Martha Hughes Cannon

Family Background

1857. July 1: Born Martha Hughes. Her family joined the Church in Wales and emigrated to America a few months after her birth. Her father's ill health prevented their continuing to Utah until 1860. He died just two days after their arrival in Salt Lake City.

Physician

As a child, Martha dreamed of being a doctor. When she was fifteen, Church leaders called her to set type for the Deseret News and the Woman's Exponent. She attended the University of Deseret and saved her typesetting wages to go to medical school.

1878. Set apart for medical training by President John Taylor, she entered the University of Michigan Medical School, where she received an M.D. on her birthday in 1880. Two years later she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the National School of Elocution and Oratory with bachelor of science degrees. She was the only woman in her graduating class.

1882. Dr. Cannon opened a private medical practice in Salt Lake City, but was soon called to serve as a resident physician at Deseret Hospital. Attempts to continue her medical practice were interrupted throughout her life by the birth of her three children, exile in the face of polygamy persecution, and political activities.

Plural Wife

1884. Secretly married Salt Lake Stake President Angus Cannon in the Endowment House. He was twenty-three years her senior; she was his third plural wife. Each time she became pregnant, she was forced to leave the city to prevent her husband's arrest; she visited Europe to avoid detection in 1886-87. Cannon described her marriage as "a few stolen interviews thoroughly tinctured with the dread of discovery. … Oh for a home! A husband of my own because he is my own. A father for my children whom they know by association. And all the little auxiliaries that make life worth living. Will they ever be enjoyed by this storm-tossed exile. Or must life thus drift on and one more victim swell the ranks of the great unsatisfied!"

If she had not believed that plural marriage, rightly lived, would enable her to associate with the elect in eternity, she said, she would "undoubtedly have given plural marriage a wide berth except perhaps as first wife."

But she also noted the advantage of a plural wife: "If her husband has four wives, she has three weeks of freedom every month."

Women's Rights Advocate

1893. As a suffragette, Cannon addressed the Columbia Exposition and, in 1898, lobbied in Washington, D.C., for women's right to vote.

"You give me a woman who thinks about something besides cook stoves and wash tubs and baby flannels," she declared, "and I'll show you, in nine times out of ten, a successful mother."

First Female State Senator

1896. Running against her Republican husband, Democrat Martha Hughes Cannon won one of five Utah State Senate seats, becoming the first woman in the United States to be elected a state senator.

1896. As a member of Utah's first senate, Cannon championed public health, sponsoring "An Act to Protect the Health of Women and Girl Employees," "An Act Providing for the Compulsory Education of Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Children," and "An Act Creating a State Board of Health and Defining its Duties."

In 1897 Dr. Cannon ignored her husband's political views and supported Moses Thatcher for the U.S. Senate. Thatcher had been dropped from the Quorum of the Twelve for refusing to sign a "political manifesto." [p.60] According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Cannon's endorsement speech was so eloquent that "despite parliamentary decorum and the rigid rules against demonstrations she was cheered and cheered again at its conclusion."

She refused to support her husband's nephew Frank J. Cannon for the Senate in 1899 because, she said, she had been elected a Democrat and intended to support the Democratic candidate, Joseph L. Rawlins.

Death

1932. July 10: Died at the age of seventy-five following surgery in Los Angeles. She had lived during the last years of her life near her children in California, where she worked in the orthopedic department of General Hospital and at the Graves Clinic. She was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Sources
Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Angus M. Cannon Papers.
Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah State Historical Society. Elizabeth Cannon McCrimmon, "Martha Hughes Cannon."
San Francisco Examiner, 8 November 1896.
White, Jean Bickmore, "Martha H. Cannon." Sister Saints. Edited by Vicky Burgess-Olson. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1978.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	Martha Hughes Cannon (1857-1932)

		Martha Hughes Cannon was a physician, plural wife, and first female state senator in the United States. Photograph courtesy Utah State Historical Society.


	Family Background 1857. July 1: Born Martha Hughes. Her family joined the Church in Wales and emigrated to America a few months after her birth. Her father's ill health prevented their continuing to Utah until 1860. He died just two days after their arrival in Salt Lake City. Physician As a child, Martha dreamed of being a doctor. When she was fifteen, Church leaders called her to set type for the Deseret News and the Woman's Exponent. She attended the University of Deseret and saved her typesetting wages to go to medical school. 1878. Set apart for medical training by President John Taylor, she entered the University of Michigan Medical School, where she received an M.D. on her birthday in 1880. Two years later she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the National School of Elocution and Oratory with bachelor of science degrees. She was the only woman in her graduating class. 1882. Dr. Cannon opened a private medical practice in Salt Lake City, but was soon called to serve as a resident physician at Deseret Hospital. Attempts to continue her medical practice were interrupted throughout her life by the birth of her three children, exile in the face of polygamy persecution, and political activities. Plural Wife 1884. Secretly married Salt Lake Stake President Angus Cannon in the Endowment House. He was twenty-three years her senior; she was his third plural wife. Each time she became pregnant, she was forced to leave the city to prevent her husband's arrest; she visited Europe to avoid detection in 1886-87. Cannon described her marriage as "a few stolen interviews thoroughly tinctured with the dread of discovery. … Oh for a home! A husband of my own because he is my own. A father for my children whom they know by association. And all the little auxiliaries that make life worth living. Will they ever be enjoyed by this storm-tossed exile. Or must life thus drift on and one more victim swell the ranks of the great unsatisfied!" If she had not believed that plural marriage, rightly lived, would enable her to associate with the elect in eternity, she said, she would "undoubtedly have given plural marriage a wide berth except perhaps as first wife." But she also noted the advantage of a plural wife: "If her husband has four wives, she has three weeks of freedom every month." Women's Rights Advocate 1893. As a suffragette, Cannon addressed the Columbia Exposition and, in 1898, lobbied in Washington, D.C., for women's right to vote. "You give me a woman who thinks about something besides cook stoves and wash tubs and baby flannels," she declared, "and I'll show you, in nine times out of ten, a successful mother." First Female State Senator 1896. Running against her Republican husband, Democrat Martha Hughes Cannon won one of five Utah State Senate seats, becoming the first woman in the United States to be elected a state senator. 1896. As a member of Utah's first senate, Cannon championed public health, sponsoring "An Act to Protect the Health of Women and Girl Employees," "An Act Providing for the Compulsory Education of Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Children," and "An Act Creating a State Board of Health and Defining its Duties." In 1897 Dr. Cannon ignored her husband's political views and supported Moses Thatcher for the U.S. Senate. Thatcher had been dropped from the Quorum of the Twelve for refusing to sign a "political manifesto." [p.60] According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Cannon's endorsement speech was so eloquent that "despite parliamentary decorum and the rigid rules against demonstrations she was cheered and cheered again at its conclusion." She refused to support her husband's nephew Frank J. Cannon for the Senate in 1899 because, she said, she had been elected a Democrat and intended to support the Democratic candidate, Joseph L. Rawlins. Death 1932. July 10: Died at the age of seventy-five following surgery in Los Angeles. She had lived during the last years of her life near her children in California, where she worked in the orthopedic department of General Hospital and at the Graves Clinic. She was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Sources Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Angus M. Cannon Papers. Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah State Historical Society. Elizabeth Cannon McCrimmon, "Martha Hughes Cannon." San Francisco Examiner, 8 November 1896. White, Jean Bickmore, "Martha H. Cannon." Sister Saints. Edited by Vicky Burgess-Olson. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1978.