Ancestor Story: The Cannon Family's Conversion to the Church

George and Ann Cannon are Beau's Great-Great-Great Grandparents

On Jan 11, 1840 John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff sailed into Liverpool, England. Not long after Elder Taylor paid a visit to the brother-in-law he'd never met George Cannon father of 13 year old George Q. Cannon.

George's father was not home, so Elder Taylor said he'd return the next day. Watching him depart, his mother, Ann, turned to her young son and said, "George, that is a man of God." The next day Elder Taylor visited long into the night answering questions about the new religion. Ann, convinced of his honesty, believed everything he said and desired baptism.

George Sr. listened thoughtfully. Then said he'd like some time to think of it. Elder Taylor gave him a Book of Mormon and promised that if he read it prayerfully he'd be convinced the Church was true.
The next day Father Cannon began to read. "He read far into the night, at mealtimes and eve had it propped open on his joiner's bench where he could glimpse a few sentences as he worked."
A few days later Elder Taylor returned. This was George Sr's verdict: "No wicked man could write a book such as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so."
They were baptized one month later.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ancestor story: George Q. Cannon Receives the Gift of Tongues

   George Q. Cannon is Beau's Third-great Grand Uncle The first missionaries to Hawaii assumed they were to preach to the white people. They spoke English. The missionaries spoke English. But the white people in Hawaii were a tiny minority and not interested at all. Soon the missionaries had talked to all of them. They wondered if that was it. Mission done? Do we just go home now? After all they didn't speak Hawaiian and they'd run out of English speakers. They'd done their duty, right? Who could blame them? George Q. Cannon wanted to stay and preach to the Hawaiians. "I did not conceal my feelings; I told them that I could not go home under existing circumstances, without feeling condemned. The Lord, in my opinion, I said, would hold me accountable for not doing my duty to that people. If I were to leave them; and the people might rise up in judgement against me at some future day for not having given them the privilege of hearing the truth." Four other el...
Read more

Manuel and Guillermo are Saved from Shining Path

  Late in the day on June 7, 1990, Manuel Navarro and his mission companion, Guillermo Chuquimango, were walking back to their house in Huaraz, Peru. Manuel had begun his mission in March 1989 at the Missionary Training Center in Lima, one of fourteen MTCs around the world. He enjoyed being a missionary—working hard, visiting different regions of the country, and bringing people to Jesus Christ. His current area could be dangerous at night, though. A revolutionary group called Sendero Luminoso, or the Shining Path, had been warring with the Peruvian government for more than a decade. Lately, their attacks had become more aggressive as rising inflation and economic strife beset the South American nation. Manuel and Guillermo, another native Peruvian, knew the dangers they faced as they left home each morning.  Groups like the Sendero Luminoso sometimes targeted Latter-day Saints because they associated the Church with United States foreign policy. There were now more than...
Read more

John W. Taylor Forsees a Family's Conversion

  John W. Taylor served a mission in the deep south. One night he and his companion were in a hostile town, afoot, hungry and with night coming on. "Every door is closed to us," said his companion bleakly. It was a long walk to the next town. "Wait," said John pointing to a house. "That door will open." They knocked and the door opened just far enough to reveal a suspicious face. "We have a message to you from Heaven," John said. "You got what?" "A message from Heaven," said John. "It shall be made known to you by dreams tonight that we are true servants of the Lord." That got them supper and a bed. "But wasn't it," wondered the companion, "going pretty far out on a limb? Either those people would dream, or they'd be dead set against Mormons for good." "If they didn't have that dream, they'd pass the word that these missionaries would say anything for a free meal." Yet...
Read more