Letters from Exile
Letters from Exile: The Correspondence of Martha Hughes Cannon and Angus M. Cannon, 1886-1888
edited by Constance L. Lieber and John Sillito
Twenty-three years her husband's junior, Martha Hughes Cannon was not the youngest wife of Angus M., a ranking church official. Nor was she a backwoods girl with few options. Mattie was a University of Michigan-trained physician, an outspoken suffragist, and the first female state senator in American history. However, rather than testify against her husband in federal court, she fled with her baby to England in 1886. The couple's correspondence is rich in detail regarding life in Utah on the underground just prior to polygamy's abolition. Of the two, Mattie is especially intelligent, witty, and lusty—playfully utilizing sensual double entendres in her letters to convey her longing for home—and describes her travels and predicaments in spirited, entertaining ways. She is frank about her recurring mood swings, in particular her persistent melancholy over having to lie about her identity, to live in poverty, and to be away from her husband while other wives were still by his side. She wrote, The knowledge that it is God's plan is the only thing that saves me from despair—almost madness I fear.
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Constance L. Lieber was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and has lived in Germany, Switzerland, and China. She holds a BA in history from the University of Utah, an MA in Germanic and Slavic Literature from Brigham Young University, and a PhD in Languages and Literature from the University of Utah. She has taught German at the University of Utah and at Brigham Young University, and currently job coaches Chinese speakers in writing English emails. She co-edited, with John Sillito, Letters from Exile: The Correspondence of Martha Hughes Cannon and Angus M. Cannon, 1886–1889 (1989). Besides Cannon, Lieber’s interests are Polish poetry, reading murder mysteries, and playing bassoon and piano, and—especially—her five children.
John Sillito is professor emeritus for libraries at Weber State University (Ogden, UT). He earned a BA in history and an MA in political science from the University of Utah. He is editor of History’s Apprentice: The Diaries of B. H. Roberts and co-editor of A World We Thought We Knew: Readings in Utah History, Letters from Exile: The Correspondence of Martha Hughes Cannon, and Mormon Mavericks: Essays on Dissenters.
Documentary History
