Elizabeth Ann Cannon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Anne_Wells_Cannon

Elizabeth Wells Cannon (December 7, 1859 – September 2, 1942), also referred to as Annie Wells Cannon, was a prominent women's suffragist in Utah who served in the Utah House of Representatives from 1913 to 1915 and again in 1921. She was also president of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and a charter member of the Utah Red Cross.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Annie Wells Cannon, a member of the General Board of the Relief Society, was born Dec. 7, 1859, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Daniel H. Wells and Emmeline B. Woodward. She was baptized by Hamilton G. Park in City Creek in 1868.

She received her early education in the city schools under such pioneer teachers as Mrs. Randall, Orson H. Riggs, Milton H. Hardy and others, later attending the private school of Miss Mary E. Cook in the Social Hall until entering the University from which institution she graduated in 1879.

Always inclined to literary work Mrs.Cannon was helpful to her mother with the "Woman's Exponent" and about 1895 became assistant editor, a position which she held until 1914, when that publication was suspended.

As a young girl she was quite active in the Retrenchment Society of the 13th Ward, Salt Lake City, and joined the Ward Relief Society when only fourteen years of age. She was appointed a member of the Relief Society General Board, in which position she served on important committees and visited nearly every Stake of Zion.

When the Pioneer Stake of Zion was organized in 1904 Sister Cannon was appointed Stake president of the Relief Society, holding the dual positions six years, when in October, 1910, together with four other Relief Society Stake presidents, she was released from the General Board, in order to give their undivided attention to the Stake work.

But in December, 1919, she was again appointed a member of the General Board by the First Presidency and after sixteen years in Stake work was released from that detail for the higher position.

The years 1883 and 1884 Mrs. Cannon spent in travel in Europe, where her husband was presiding over the Swiss and German mission. While there she prepared a brief history of the Relief Society which was printed in the "Stern" and the "Millennial Star" for the benefit of the sisters in the foreign missions and interested herself in the Relief Society work among the foreign women.

Mrs. Cannon has always taken an interest in the government of the State and at the age of twenty was appointed a delegate to the Territorial convention. In 1912 she was elected to the lower house of the Utah Legislature, where she made a splendid record in the 1913 session. She never missed a roll-call during the entire session and shares, with other women members, the credit for the splendid social legislation of that session.

The measures in which she was specially interested were the Minimum Wage for Women, the Widowed Mother's Pension Bill and the Equal Guardianship Bill.

In the Republican convention of 1912, Mrs. Cannon was nominated for the State Senate, being the only woman thus honored by her party. On July 5, 1918, Mrs. Cannon was elected president of the War Mothers of Utah, in which capacity many opportunities for service were afforded.

She was also most active in Red Cross work throughout the period of the world war, acting on the executive home service and canteen committees a work not altogether new to her as she was corresponding secretary in the first Red Cross Society in the State of Utah during the Spanish- American war in 1898.

She has always maintained an active interest in the suffrage cause, both for the women of the State and the nation. She Is a charter member of the Utah Women's Press Club, and the Daughters of the Pioneers, also of the national society known as the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is also a member of the Salt Lake City Library Board, being appointed to that position March 20, 1918.

Sister Cannon's home life, though mentioned last, is really first, and is as beautiful as it is busy. She has reared a large and lovely family of eleven children and had the sorrow of losing one little daughter, about two years old. Mrs. Cannon was married March 17,1880, to John Q. Cannon, eldest son of President George Q. Cannon, and they have had twelve children, namely, George Q., Louise B., Margaret, Daniel, Eleanor A., Emmeline, Cavendish W., Katherine, Abraham H. and Daniel W. (twins), John Q. Jr., and Theodore L. Three of the boys were in the U.S. service during the world war.

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 12 2020, 21:39:23 UTC