Edwin Quayle "Ted" Cannon Jr. (May 6, 1918 – April 6, 2005) was a

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

politician and businessman and was a prominent leader and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church). Cannon was among the first missionaries of the LDS Church to preach to

black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

in West Africa (specifically in Nigeria and Ghana) and was part of the first group of missionaries sent to establish official congregations of the church in West Africa.

Early life, mission, and family

Cannon was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, Utah to Edwin Q. Cannon, Sr. and Luella Wareing. He was born at his parents' home because of the

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. Cannon's paternal grandfather was George Q. Cannon, who had served in the LDS Church's

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for several decades before his death in 1901. Cannon was raised in Salt Lake City. In 1937, Cannon went on a mission for the LDS Church to

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. He was

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of a

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of the church in

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in 1939 when the LDS Church evacuated its missionaries from Europe at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Cannon finished his mission in eastern Canada and returned to Utah in 1940. In 1941, Cannon married Janath Russell in the

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. They had six children together.

Education, career, and politics

In 1942, Cannon graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

and in 1943 graduated from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

with an MBA degree. After graduating, he managed a Cannon family business, the Salt Lake Stamp Company. In 1948, Cannon was elected as a Republican member of the

Utah House of Representatives The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district cont ...

for

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. He was re-elected in 1956 and 1958 and served three full terms.

LDS Church service

From 1964 to 1971, Cannon was a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

in Salt Lake City. From 1971 to 1974, he was the

of the Switzerland

Mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

. By the end of his service the mission had been renamed the Switzerland Zurich Mission. It only covered German-speaking Switzerland, French -speaking Switzerland being in a mission based in France. Daniel C. Peterson was among the missionaries who served under Cannon. In 1978, the LDS Church

announced An announcement (ANN) is a Usenet, mailing list or e-mail message sent to notify subscribers that a software project has made a new release version. Newsgroup announcement recipients often have a name like "comp.''somegroup''.announce". Mailing li ...

a revelation ending the previous restrictions on

receiving the priesthood or participating in

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

ordinances. Three weeks after the announcement, Cannon traveled to Africa on behalf of the church with Merrill J. Bateman to assess the prospects for missionary work and growth in West Africa. They visited Nigeria and Ghana on the trip. (At the time, Cannon was a counselor to James E. Faust in the church's International Mission, which had jurisdiction over all areas of the world not otherwise part of a mission.) After Bateman and Cannon reported the results of their trip, Cannon and his wife were called and set apart as the church's first missionaries to West Africa. They—along with Rendell and Rachel Mabey—preached in Nigeria and Ghana,

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

hundreds of converts, and established 35 branches and 5 districts of the church. The first convert baptized in Nigeria was Anthony Obinna. In the late 1980s, Cannon and his wife were the directors of the church's visitors' center in Nauvoo, Illinois. For three months in 1989, Cannon was the interim president of the church's (Germany)

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Mission, while the regular mission president was working on getting church missionaries admitted to East Germany. Cannon later served as the second

of the

Frankfurt Germany Temple The Frankfurt Germany Temple is the 43rd constructed and 41st operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Located in the city of Friedrichsdorf, Germany, it was built with the same general architecture as the ...

from 1989 to 1992.

Death

Cannon died at and was buried in Salt Lake City, Utah."Edwin Q. Cannon Jr., businessman, dies"
''

Deseret Morning News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LD ...

'', 2005-04-09, p. B7.

References

Sources

* Alexander B. Morrison (1990). ''The Dawning of a Brighter Day: The Church in Black Africa'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) *''2008 Deseret Morning News Church Almanac'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Morning News, 2007)

External links

President Edwin Q. Cannon, Jr.
: biography from Switzerland Zurich Mission alumni page * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon, Edwin Q. Jr. 1918 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Mormon missionaries American expatriates in Nigeria American Mormon missionaries in the United States American Mormon missionaries in Canada American Mormon missionaries in Germany American Mormon missionaries in Switzerland American people of Manx descent Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery Cannon family Harvard Business School alumni Republican Party members of the Utah House of Representatives Mission presidents (LDS Church) American Mormon missionaries in Ghana Mormon missionaries in Nigeria Mormonism and race Politicians from Salt Lake City Temple presidents and matrons (LDS Church) University of Utah alumni American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Businesspeople from Salt Lake City Latter Day Saints from Utah Utah politicians convicted of crimes 20th-century members of the Utah Legislature