Work (1877)

In August–September 1877, Wilford Woodruff was serving as President of the St. George Temple — the first completed LDS temple in Utah. He recorded that two weeks before he left St. George, the spirits of the dead gathered around him demanding to know why their temple work had not been done.

Woodruff recounted the vision in his own words, later confirmed publicly at the Salt Lake City Tabernacle and again at the April 1898 General Conference:

'Two weeks before I left St. George, 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.'

At the 1898 General Conference, Woodruff bore further testimony: 'Everyone of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence, with General Washington, called upon me as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Temple at St. George, two consecutive nights, and demanded at my hands that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the House of God for them.'

In response, Woodruff entered the baptismal font immediately. Brother J. D. T. McAllister baptized him for all 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and approximately 44 other eminent men — including Christopher Columbus, John Wesley, and all the Presidents of the United States (except three). Sister Lucy Bigelow Young was baptized for Martha Washington, her family, and 70 eminent women.

Woodruff recorded the complete list in his journal. Those for whom work was done included: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln.

Woodruff said of these men: 'I am going to bear my testimony to this assembly, if I never do it again in my life, that those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits, not wicked men. General Washington and all the men that labored for the purpose were inspired of the Lord.'

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

Two weeks before I left St. George, 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 dead. I straightway went into the baptismal font 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; I then baptized him for every one of them. I then baptized him for every President of the United States, except three, and when their numbers are increased we will attend to them. I am going to bear my testimony to this assembly, if I never do it again in my life, that those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits, not wicked men. General Washington and all the men that labored for the purpose were inspired of the Lord.