• In 1850, John S. Woodbury was called to serve a mission to the Sandwich Islands.  He married Elvira Stevens on 23 December 1850, and was encouraged by Brigham Young to bring her with him on his mission.  They were both re-baptized on 24 February 1852.   On 13 March 1851, John and Elvira left for California.  At the end of his mission, John traveled home in 1856.  He traveled with his wife, Elvira, from California to Utah, departing 3 April 1856 from San Bernardino.  Further research is needed to determine the company they traveled home with. In some sources, her given name is spelled "Alvira."

  John and Elvira were divorced in Salt Lake City on 20 May 1856.

   

Brigham Young Company (1848)

• Age at Departure: 16

Company Unknown (1856)

• Age at Departure: 23

Sources

• Early Missionary Database
• First 100, report, 1848 June.
• Lyman, Edward Leo, Susan Ward Payne, and S. George Ellsworth, eds., No Place to Call Home: The 1807-1857 Life Writings of Caroline Barnes Crosby, Chronicler of Outlying Mormon Communities [2005], 399.
• "Pioneer and Physician Will be Buried Today," Inter-Mountain Republican, 15 January 1909, 8.
• Richard Ballantyne papers, 1848-1867, 1895, Journal, 1848 May-August.
• Salt Lake Stake, Record of members collection, 1836-1970.
• Utah Death Certificate Index, 1905-1967.
• "Woman's Tribute to Dr. Elvira S. Barney," Deseret News, 16 Jan. 1909, 25.