Then, as a young man, he attended the Latter Day Saints' College and obtained a job at the Zion's Saving Bank and Trust Company.

In this capacity, he traveled throughout the Intermountain West, Canada, and Mexico, attending stake conferences of the church and identifying areas for potential Mormon colonies.

[5] Here, Woodruff endured persecution against Latter-day Saint missionaries; the German government had chosen to promulgate "the banishment of the 'Mormon' Elders" from the country.

[6] In order to blend in, Woodruff dressed and acted like a common worker in the country and preached in secret in homes at night, receiving support from local church members.

He spoke at a stake conference held in Price, Utah, and, according to the Deseret Evening News, told the audience that "the Saints in general [were] on the improve.

[14] At a stake conference in St. George, Utah, he told attendees of the importance of "improving [their] horses, cattle, sheep and fowls in general.

[5] His wife Helen Woodruff was on the general board of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, so she and her husband often traveled together on church assignments.

[8] Of him, Woodruff's fellow LDS apostle Matthias F. Cowley wrote: "When appointed to any labor, he works with all his might, mind, and strength, coupled with implicit faith in our eternal Father.

He is young, healthy, active and faithful in his high calling and will doubtless accomplish a mighty work in the earth, and live to see the redemption of Zion.

[8] Early in the year 1900, Woodruff traveled to the Bighorn River in Wyoming to scout the availability of resources and determine the feasibility of establishing a colony of Latter-day Saints there.

Once he arrived in Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that "Mr. Woodruff stated that he was delighted with eastern Montana and northern Wyoming, which is peculiarly adapted for Mormon husbandry.

[8] Alongside a committee of public and church officials, Woodruff facilitated the purchase of 18,000 acres under the Carey Act on which to establish a new Mormon colony.

[12] In 1901 Woodruff was president of the "Wood River Live-stock company," which focused on fostering the livestock industry in Idaho and Wyoming.

Woodruff was not alone in entering into post-Manifesto polygamy; there is evidence that other church leaders did the same, recognizing the Manifesto as the end of practicing plural marriage publicly but not privately.

His marriage to Clark was largely kept a secret, and it is unknown if Joseph F. Smith, the church president at the time, gave permission for the union to take place.

Of his decision to practice plural marriage, authors Lu Ann Faylor Snyder and Phillip A. Snyder wrote: "Eventually, apparently after much soul-searching, Owen determined to embrace post-Manifesto polygamy because he must have believed that the laws of God would eventually supersede those of the government despite the Manifesto’s promise of the church’s legal compliance.

Clark lived in Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, a Latter-day Saint colony in Mexico, in order to keep her status as a plural wife a secret.

[8] After attending Helen's funeral in Mexico City,[28] he began to travel back to the US,[8] but stopped in El Paso, Texas when he grew ill. His doctor initially diagnosed the illness as typhoid fever, but it was soon revealed that he had smallpox.

Woodruff's condition appeared to be improving; he began making preparations to return home to Salt Lake City when his illness worsened.

[8] Editor and politician S. A. Kenner described Woodruff as possessing "scrupulous honesty, simplicity, implicit faith in God, industry and a total absence of ostentation".

[3] The Iron County Record memorialized him as "one of those unostentatious unassuming sort of men who win the hearts of those with whom they come in contact by making them feel perfectly at home in their society, and that although they are called to hold a prominent place in the administration of public affairs, are not the least bit top heavy in consequence.