Zerah Pulsipher and Elijah Cheney baptize Wilford and Azmon Woodruff (Richland, New York, December 1833)

Zerah Pulsipher (baptized 1832) was threshing grain in his barn in December 1833 when he felt a powerful spiritual impression to travel and preach the gospel. He called on his neighbor and fellow elder, Elijah Cheney, and the two elders journeyed to Richland in Oswego County, New York. There they preached to Wilford Woodruff and his brother Azmon Woodruff. Wilford later recorded hearing “Elders Zerah Pulsipher and Elijah Cheney preach” on December 29, 1833; two days later Wilford and Azmon believed the testimony and were baptized by the visiting elders. The accounts combine Pulsipher’s autobiography and missionary recollections with Wilford Woodruff’s contemporary papers and later biographies, identifying this single missionary visit and the resulting baptisms of the Woodruff brothers.

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

On the 31st of December, I with my brother Azmon Woodruff went forward in baptism. The day following there were several others who followed our example. And on the 2nd of January 1834 Brother Pulsipher ordained Brother Azmon Woodruff and myself a teacher in the Church of Christ. I truly felt that I could exclaim with the servant of God that it was better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. I felt much of the spirit of God bearing witness.