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History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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434 MISSIONS AND IMMIGRATION.<br />

Etoile du Deseret. Before leaving Europe he translated the book <strong>of</strong> Mormon<br />

into the French language, and preached the gospel <strong>of</strong> the saints at Hamburg,<br />

where under his direction the same work was translated into German, and<br />

where he also published a monthly paper named Zion's Panier. Returning to<br />

Salt Lake City in 1S52, he was elected, two years afterward, a member <strong>of</strong> the<br />

legislature, but resigning this <strong>of</strong>fice, went as a missionary to New York, where<br />

he superintended the affairs <strong>of</strong> the church in the eastern states, and established<br />

a journal, the first number <strong>of</strong> which appeared Feb. 17, 1S55, under the title<br />

<strong>of</strong> The Mormon, the paper being discontinued in 1857, when Taylor was recalled<br />

at the outbreak <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Utah</strong> war. After that date, his labors were<br />

mainly confined to the territory, where he was partly engaged in literary work<br />

for the church, serving also for a brief term as probate judge <strong>of</strong> <strong>Utah</strong> county,<br />

and for several terms as a member <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Utah</strong> legislature and speaker <strong>of</strong> the<br />

house. In Oct. 1S80 he was appointed, as we shall see later, president <strong>of</strong> the<br />

church <strong>of</strong> Jesus Christ <strong>of</strong> latter-day saints. Further details as to his early<br />

career will be found in Hist. B. <strong>Young</strong>, MS. ; Woodruff's Journal, MS. ; Richards'<br />

Narr., MS., and many other manuscripts and books.<br />

George Q. Cannon, a native <strong>of</strong> Liverpool, England, was trained in the Mormon<br />

faith, his parents having been converted in 1839, when he was twelve years<br />

<strong>of</strong> age, through the preaching <strong>of</strong> John Taylor, who some time before had married<br />

his father's sister. A short time before the assassination <strong>of</strong> Joseph Smith<br />

the family arrived at Nauvoo, where George found employment as a printer<br />

in the <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong> the Times and Seasons and Nauvoo Neighbor. In 1847 he set<br />

out for S. L. City with Parley Pratt's companies, and for two years was engaged<br />

in farming, house-building, and other labor incidental to new settlements.<br />

In the autumn <strong>of</strong> 1849 he went to California in company with Chas C.<br />

Rich, and there worked in the gold mines until the summer <strong>of</strong> 1850, when he<br />

was sent on a mission to the Sandwich Islands. On arriving at Honolulu he<br />

began to study the Hawaiian language, which he mastered in six weeks, and<br />

then travelled and preached among the natives, organizing several branches<br />

<strong>of</strong> the church. In 1854 he returned to Salt Lake City, and the following year<br />

went as a missionary to California, where he established and edited a newspaper<br />

called the Western Standard. When news arrived <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Utah</strong> war, he<br />

again returned to the valley, and during the exodus <strong>of</strong> 185S took charge <strong>of</strong> the<br />

press and printing materials <strong>of</strong> the Deseret Neivs, which were conveyed to Fillmore<br />

City. In October 1859 he was chosen an apostle to fill the vacancy<br />

caused by the death <strong>of</strong> Parley Pratt, and was afterward appointed president<br />

<strong>of</strong> the European mission. In 1862 he was ordered to Washington to support<br />

the claims <strong>of</strong> <strong>Utah</strong> to admission as a state, <strong>of</strong> which more later. After the<br />

adjournment <strong>of</strong> congress he repaired to England, where he labored until<br />

August 1864, 13,000 converts being forwarded to Zion during this period.<br />

Being then summoned home, he was elected a member <strong>of</strong> the legislative council,<br />

aifd was for three years private secretary to <strong>Brigham</strong> <strong>Young</strong>. In 1S67 he<br />

became editor and publisher <strong>of</strong> the Deseret Neivs, which was then a semiweekly<br />

paper, and started the Deseret Evening News, which was issued daily,<br />

his connection with the latter continuing until the autumn <strong>of</strong> 1872, when he<br />

was chosen delegate to congress. In 1880 Mr Cannon was appointed first<br />

councillor to President John Taylor. For further particulars, see authorities<br />

before quoted; also Sala's America Revisited, 302; Reno Daily Gazette, Jan. 24,<br />

1S82.<br />

Joseph F. , the son <strong>of</strong> Hyrum Smith, who with his brother, the prophet,<br />

was assassinated at Carthage jail, was born at Far West, Mo., in 1838. After<br />

passing his early youth among the vicissitudes attending the expulsion from<br />

Nauvoo and the colonization <strong>of</strong> <strong>Utah</strong>, he was ordered, when 16 years <strong>of</strong> age,<br />

to proceed as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands, where he labored<br />

earnestly and with marked success. ' By the blessing <strong>of</strong> the almighty,' he<br />

writes, ' I acquired the language <strong>of</strong> the islanders, and commenced my labors,<br />

preaching, baptizing, etc., among the natives, in one hundred days after my<br />

arrival at Honolulu. ' At the beginning <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Utah</strong> war he returned to S.<br />

L. City and served in the militia up to the time when Johnston's army entered

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