Pioneer: 2007 Vol.54, No.3

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Connecticut, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania, In 1856 he was put in
the mission presidency. He came
back to Salt Lake in June 1858, only
to find a deserted city The Saints
had gone south because of the ar¬
rival of Johnstons army.
In the fall of 1861 he helped
found the Cotton Mission, After
helping to settle St, George, he was
chosen as mayor. In 1867, because of bad health, he
again returned to Salt Lake. He managed the Deseret
News office from 1867 to 1874 and was later a director
and vice president.
In 1874, he was again sent to the eastern states on
a mission; he traveled about 34,000 miles during the
next two and a half years.
On May 9, 1873, he was called to the Salt Lake
Stake High Council and in 1876 was ordained as stake
president. By the end of his tenure, Salt Lake Stake was
divided into six stakes: Granite, Jordan [1900]; Ensign,
Liberty, Pioneer [1904]; and the remaining Salt Lake
Stake. “Angus M. Cannon continued as president of
the Salt Lake Stake for more than 28 years_As presi¬
dent he presided over more than any other man who
ever held that position; at one time presiding over more
than 50 wards, with a Latter-day Saint population of
more than 50,000.”2 During his term he called 77 bish¬
ops. He served under five Church presidents: Brigham
Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff,
Above: ZCMI decorated when Utah received statehood.
“When I think how I was left a poor orphan boy;
and of how God has cared for me, and raised up friends
to me, all through my life; and of how he has set me to
preside over this great stake, comprising as it does more
souls than were members of the church at the time of the
martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph, my heart is full of
gratitude to him for his matchless mercy and kindness
until me. My hope is that I may be worthy of his love,
and that 1 may be true to the end. And that my children
and my childrens children may never forget God and
the glorious gospel that he has restored to the earth,1'3
The major events during Angus M. Cannons pres¬
idency were the end of polygamy, the passage of the
Manifesto in 1890, and the statehood of Utah on Jan* 4,
1896*
Angus Munn Cannon died in June 1915, On July
18, 1858, he had married sisters, Sara Maria and Ann
Amanda Mousley. Later he married Clarissa Cordelia
Moses, Martha Hughes, and Maria Bcnrrion. These five
wives bore his 26 children.
At his funeral it was said that "Angus M. Cannons
labors were numerous and varied. He was in every way
a public spirited citizen, taking an active interest in
everything that was for the good of the people and the
development of the state.”4 □
1 Manuscript History of Salt Lake Stake, vol. 2, April 12,
1879, Church History Library.
2 Ibid., May IS, 1934, 4.
3 Ibid,, June 7, 1915, 5.
4 Ibid., June 7, 1915,3,
2007 * Vol. 5 4, No. 3 * PIONEER 25