Early converts to the church in upstate NY

We spent some time with a sweet lady in the ward.  She is a descendant of the Woodruffs.  Not direct to Wilford.  As a little girl she would attend the family reunions and listen to the old ladies talk about the whole family being there except the black sheep's decendants who joined the Mormon church. (She is about our age.  She was baptized when she was 20 Yrs old )  She took us to the Woodruff settlement near here. (Pic Below)  Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer were missionaries here in Watertown and baptised some in this "Cold Creek" in town. (Picture below but exact spot not known)  There were several members here when they moved west to Kirtland.   There was lots of persecution in this area and the area was cursed for missionary work for 3 generations. We met another missionary couple, serving in the Rochester mission, and the Elder served in Watertown 40 years ago when there were only 10 members in all upstate NY.  Now we have 400+ in Watertown and three stakes with lots of branches in Northern and Central NY..  There is a lot more to be said but it will have to wait for another time.

This is Donna Trumbo and mom.  She is related to Woodruffs.  The Church  asked her years ago to put together a history of this area.  Hopefully we can help her to do that.

This is "Cold Creek" there are places that have been dammed up making it deeper.  It is also along this creek where according to Donna that the Saints used to meet.  So much fun history here.