Martha Hughes Cannon: The First Female Senator Elected In The US, Defeating Her Own Husband.
Martha Hughes, or Mattie, as she preferred to be called, was born in Llandudno, Wales on July 1, 1857. Around the time of Mattie’s birth, her parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, often referred to as the Mormon church. The family: Mattie, her parents, and one older sister, though quite poor, wanted to join with other Mormons in Utah. In 1860, they left Wales for the United States. Mattie’s father was ill and unable to work, so the family remaine