GEORGE Q. CANNON

George Q. Cannon was born in Liverpool, England, January 11, 1827. His parents joined the Church in 1840, through the missionary work of John Taylor. On June 18, 1840, George Q. Cannon was baptized, when 13 years of age. In the fall of 1842, the Cannon family left Liverpool on their way to Nauvoo. While crossing the Atlantic the mother died and was buried in the ocean. Two years later the father died in St. Louis, where he had gone an a short business trip. The children were now orphans, the eldest, George being 17. However, they all made their way across the plains to Utah. In 1850 he was called on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. Here he remained for four years, and the wonderful events described in his book, ''My First Mission," took place. Returning to Utah in 1854 he was requested by Brigham Young to go to San Francisco and print the Book of Mormon in the Hawaiian Language, a work which he had translated while on the Islands. In 1860 he was ordained an Apostle by Brigham Young. Six weeks later he was sent to Liverpool to preside over the European Mission. He returned in 1864 to Salt Lake City. In 1872 he was elected to Congress from the Territory of Utah. After the death of Brigham Young in 1877, George Q. Cannon became the first counselor to President John Taylor. In this capacity he served for 10 years. He then became the first counselor to President Wilford Woodruff and served for 11 years. Following the death of President Woodruff, George Q. Cannon became the first counselor to President Lorenzo Snow. He was serving in this capacity at the time of his death, April 12, 1901. Judged from any standpoint, George Q. Cannon was one of the greatest men that the Mormon Church has yet produced.

George Q. Cannon was a founder of Zions Bank back in 1373. He was also the bank's first vice president, a counselor to three presidents of the church, founder of the Instructor Magazine, and for many years was editor of the Deseret News.

The pioneer leader was born in Liverpool, England, and was named George Cannon. The only "Quayle" was assumed during the gold rush days in California to avoid confusion with another George Cannon.

The Cannon family was converted to the LDS Church in 1840 by John Taylor in Liverpool, England. They joined the Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1842, after a tedious ocean voyage during which George's wife Ann died, leaving six children in her husband's care.

The Cannon family came to Utah in October 1847, George having learned the art of printing from John Taylor. He made good use of this learning when he took over the Deseret News (at the time a weekly paper, Deseret Evening News). Two years later he made it a daily. He and his family have continued an association with the newspaper to the present day.

George Cannon founded the magazine called the Juvenile Instructor, and continued as its owner and publisher for thirty years, at which time it was turned over to the Church.

In 1860 he became an apostle and was a trusted friend and associate of President Brigham Young. He became first counselor to Presidents John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow. He was an apostle and counselor in the Church for forty-one of his seventy-four years, and was also elected a congressman from the Utah Territory for ten years.

Over the years George Q. Cannon was a director of many commercial and industrial organizations.

He died in Monterey, California on April 12, 1901.

George was miraculously enabled to speak Hawaiian, and in a little more than a month after first hearing the complicated language he had begun the monumental task of translating the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian. During his mission he had witnessed and performed miracles. He had communicated with, and been in the presence of God.

On December 11, 1854, he married Elizabeth but there was to be no settled conjugal life for them. In May they left for California, George had been called to preside over the Pacific Mission, to print the Book of Mormon in Hawaiian, and to publish a newspaper. The young couple was desperately poor. Many mornings George left without eating, and nothing in the house for Elizabeth and the baby. Surely it was an answer to their prayers when a wealthy Hawaiian planter called on them and sensing the dire straits, made them a gift of $3,000. George was not insensitive to his family's needs, but he was painfully aware of the precarious situation of the church he loved and, after serious deliberation, he sent the entire amount to the First Presidency. President Young later told George that, coming when it did, that money had saved the Church from a dangerously critical financial crisis.

A revelation he had received years before and a prophecy by Parley P. Pratt were fulfilled when George was ordained an apostle.

George had five wives. They were: Elizabeth Hoagland Cannon, Sarah Jane Jenne, Eliza Lamercia Tenney, Martha Telle, Caroline Young Croxall.