Woodruff was dedicated to the Latter Day Saint church, which distanced him from his family, who did not believe in the church. He returned to Kirkland in November 1836, where he studied Latin and Greek grammar at the Kirtland School, a school for adult education which met in the attic of the Kirtland temple. In January 1837, Joseph Smith called Woodruff to join the First Quorum of the Seventy. Three months later, over a period of five days, he participated in washing and anointings in the Kirtland temple, accompanied by prolonged fasting and prayer and Charismatic experiences such as speaking in tongues and prophecy. Like many early Latter-day Saints, Woodruff practiced plural marriage. He was probably married to nine women, but not at the same time. Woodruff's first wife, Phebe, initially stated that she thought it was "the most wicked thing I ever heard of," but eventually accepted it. His wives:  Woodruff's wives bore him a total of 34 children, with 14 preceding him in death. Woodruff met his first wife, Phoebe Carter, in Kirtland shortly after his return from his first mission through Southern Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Woodruff came to Kirtland on November 25, 1836, along with Abraham O. Smoot. He was introduced to Phoebe by Milton Holmes on January 28, 1837. She was a native of Maine and had become a Latter Day Saint in 1834. Woodruff and Phebe were married on April 13, 1837, with the ceremony performed by Frederick G. Williams. Their marriage was later sealed in Nauvoo by Hyrum Smith. Due to a loss of records, this ordinance was later repeated by Heber C. Kimball in Salt Lake City in 1853. Phebe accompanied her husband on his 1837-1838 mission to the Fox Islands in Maine. During some of this time she resided with her parents in their house in Maine. She headed west again with her husband shortly after the birth of their daughter, despite her reluctance to leave home. During their journey west, Phoebe became deathly ill. She frequently slipped into unconsciousness starting on December 2, 1838. Phebe reported that she conversed with two angels who gave her the choice to live or die, she chose to live and persevere with the faithful. She recovered after receiving a blessing from Woodruff. Her firstborn child died of a respiratory infection in 1840 while Woodruff was on a mission in England.