Kenneth L. Cannon: A Patriarch & Three Scions: George Q. Cannon and Sons (Season 2, Ep. 7 - Part 1 & 2)

**Brad Westwood** (0:10)
Welcome to the podcast Speak Your Piece.
This is a podcast about Utah's history produced by the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. I'm Brad Westwood, senior public historian. My job is to make the very best, the most interesting, the most accurate history of Utah, accessible to the widest audience.
If there's one place, one podcast to get your Utah history fix, I hope this is the place. My guest today is Utah and Western historian, Kenneth L. Cannon, whom I've known and encountered as a dear friend for 30 years. Welcome to Speak Your Piece, Ken.

**Kenneth L. Cannon** (0:43)
Happy to be here. Thank you very much for inviting me.

**Brad Westwood** (0:47)
Today's show will be focusing on one of Utah's most famous figures, both in Utah and Mormon history, George Q. Cannon, who was considered the father of Utah's successful bid for statehood in 1896 With our 125th anniversary coming up on January 4th, 2021, I invited Ken to interact with me about George Q. Cannon, and perhaps equally as important, Cannon's three oldest sons, John, Frank, and Abraham, all of whom played significant public roles in Utah's late 19th and early 20th century history. It is this interaction of the four, their personal stories, their successes and failures and accomplishments, both in the public context and within the family context, that I have invited Ken to speak about today.
Ken, what's the first thing that crosses your mind about this subject of this father and these sons?

**Kenneth L. Cannon** (1:45)
Extraordinarily talented.
You know, and largely forgotten too. George Q. Cannon was just an extraordinary man who Brigham Young realized when Cannon was in his early 20s, that this was going to be the future of the church. And he took him under his wing and he was kind of his guy for a long time. Kind of his acolyte. And he proved himself worthy of the anticipation.
New York Times called him the Mormon premier. He really was the central political figure, religious figure, media figure, business figure in Salt Lake City for 30 plus years.

**Brad Westwood** (2:42)
Anyone beyond Utah, if you had any interaction with the church in a formal way.

**Kenneth L. Cannon** (2:47)
The person you would know is George Q. Cannon. He would get on the train and people would come up and he was a celebrity for people all across the country.

**Brad Westwood** (2:58)
So it's fascinating. And let me first tell you just a little bit more.
Among many other accomplishments, these sons of George Q. Cannon were best known for the following. John Q. Cannon was the editor-in-chief of the Desert News. Now, this is a son of George Q. Cannon.

**Kenneth L. Cannon** (3:16)
Oldest son.

**Brad Westwood** (3:17)
Oldest son. Frank J. Cannon, who was one of two of Utah's first United States senators and would eventually become one of the strongest public detractors against the LDS Church. Last but not least, Abraham H. Cannon, who was like his father, served as a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. These are fairly important men altogether in their own right, but I think together makes a fascinating story.
Now, let me talk a little bit about Ken.
My guest today is currently at work on a short biography of George Q. Cannon. Is that for Signature Book?

**Kenneth L. Cannon** (3:56)
That's for Signature. Signature is doing a series of short biographies like Penguin Lives of prominent Mormons, and they asked me to write about George Q. So it's part of that series.

**Brad Westwood** (4:08)
Then you're also working on a book about George Q and his three oldest sons. Of course, that's what we'll be speaking about today.
Ken is married to the writer Anne Edwards Cannon, and they have five sons, four daughter-in-laws, seven grandchildren. Anne and Ken live in a 120-year-old Victorian home in Salt Lake City's Avenues. And you have one friendly ghost, is that correct?

**Kenneth L. Cannon** (4:34)
At least, yeah, one, yeah. Who I think is a really interesting historical figure that I didn't know lived in our house until I did. I wrote about her long before I knew she lived in our house. And I think her name was Keity Haywood Kimball.
And I think she's our ghost.

**Brad Westwood** (4:55)
Well, maybe we'll have you back to talk about that. Ken is a lawyer in private practice, along with being one of Utah's most successful independent historians. He's published over 20 articles in professional journals, made numerous conference presentations on legal and historical subjects. Occasionally, he has won a number of awards. Ken graduated summa cum laude from BYU in 1978 and was the valedictorian of his college. He then received a law degree cum laude and order of the coif, coif, coif, and a master's degree in American history, both from BYU in 1982 Ken has practiced law in corporate bankruptcy area in Utah and New York for 37 years and is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy where he serves on the Board of Regents.