BIOGRAPHY: George Quayle Cannon; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake co., Utah

Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen for The USGenWeb Archives Project
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History of Utah
The Storied Domain
A Documentary History of Utah's Eventual Career
by J. Cecil Alter
Vol. 2, published 1932 (expired copyright)
The American Historical Society, Inc.

GEORGE QUAYLE CANNON. The late George Quayle Cannon was born at Liverpool,
England, on January 11, 1827, son of George and Ann (Quayle) Cannon. His
parents were born at Peel, Isle of Man, and in February, 1840, they became
converts to Mormonism. On September 17, 1842, they started for America and the
mother died while on the ocean. George Cannon died at Saint Louis, Missouri,
August 17, 1844.

The son George Quayle Cannon was fifteen years of age when the family started
for America. He joined the center of the Mormon colonies in the Middle West,
at that time, Nauvoo, Illinois, where he entered the office of Times & Seasons
and Nauvoo Neighbor, learning the printing business under his uncle, Elder
John Taylor. He was himself ordained an elder February 9, 1845, and on the
same day was ordained a Seventy and was received as a member of the nineteenth
quorum. With the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo in 1846 he accompanied
the main body to Winter Quarters and in 1847 crossed the plains, arriving at
Salt Lake City October 3. He endured the privations common to all of these
colonists of the far West and earned his living by labor. In 1849 he was sent
on a church mission to California and on December 12, 1850, went to the
Hawaiian Islands. While there he translated the Book of Mormon into the
Hawaiian tongue and there were 4,000 converts to Mormonism on the island when
he left there July 29, 1854. On returning to Salt Lake on November 28 he was
ordained one of the presidents of the Thirtieth Quorum of Seventy. On May 10,
1855, he again went to California, to preside over the missions in California
and Oregon, and while there published the Western Standard. On January 19,
1858, he returned to Salt Lake and soon afterward moved to Fillmore, taking
with him a printing press and material, which he used in publishing the
Deseret News from April to September, 1858. The following two years were spent
in mission work in the eastern states, largely through newspaper men and
congressmen in overcoming misrepresentations as a result of which Johnston's
army had been sent to Utah. He had charge of branches of the churches in the
East, acted as immigration agents at New York for purchasing supplies and
forwarding immigrants. While there he was selected to fill the vacancy in the
quorum of twelve apostles, being ordained August 26, 1860. On December 21,
1860, he de parted on a mission to England and while there established a trade
printing office and had charge of the Millenial Star.

The name George Quayle Cannon is closely associated with some of the early
efforts of Utah to obtain statehood. On May 14, 1862, he was called to
Washington to join with Capt. W. H. Hooper in endeavoring to obtain admission
of the territory into the Union. They had been elected United States senators
by the inchoate commonwealth. On July 26, 1862, he returned to England and
presided over the European mission until 1864. On October 12, 1864, he was
again at Salt Lake City and for three years was private secretary to President
Brigham Young. During the last thirty years of his life his time was largely
taken up with editorial duties. In January, 1866, he became publisher of the
Juvenile Instructor and in 1867 he took charge of the Deseret News, then a
weekly and semi-weekly and after November 21, 1867, it was issued as a daily,
known as the Deseret Evening News, of which he remained editor until his
death. George Quayle Cannon was elected a member of the constitutional
convention of 1872 and as senator again went to Washington to apply for
admission to the Union. In August, 1872, he was elected territorial delegate
to Congress and served in that office five terms. His was an exceedingly busy
life, filled with official responsibilities and duties. In 1880 he became
first counselor to President John Taylor, was first counselor to Wilford
Woodruff in 1889 and in 1898 to Lorenzo Snow. From its organization in 1867
until his death he was general superintendent of the Sunday School Union, and
became a member of the general Board of Education upon its organization on
April 5, 1888. Education was one of the causes closest to his heart. His
literary labors included several books that are important forces of Mormon and
Utah history, including My First Mission, Life of Joseph Smith, Life of Nephi,
and he assisted in writing the Life of Brigham Young and a Brief History of
the Church.

He died April 11, 1901. His prominence in the commercial and industrial life
of his home state is indicated by a brief list of the corporations in which he
was an official. He was a director of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, the
Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railroad, was vice president and director of the Zion
Cooperative Mercantile Institution, was president and founder of George Q.
Cannon & Sons, book publishers, was president of the Utah Sugar Company, vice
president of the Zion's Savings Bank & Trust Company, president of the Brigham
Young Trust Company, director of the Cooperative Wagon & Machine Company,
president of the Utah Power & Light Company. He served as president of the
Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress and also president of the Irrigation
Congress.