Wilford Woodruff's Miraculous Preservation from Drowning

When Wilford Woodruff was twelve years old, he experienced a life-threatening drowning incident while at the Farmington mill dam in Connecticut. He remained submerged in thirty feet of water long enough to be considered medically dead, later describing the moment he lay on his back and witnessed the sun go out, passing through the vivid sensations of death. After several unsuccessful attempts, he was recovered from the water. Rescuers labored over his body for an hour before he was finally brought back to life. In his later autobiographical writings and general conference addresses, Woodruff recounted this as one of many narrow escapes from death—including being bitten by a mad dog at age fourteen and surviving being caught in water wheels—that he believed demonstrated the preserving hand of the Lord throughout his life, preparing him to serve as an Apostle and eventually the fourth President of the Church. As a young man, Woodruff also gained substantial work experience assisting his father, Aphek Woodruff, in the family’s Farmington Mills until he reached the age of twenty.