"The Goose Hangs High": Excerpts from the Letters of Martha Hughes Cannon

Utah Historical Quarterly

Vol. 48, 1980, No. 1

"The Goose Hangs High": Excerpts from the Letters of Martha Hughes Cannon

BY CONSTANCE L. LIEBER

ON APRIL 20, 1886, A traveler leaving New York for England wrote cheerily to her husband in Salt Lake City, Utah. The letter read in part:

Dear Munn:

"The gallant ship is under weigh To bear us off to sea. And yonder floats the streamers gay

That says she waits for "we" The seamen dip the ready oar

As rippling waves oft tell They bear us swiftly from the shore

Our native land farewell."

"Everything is lovely and the goose hangs high."

Sweet Elizabeth has not even got the "sniffles," and now lies rolling on the floor, has kicked off her stockings and is licking your photo. The way she crowed when I gave it her — I do believe she thought it had some connection with her pa. Have had a splendid time. Now 1 must put on babe's things and off we go. Tell ma all right.

Much love Maria

This was, however, somewhat less than a pleasure journey, despite "Maria's" good cheer. The writer was, in fact, Martha Hughes Cannon, fourth polygamous wife of Angus Munn Cannon, president of the Salt Lake Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elizabeth was their seven-month-old daughter. The two, Martha and Elizabeth, were going to England into a self-imposed exile to avoid possible indictment for cohabitation, which could result in the imprisonment of Angus.

Martha "Mattie" Hughes was born near Llandudno, Wales, on July 1, 1857, the second daughter of Peter Hughes and Elizabeth Evans. The family was converted to the Mormon religion by missionaries in the area and emigrated to the United States, arriving in Utah about 1860. Three days after they arrived Peter Hughes died. Two years later his widow married James Patton Paul.

Mattie's dream was to become a doctor. Toward that end, she earned a degree in chemistry from the University of Deseret and in 1880 graduated from the medical school of the University of Michigan. She practiced medicine for a short time in Algonac, Michigan. Mattie was a resident physician at the Deseret Hospital in Salt Lake City when she met Angus Cannon, one of the hospital's directors, to whom she later wrote: "I, as well as yourself know that we were created for each other, only I have been a little more mulish in acknowledging it." They were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on October 6, 1884.

On January 20, 1885, Angus was arrested on the charge of unlawful cohabitation. His nephew wrote on January 22 that Angus's "case was continued today without any new developments. The principal witness, Miss Hughes, has not yet been found by the marshalls, althoughshe has been on the street considerable attending to her patients." On February 7 Angus was indicted for lascivious cohabitation. His final trial began on April 27 and resulted in a sentence of six months' imprisonment. He was released from prison December 14, 1885.

After the birth of Elizabeth on September 13, 1885, Mattie decided to enter into exile in England, rather than play hideand-seek with marshals in Utah and give them yet another opportunity to arrest her husband. Insight into why she deemed it necessary to leave Utah is givenby a contemporary journalist, William M. Bromley, who in 1882 recorded the opinion of Judge Charles S. Zane

that no matter if a Mormon did not live with a plural wife, if he attended the Church at which she worshipped at the same time that she did, or if he spoke to her on the street or elsewhere, he was guilty of holding her out which constituted the offense of unlawful cohabitation, unless he had put her away, and given her a bill of divorcement.

Mattie was aware of this and wrote at one point from England, chiding her husband for using the term "wife": "of course / may make use of the pleasant appellations as often as it pleases my fancy, for there is no law against women 'holding out.' This also explains the use of assumed names to prevent identification, a common practice among "undergrounders." Throughout most of the correspondence Mattie is "Maria" and Angus is "Munn," although for a short period in 1887 she signed herself "Emma Quirk" and referred to her husband as "James." In one letter dated September 6, 1887, she indicated that Angus was to address all further letters to "Mrs. Alace Bennett."

Mattie might have stayed in hiding in Utah, as many did, or gone into seclusion in one of the neighboring states, but this was against her character. In a letter written from Algonac, Saint Clair, Michigan, shortly after her return from England, she emphasized her determination "to breathe the Rocky Mountain air freely or not at all," for, she continued, "I would rather be a stranger in a strange land, and be able to hold my head up among my fellow beings than to be a sneaking captive at home."

Angus recorded in his diary her decision to leave Utah. "I am told friend wants to go to England and I consent. ... I leave her tonight with the saddest heart I ever felt." That was March 23, 1886; on April 10 he again wrote: "It was 10:30 when they left me and at 8 PM after putting in one of my lonliest days, I returned to City. . . ."

Mattie began her trip, excited at a new adventure: "Everything is lovely and the goose hangs high." On May 4, 1886, she wrote:

Have reached our destination at last. Can't say that I am particularly pleased though. "On the fly" is decidedly more agreeable to a temperment like mine; but of course there is a limit to all procedures. I am thankful to meet my relatives, and my poor dear Uncle is quite overcome in meetme, it is all so unexpected to them. . . .

She stayed for a short period with these relatives (her mother's brother's family) in Birmingham, an arrangement that proved unsatisfactory. Her aunt she thought "one of the most ignorant women I ever met," and her aunt's children kept Elizabeth in hysterics. Those problems, combined with the necessity of hiding from her relatives exactly why she had come to England, made the stay difficult; so Mattie went to visit other, more distant relatives in Wolverton, near Stratford-on- Avon. Emily Wells Grant, a plural wife of Heber J. Grant, and also an exile, wrote to her husband of Mattie's arrival:

Mattie Munn arrived in England the other week, we were perfectly amazed. She stayed with us [in Liverpool] two days and then went among her relatives. The other day we had a letter from her declaring her intentions to return to more "congenial climes" inside of three months. There is nothing will induce her to live here, after one weeks experience, she don't understand how Mrs. C. and I have stood it. There have been several exiles here since we came but they didn't any of them stay long. I would advise Mrs. Munn to remain away from Utah, for were any of her enemies there to get one peep of little Miss Munn, they could convict the whole family. I never saw such an image in my life.

A letter written on September 14, 1886, from Wolverton gives insight into the kind of life Mattie and other undergrounders were leading. At that time Mattie was rooming with another exile, Mrs. Hull, and her young child.

Dearest:

Trusting you are well and happy I hastily pen a few lines to repeat the request I made just before leaving for London, in reference to means. Simply duplicating the statement for fear the first might miscarry in which case I would be thrown short of money. London expenses running up somewhat higher than they do here, the amount on hand will not hold out until Christmas, so I wrote you to forward about fifty dollars in receipt of my letter of I believe Aug 29, which I trust carried O.K. Elizabeth is cutting her teeth very well, four through, four additional ones swelling the gums. Yesterday was her birthday, and Mrs. Hull and babe, myself and Elizabeth Rachel hired a trap and drove to spend the day among the ruins of Kennelworth Castle, what a history connected with, and what romance and tragedy clusters around the ancient pile. Have you read Scott's Kennelworth? The distance there and back to this point is 25 miles. It was a galla day for us all. Mrs. Hull anxiously awaits a letter from her lover, perhaps summonsing her back to the City of the Lake. He is supposed to have reached that point by this time and if matters look tolerable safe will send for her. Upon the arrival of which news Steam cannot carry her quick enough. If it is thought unwise for her to return yet; she will stay by me, providing I will move to some point less lonesome than this, which was my intention before winter thoroughly set in. The country air is doing her babe good which contents her for the time being. Hunting moderate priced lodging in England isn't the most desirable occupation, as related by some of our women who are perambulating the country. One, a Mrs. B. who arrived a month or so later than myself sails on the 16 of next, thoroughly disgusted with Eng. so she states. People are somewhat loathe to accommedate women with babies especially when the latter have the diarrhea. If I am alone I will write to Mrs. Brass N[ea]r London and see what arrangements I can make with her for the winter. If Mrs. Hull remains we will secure a place together, that is rooms and board and selves in some town probably Leamington near Warwich which is a nice little place. I am of the opinion that the folks at Liverpool have it the best. Better lodgings, that is a good sized room in the office and better food for a much lower price than we have been able to secure elsewhere. I look back and picture those girls as always having things pretty easy. Still they are far from happy under the present circumstances. Stating to me when I saw them that they cried half their time. We women are figity things any way of course. It reminds me of when we were at the London Station. One of the Station men told me what time our train would leave. Shortly after noticing that a number of trains were preparing to leave somewhere near the same time, I began to enquire which was ours, when the same man observed me and stepping up remarked, "I told you when your train was due, and what's the use of your figiting around that way for." Yes sir you told me when due, but not what train, and I propose "figiting around" until I find out. With that he laughed and said if we would look after the babies he would take care of the satchels and help us to board when the train was ready which he did very nicely. Now pet excuse this blotting pen is poor this time. You sometimes ask me to overlook mistakes. Do likewise with me if I use words inappropriately as I don't believe there is a dictionary in the whole village. I notice that the D[eputy] M[arshals] are doing the "vigorous" the other side of Jordan. Endeavoring to discover luminous bodies, "Evening Stars," or a Star. Perhaps, or probably trying to surprise the cookoos in their nest. It is needless for me to say look out. I trust you are sharp enough for that. Mrs. H. sends love, so does your set orb. Don't shine any more have twinkled out. M—

The above letter brings out several facets of the exile's life in England. Overshadowing all other problems was the simple longing to be at home among loved ones. Mattie referred to the "folks at Liverpool." Liverpool was headquarters of the European and British missions of the LDS church, presided over by Daniel H. Wells. His daughter, Emily Wells Grant, was living at the Liverpool office at that time. Possibly Mattie was referring to her among others. Emily expressed to her husband a slightly different view of Mattie's situation: "She [Mattie] and Mrs. Hull are living in the country and are getting fat. They have all the fresh air, milk, eggs, &c. they want and are quite contented since they have been so pleasantly located together."

The need for anonymity was important. All the exiles used assumed names. Emily Grant went by Mrs. Harris. "Mrs. B." and "Mrs. Hull" were undoubtedly assumed names.

Mattie employed many devices in her letter to convey messages to her husband that would be clear to him but obscure to anyone else should the letter be intercepted. "City of the Lake," for example, means Salt Lake City, and "the other side of Jordan" refers to Cannon's farm near the Jordan River in the Salt Lake Valley. The letter also reflects two of her recurring concerns: anxiety that Angus would be arrested and imprisoned again and jealousy toward his other wives. Angus had married his fifth wife, Maria Bennion, in March, and she was expecting her first child. "Evening Stars or a Star" refers to both Mattie and Maria Bennion, as Mattie explained to Angus in an earlier letter, at which time she thought she might also be expecting:

Won't you be in a pickle, if both we luminaries "Stars of the sea" — "Star of the sea" is the meaning of the word Maria — are . . . both due about the same time and one each side of the "Herring Pond" [Atlantic Ocean] . . . now I think of it 'rebellious' is another portion of the definition of Maria: "Bitter, rebellious, Star of the'Sea". . .

The fear of being exposed was very real. Mattie referred in several letters to acquaintances who were visiting in England and assured Angus of her intention to avoid meeting them or even attending church where they might be present.

On January 3, 1887, Mattie wrote of an encounter with her uncle in Birmingham who had gotten wind of exactly why his niece was in England.

Reaching there my "unkey" cordialy kissed me, a genuine "Judas," telling aunt to prepare a repast, and positively I believe he had got wind of my arrival from some source, for they were prepared for us (Mrs. Hull was with me). Excusing himself a few moments and going and taking a good pull at the whiskey flask, Parsons like to brace up I presume, and which according to his own statement is the only genuine luxury in life, getting us fairly seated at the board he commenced and sloan like he exhausted his eloquence, only upon a different theme. A verbatim report of which I am as uncapable of giving as you yourself would be unwilling to listen to. Will merely drop sufficient to let you catch the drift. Me, your dear little "Quirk" a base imposter, coming to this section under false pretenses. Ill health all a sham. More deeply steeped in deception than ever was woman to his knowledge" (Mother Eve not excepted I might add). "As intriguing and conniving as ever was bold adventuress, some of the depths of whose villany he had sounded since my departure from his house. Nor had he obtained his information from the wind." And when I suggested that were the source of his information sounded it might disclose a little villainy on his part, he became furious, saying I was "not an honored wife, but connected with one of those things out there"! etc etc. I suppose one of "those things" meant you, although I never heard the term used in a masculine sense before. I'll not trouble you with more of this. . .

By this time, Mattie and Mrs. Hull were feeling the need to move from the country, as Mattie explained further in the same letter:

We are now in the "Smokey city" [Birmingham] which at this season suggests the idea of Hades as near as anything. But why leave our rural retreat you ask. For various reasons, chief among them this, that we remained such a mystery that the villagers were becoming exercised about it. "Our seclusion, our remaining in so dull a place after the sunny days had fled, the air we had about us of having seen better days, moving beneath our station" etc etc., all suggested the idea of mystery, and so the buzz increased, until we were discussed in the highways, byeways, private gatherings, at firesides, and particularly at the "Red Horse" and "Bell Inn" over the beer pots. Just think what important personages we are, and all this went on long before it reached our ears. Latterly the name Mormon became associated with us and the tune changed. Those who did not know the meaning of the word, and they a vast majority, were enlightened by those who thought they did. A result of which as I was wheeling little Elizabeth] past a threshing machine one day, one of the "dow heads" remarked, "get thee up and help we the work, and get thee petticoats full a dust and then let one o we men to dust them out, at thou hast no man." And a day or two later as Mrs. H. was walking up the land she saw an old widower working on the roads who accosted her thus: "I say, I have na woman and thee na mon wouldn't it be nice for we to cuddle? Mrs. H. hurried home to ask what "cuddle" meant.

The following excerpt from a letter dated March 14, 1887, written from new lodgings in London, shows the melancholy that often overtook one "banished seven thousand miles" from home and loved ones.

The sentence "well I am astonished!!" has become a bye-word here, and from what you say it must have run through your mind when you learned that it had been hinted that my letter supply was "meagre," and that in the face of all your efforts to "do the nice." Well I laugh too, but darling listen: There was a time in my life when letters became a burden to me, for the labor required to answer them all wearied me. I imagine your present situation much similar, a multiplicity of things press upon you and accumulating letters become bores; but you could never realize my present situation unless you were suddenly banished seven thousand miles from the scenes of your former activity, your identity lost, afraid to audibly whisper your own name and limited to one correspondent, whose letters as he himself states have been "written in a constrained and cautious manner," sans sentiment. I write not thus to elicit sympathy, but only to tell you, you can never know what a boon a letter is under these circumstances, unless you pass through a similar experience, which lucky stars forbid ... I am beginning to realize more than ever how dear you are to me. Tell dear mother if you see her I will write her soon.

XXX Maria

Angus's son Lewis joined Mattie in London that summer. He, Mattie, and Elizabeth, spent pleasant days touring in North Wales and took a three-day Cook's tour in Paris. The following excerpt is from a letter dated September 16, 1887, from the St. Petersburg Hotel, Paris.

My Loved One —

My admiration for this beautiful spot of Earth knows no bounds, and my feelings go out to the French people, such as I never dreamed they would to any class outside our glorious gospel, but such is the fact. Whereever the eye rests in this great centre can be seen the impress of intellect — to wander through its collections of art, its palaces of departed monarchs, its halls of pleasure or drive through its gardens and boulevardes such as we have been doing the last three days — has been a period of enchantment such as I never thought to experience on this mundane sphere. That I have seen some sad days in Europe, is a reality, but this visit to this surely most beautiful city in the world or the most beautiful I have ever seen has compensated for all. Our time is up to-night and we leave for Switzerland in the morning. We came on one of Cook's three days Excursion from London to Paris, when Hotel arrangements and guides are all provided without any trouble whatever. Lizzie has stood the whirl remarkable well, in fact I think her better than when I left London. This air is better for us both, much lighter and clearer than in England. ... I have had no word from you for some time but suppose there is one waiting for me in London. When I return to England I shall make it a point to stay over a day or so in Paris again and then go to the grand Opera. Do not think I am becoming intoxicated with the allurements of Babylon. Not so, I look upon this treat as an oasis in the dreary desert I have trod for the past two years: an oasis sent from God, to chase away the shadows that have enthralled me. "Wedded, yet experiencing none of the elements of true wedded life," looked up on with suspicion by those who see me tarry here. But I must not complain as I am happier now than ever before in my married life. Kind love. Maria. . . .

Mattie went from Paris to Switzerland where she stayed in the vicinity of Bern from September 27 through about November 10. She booked passage on a steamer leaving Liverpool November 19. Her second trip to Paris, taken en route to England, was described by her as "a complete failure" due to bad weather and Elizabeth's illness. Her daughter was still sick upon their arrival in England, so the two stayed at the mission offices in Liverpool until December. This was a difficult period for Mattie, longing to "gaze on the faces of loved ones occasionally — something we have been totally deprived of during our wanderings here" and worried about her "little pale-faced baby, greatly in need of home comforts." She had apparently written a scathing letter to her husband. His reply must have been wounding, for her next letter, written from the steamer taking her to America, though reminiscent of that first gay letter from New York, shows a sadder and more penitent traveler:

Oh Papa, Papa!!

Your letter of the 16 ult. just to hand, and I feel like crying myself sick to think what a wicked girl I have been to hurt your feelings as I have. . . . My Own Loved One can you forgive and ever have confidence in me again — write as soon as you get this and say you forgive me. I am frantic with grief when I think how I have wronged you. I must be brief as

The gallant ship is under weigh. To bear us off to sea

And yonder floats the gay streamer

That says she waits for me The seamen dip the ready oar As rippling waves oft tell They bear us quickly from the shore Old England now farewell!

Mattie and Elizabeth were met on the East Coast by Cannon, and they spent a few pleasant days together. They did not, however, return with him to Utah. They spent some time in Algonac, Saint Clair, Michigan, and in Chicago, where Elizabeth received medical attention. Algonac was probably chosen as a stoppingover point because of the pleasant memories Mattie had of her school days there. She wrote to Angus of

my beautiful St. Clair of years agone. Which I always then saw in its summer loveliness, its surface roseate with morning sunbeams or its crystal waters reflecting the different hued lights from the many crafts that dotted its surface at evening. 'Twas here I used to compose love letters and dream. . . .

By the summer of 1888 Mattie and her daughter were in Salt Lake City in the home of her own she had so longed for.

The Manifesto ending polygamy, issued in September 1890 by LDS church president Wilford Woodruff, enabled Mattie to live openly in Salt Lake City and pursue a more normal life. She and Cannon had two other children: James Hugh Cannon, born on May 19, 1890, and Gwendolyn Hughes Cannon, born April 20, 1899. Mattie continued her medical practice and became active in politics. She attended the Women's Congress at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, as one of the speakers, and also appeared before a congressional committee in Washington, D.C., to give a synopsis of political work done by women in Utah. The Chicago Record of May 15, 1893, recorded "Mrs. Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon ... is considered one of the brightest exponents of women's cause in the United States."

In 1896 she was elected to the Utah State Senate, the first woman state senator to be elected in the United States. The contest is of interest as Martha, running on the Democratic ticket, had as a competitor in the race her husband, Angus, who was running on the Republican ticket. They were in a field of ten candidates "at large," five in each party. Elizabeth wrote of this election that "much to his [Angus's] relief, his wife was elected."

From September 1904 until January 1905 Mattie and her children were in California. Then, convinced that living at sea level would improve her health, Mattie moved her family there permanently in 1906. Later years were divided between California and the Utah home of her daughter Elizabeth. The last twelve years of her life were spent in Los Angeles, where she worked in the orthopedic department of the Graves Clinic. She died in Los Angeles on July 10, 1932, at age seventy-five.

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