Wilford Woodruff urges caution in allowing baptisms for the dead.
Wilford Woodruff, Letter to Marriner W. Merrill, September 5, 1887, in Devery Anderson, The Development of LDS Temple Worship (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2011), 68
People must not be permitted to follow their whims in being baptized for any and every body whom they may choose to officiate for; and persons should be questioned upon this subject of being baptized for those not of their kin. We are satisfied that no man has a right outside of his own kindred to attend to ordinances for the dead without consultation and permission from the Presiding Authority of the Church.