Marsena Cannon letter

Collection

Identifier: ACCN 2916

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Marsena Cannon (1812-1900) letter (1869) is addressed to Harrison Jones (1812-1884) of Ripley, Maine, a friend of Cannon's. The letter discusses Cannon's desire to continue communication with Jones and others. Cannon also discusses photographs shared with Jones, along with information regarding his family and the passing of time. The following is a transcript of the letter:

Salt Lake City, Mar. 21st 1869.

Dear Old Friend,

Alho' I have been separated from you many years and have passed through many vicisitudes [sic] of life during the time I have not forgotten you nor many others of many former friends and acquitance. I think how odd it would be to see you an old man near sixty years of age and our mutual and ever respected friend Thos. E. Rogers considerably over fifty. As Mr. Bartlett T(?) is going to Ripley. I avail myself of his kindness and courtesy to send a few Photographs of myself and family to let you know some of the changes time has effected. The Photos are not made for the occasion but printed from such negatives as were readily obtainable. The larger Pictures are my own work throughout with the exception of adjusting the focus of my own. I would like you to send me a letter and if convenient likenesses of your self and family so that I may see the changes time has wrought with you. My family consists of myself, wife and seven children We have never had a death in our family. My oldest daughter, Mary is married and has a daughter two years old so you perceive I am and old Grandpa, Elizabeth being a Grandma at the same time. I presume there are many things that seem of no account to me that would be very interesting in your locality and if you wish any information on any point wherein I am capable I will answer any question you may ask and be pleased to do so. our means of communication with the East will be much more agreeable soon than it has been formerly as the Union Pacific R.R. comes within about thirty (30) miles of this city (?) I hope to hear from you and Thos. E. Rogers often. If you see or communicate with him please ask him to write me and I will be sure to reciprocate. Truly your sincere friend, Marsena Cannon. Harrison Jones Esq. Ripley, Maine.

Dates

1869 March 21

Creator

Cannon, Marsena, 1812-1900 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Biographical / Historical

Marsena Cannon, Sr., was born on August 3, 1812 in Rochester, New Hamshire, to Mary Wingate Horne and Dr. Hiram Cannon. Marsena Cannon married Elizabeth Taylor Bowerman (1818-1882) on September 29, 1838; together, the couple had seven children. In the 1840s, while living in Boston, Massachusetts, the Cannons converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In 1850, the Cannons migrated to the Utah Territory.

Marsena Cannon was a photographer who had been taught daguerreotype photography by John Plumb, and worked for Plumbe running a daguerreotype gallery in Boston. The 1847 bankruptcy of Plumbe's chain of galleries led Cannon to set up his own studio in Boston, which he shared with William Shew for several years until migrating west in 1850. Upon arriving in Salt Lake City, Cannon set up business as a photographer. Cannon is credited as the first commercial daguerreotypist to establish a permanent business in the Intermountain West. Throughout the 1850s, Cannon partnered with numerous other photographers, and with them dominated commercial photography in Salt Lake City. Cannon photographed scenes of Salt Lake City, portraits of residents, and portraits of leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, including numerous photographs of Brigham Young. In the 1860s, the Cannon family moved to St. George, Utah, where they lived for several years. The Cannons returned to Salt Lake City by late 1864, where Cannon established a venture exhibiting stereoscopes. Cannon later reopened his studio, but he was never able to regain his prominence as a photographer against numerous competitors who had come to Salt Lake City as it grew.

In 1874, Marsena Cannon was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After this point, the elderly Marsena Cannon lived with his children. By 1878, he was living with his youngest son Eron Cannon (1857-1939) in San Francisco, California, where Eron Cannon had followed his father into the photography business. After several years, Cannon moved in with his daughter Sarah Cannon (1853-?) in California. After Sarah married, Cannon moved back to Utah to live with his son Bowman Cannon (1847-1901), who was managing the Salt Lake County INfirmary and Poor Farm. Marsena Cannon died on April 29, 1900, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

(This biographical sketch was copied from the Marsena Cannon photograph collection finding aid created by Claire A. Kempa. The source of the citation used for this biographical sketch is : Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, "Cannon, Marsena," Pioneer Photographers of theFar West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 148-150. )