Martha Hughes Cannon was born in Clwyd, Wales, UK. When she was three years old, her family, who converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, immigrated to the US. They stayed in NYC for a few months before settling in Salt Lake City, Utah. Three days after their arrival, her father had died, and in the following year, her mother married the Mormon pioneer, James Patten Paul. At the age of 14, she taught for a year before learning to typeset. She then worked in various papers and magazines, including the Women’s Exponent, a suffrage publication edited by Emmeline B. Well, who encouraged her to become a doctor. At age 16, Hughes began taking pre-med night classes at the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah), from which she graduated five years later with a degree in chemistry. Afterward, she continued to medical studies at the University of Michigan with the church blessing and financial support. After graduation, she practiced for a short time in Algonac, Michigan, before moving to Philadelphia to further her studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was the only woman in her class. At that same time, she also learned Pharmaceuticals, Science, and Oratory, graduating at the age of 25 with four degrees. Upon her return to Salt Lake City, Hughes opened a private practice, and not long after, she was appointed by the LDS Church as the first resident physician of the new Deseret Hospital. There, she established a nurse training school and gave lectures on obstetrics. At the age of 27, she married Angus Munn Cannon, a Mormon polygamist who was 23 years older than her, and she became the fourth wife out of six. After her husband was sent to jail for been a polygamist and afraid of the option to testify against her husband, she exiled herself and her oldest daughter and stayed in Europe until the warrant against her had expired two years later. When she returned to Salt Lake City, Hughes became a prominent figure at the Utah Women’s Suffrage Association, giving public speeches and participating in suffrage conferences alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. She believed that polygamous marriage is a feminist act that provides more freedom to women than a monogamous marriage. In 1896, Utah had restored women’s right to vote, and Hughes decided to run for state senator. She was 39 years old and became the first woman in the US to be elected as a state senator. In the four years Hughes held office, she authored numerous legislative bills promoting public health and sanitation. She lobbied for regulating working conditions for women and girls, education for children with disabilities, and pure food. She helped found the first state board of health and served as a board member. In that position, she established a commission to regulate contagious disease and tried to prevent unvaccinated children from attending school. In 1889, Hughes had her third child, and she did not run for a third term. She continued to serve at the Utah Board of Health, at the Utah State School for the Deaf and Dumb, and in 1902, she was appointed as a member of the psychology section of the Medico-Legacy Society of New York. In later years, she moved to California, where she served as vice president of the National Congress of Tuberculosis, and after her husband died, she settled in LA, where she passed away at the age of 65.   Dive deeper into the inspiring story of Martha Hughes Cannon with our fun and engaging printable worksheet! Available now on Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. Read more...

Born as Ellis Reynolds in Davis County, Iowa. When she was 5 years old, the Reynolds moved to Pleasant Grove, Utah; they were among the first Mormons to settle in the area. At the age of 12 she met Milford Shipp for the first time, seven years later they got married. Later on, he married three more wives. At the age of 26, with the encouragement of Brigham Young, the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ellis Reynolds Shipp began her medical training, first at the University of Deseret (nowadays it’s called the University of Utah), then at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, and finally at the University of Michigan. By that time, Shipp had five children who stayed with her sister-wives while she was at school. In order to pay tuition and living expenses, she worked as a seamstress and as a guard in a cadavers’ hall. During her second year in Philadelphia, she gave birth to her sixth child, and they both didn’t come home until the end of the third year of school. Despite all those difficulties, she earned her Doctor of Medicine degree with high honors. After graduation, Shipp came back to Utah, where she established her own practice as well as a nursing and obstetrics school alongside Eliza R. Snow. She also taught midwifery in other States and other countries, and served as a board member at the “Relief Society” and at the “Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association.” Shipp’s career lasted more than 50 years; she delivered more than 5,000 babies and trained more than 500 midwives.   Read more...