“I am willing and not afraid to tread the paths of my destiny, whether they be rugged or whether they be smooth. I have no regrets.”
– Martha Hughes Cannon
Martha Hughes Cannon’s Story
Martha Hughes Cannon was born in Wales on July 1, 1857. Her family converted to the new religion of Mormonism, and in 1860, emigrated to the United States seeking religious freedom. Along their long journey by ship, train, and wagon, Hughes’ younger sister died of typhoid. Hughes’ father died three days after they arrived in the Mormon settlements of Salt Lake City in the Utah territory. Throughout her childhood, Hughes saw many people around her die of typhoid, tuberculosis, and scarlet fever, infectious diseases which were rampant across the country at the time, likely inspiring her decision to become a doctor and a public health advocate.
At age 15, Hughes became a typesetter for The Woman’s Exponent, a newspaper printed by women members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While working for the newspaper, she learned about current affairs, including that the University of Michigan had opened its medical school to women, and she made plans to attend. Hughes would walk six miles each way to work to save money for her education, and attended classes at Deseret University at night.
With the blessing and encouragement of the Church, Hughes went to medical school at the University of Michigan. From 1880 to 1882, she attended a graduate medical program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was the only female in a class of 75 students. Passionate about teaching her community about public health, Hughes also attended a leading school for public speaking.
After graduating, Hughes returned to Salt Lake City and developed a thriving private practice. In 1882, she became the head resident physician at Deseret Hospital, a hospital established by a group of Mormon women, which trained women nurses and midwives. There, Hughes fell in love with Angus Cannon, who served on the board of the hospital and was a prominent church leader. In 1884, Hughes became his fourth wife, marrying him in secret, as the nation was in the midst of a crackdown against polygamy.
In 1882, the U.S. Congress passed the Edmunds Act, which outlawed polygamy and made it a crime punishable by five years in prison. When Hughes Cannon found out she was pregnant, she went into hiding to avoid testifying against her husband. She lived in hiding for two years in England among other Mormons in exile on what became known as “The Underground.”
In 1888, after returning to Utah, Hughes Cannon established the state’s first nurse’s training school. She also became a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, and spoke at conferences across the country, alongside prominent suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
With the Manifesto of 1890, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially repudiated polygamy, paving the way for Utah to achieve statehood. In 1896, Hughes Cannon campaigned for a seat on Utah’s first elected senate, as a Democrat. Her husband ran as a Republican. Democrats won the most votes, and so on November 3, 1896, Martha Hughes Cannon defeated her husband on the ballot, and became the country’s first female state senator.
While in office, Hughes Cannon focused on legislation to improve Utah’s public health. She immediately established Utah’s first board of health, through which she created laws to restrict the spread of epidemics, control water and air pollution, and create safer work environments for women and girls. Hughes Cannon also established Utah’s first school for the deaf and blind. While serving both as a senator and on the board of health, she continued treating patients at her private practice.
When Hughes Cannon became pregnant with her third child, she retired from politics to avoid further scandal and the arrest of her husband. After the birth of the child, her husband, who by then maintained illegal polygamous marriages with six women, was arrested.
Hughes Cannon moved to Los Angeles to live with her daughter. There, she joined the UCLA medical program, practiced medicine at a clinic for the poor, and studied treatment for drug addiction. She died of cancer in Los Angeles on July 10, 1932, at the age of 75.
Featured in the Film
Jennifer Reeder
Jennifer Reeder is the nineteenth-century women’s history specialist at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church history department. She earned her PhD in American history from George Mason University with an emphasis in women and religious history, and memory and material culture. She has compiled books containing the words of Latter-day Saint women, including At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses of Latter-day Saint Women and Witness of Women: Firsthand Experiences and Testimonies of the Restoration. She has also worked with Better Days 2020, an organization celebrating and educating the public about Utah woman suffrage from 1870 to today.
Mia B. Love
Mia B. Love is a former City Council member and Mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah. In 2014, Mia was the first female black Republican elected to the U.S. Congress representing the State of Utah. She is currently a CNN Correspondent and enjoys speaking around the country encouraging Americans to get involved in their communities. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Love is a wife, a mother of three children, and a proud American.
Her Life & Times
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IN HISTORY - 1847
Brigham Young arrived in Salt Lake Valley, Utah
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IN HISTORY - 1847-1860s
Over 60,000 Mormon immigrants came to the U.S.
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1857
Martha Hughes Cannon was born
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1860
Hughes’ family emigrated from Wales and arrived in New York
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1861
Hughes’ family traveled to Utah
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1861
Hughes arrived in Salt Lake City and her father died
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IN HISTORY - 1847-1860s
Diseases spread throughout Utah and the U.S.
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IN HISTORY - 1870
Women in Utah earned the right to vote
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1871
Hughes worked as a schoolteacher
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1872
Hughes became a typesetter
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1878
Hughes Graduated from Deseret University with a degree in Chemistry
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1878-1880
Hughes attended medical school
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1882
Hughes Graduated from the medical program at the University of Pennsylvania
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1882
Hughes graduated from the National School of Elocution and Oratory
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1882
Hughes returned to Salt Lake City and developed a private practice
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1882
Hughes became the head resident physician at Deseret Hospital
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1882
Hughes met Angus Cannon
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IN HISTORY - 1882
The Edmunds Act cracked down on polygamy
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1884
Hughes married Angus Cannon in secret, became his fourth wife
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1886
Hughes became pregnant and went into hiding in England for two years
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IN HISTORY - 1887
The Edmunds Tucker Act & Utah’s Women’s Suffrage Revoked
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1888
Hughes established Utah's first nurse’s training school
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1888
Hughes spoke at suffrage conferences around the country
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1889
Angus Cannon was arrested
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IN HISTORY - 1890
The Manifesto of 1890
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1893
Hughes Cannon spoke about women’s suffrage at the World’s Columbian Exposition
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IN HISTORY - 1896
Utah officially became a state and reinstated women’s suffrage
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1896
Hughes Cannon against her husband for a seat in Utah's senate
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1896
Hughes Cannon became the first woman elected as a state senator in the U.S.
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1896-1899
Hughes Canon made public health reforms while serving in Utah Senate
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1898
Hughes Cannon spoke at the Seneca Falls 50th year celebration
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1899
Hughes Cannon became pregnant with her third child, retired from politics
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1904
Hughes Cannon moved to Los Angeles
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1904
Hughes Cannon became the vice president of the National Congress of Tuberculosis
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1905
Hughes Cannon treated patients at a clinic for the poor and studied drug addiction
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IN HISTORY - 1920
The 19th Amendment was passed
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1932
Hughes Cannon died of cancer at the age of 75
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2014
Mia Love, the first Black female Republican, was elected to Congress
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2020
Women in Electoral Politics Today