This left his mother, Anna, as a widow with two young sons to take care of: six-year-old John, and his younger brother Osborne Widtsoe.

Soon, however, he returned to Logan and succeeded Kerr as president of Utah State Agricultural College; he served in this position from 1907 to 1916.

[12][13] As editor of the Improvement Era, Widtsoe "directed its growth from a magazine primarily for the youth to the voice of the whole Church".

[14] Widtsoe was also a member of the church's Genealogy Committee, where he pushed for creation and adoption of the Temple Index Bureau.

[15] In 1923, Widtsoe accompanied fellow apostle, Reed Smoot, on a journey to Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, during which they secured recognition and opened the way for missionaries of the church to return to these lands.

Widtsoe was also the lead compiler of Gospel Doctrine, a collection of sermons and teachings of LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith.

Widtsoe wrote A Rational Theology as Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has been cited by later LDS authors such as J. Reuben Clark.

[17] He also wrote Evidences and Reconciliations, which was a compilation of his Improvement Era writings, answering common questions on matters of faith.

His work, The Message of the Doctrine and Covenants, was edited by son-in-law G. Homer Durham, and published after Widtsoe's death.

Widtsoe also wrote Joseph Smith as Scientist: A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy, published by the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association in 1908.

Non-religious books by Widtsoe include Dry-Farming: A System of Agriculture for Countries Under a Low Rainfall (New York: MacMillan, 1920) and Dodge's Geography of Utah.

Widtsoe wrote the texts to the hymns "Lead Me into Life Eternal" and "How Long, O Lord Most Holy and True," which appear as numbers 45 and 126 respectively in the 1985 LDS hymnal.