Plural Marriage and Exile
On October 6, 1884, Hughes married Angus M. Cannon, superintendent of the new hospital and a local official of the LDS Church, who was twenty-three years her senior. She became the fourth of his 6 plural wives, and bore him three children. In April 1886, under pressure from agents of the federal government, Martha Cannon left Utah with her infant daughter Elizabeth Rachel. Cannon sought to avoid providing federal marshals with proof of her plural marriage to Angus. She also feared being forced to provide testimony against others, based on information gathered through her obstetrical practice. In 1885, Cannon wrote:
| “ | "Hence I am considered an important witness, and if it can be proven that these children have actually come into the world, their fathers will be sent to jail for five (5) years....To me it is a serious matter to be the cause of sending to jail a father upon whom a lot of little children are dependent, whether those children were begotten by the same or by different mothers - the fact remains they all have little mouths that must be fed." (Lieber, p. xv) | ” |
In exile for two years, the mother and child lived in England, Switzerland, and Michigan before returning to Salt Lake City in June 1888. Recently published correspondence between Cannon and her husband during this period provides a window into 19th century polygamous life in Utah and also on "the underground" just prior to the practice's abolition. It was a time when many polygamous families went into hiding to avoid legal pressures which threatened to sever polygamous families. "I would rather be a stranger in a strange land and be able to hold my head up among my fellow beings," she reflected late in her exile, "than to be a sneaking captive at home" (Lieber, p. 269).
Read more about this topic: Martha Hughes Cannon
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