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‘Sister Wives’: Kody Brown Wowed by Polygamous Utah Senator Martha Hughes Cannon

Maggie Larkin 4024 Views

Sister Wives Kody Brown recently expressed enthusiasm for a woman in a polygamous marriage to become a first female state senator. While Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to Utah’s Senate, this sister wife became the first woman in the nation elected as a state senator as well.

Kody Brown strives to make his polygamous lifestyle accepted and it seems his recent retweet might go along with his dreams. It seems not too many people knew that the first female elected to a state senate seat was in a polygamous marriage? Furthermore, she was a sister wife who ran against her own husband in Utah and won the seat for Senate in that state.

Sister Wives: Seems Kody Brown Had Ideas of His Own?

During this season of the TLC show, Kody Brown said he might consider a run for office. Seems this historic tidbit could offer up some inspiration to the Sister Wives patriarch.

Kody appeared to perk up with a “Wow” after a recent tweet from Janelle Brown. It looks like she tweeted about some little-known Utah history and Kody Brown jumped on it with a retweet. Janelle suggested she wanted to “yell it from the rooftops,” referring to this historic woman’s success.

Successful Polygamous Wife In History

So who is this woman and when did this Mormon polygamous wife step into the Utah Senate? Her name was Martha Hughes Cannon and back in 1896, she became the first woman state senator in the United States.

Janelle seemed thrilled to share the feat of this pioneering woman. But was Janelle’s excitement coming from the fact that the woman came from a polygamous marriage? Or was she thrilled that the woman beat her own husband for the same seat? Maybe it’s a little bit of both for this Sister Wives spouse.

Sister Wives:  Martha Hughes Cannon an Inspiration

Cannon was many other things besides the first state senator of this nation. Starting with her childhood when she immigrated to Utah from Wales with her family. This was when she was only four. As a young woman, she went on to become a highly successful doctor after working to put herself through college.

Then she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she did her post-graduate studies. Certainly, it was quite the feat back then as she was the only female in a graduating class of 75. It sounds like Martha’s history gives Sister Wives star Janelle Brown many reasons to want to shout this history from the rooftop.

Amazing Feats of Polygamous Wife

Cannon moved back home to Salt Lake City at 25 and opened a successful private practice. Martha also served as a resident physician at the new Deseret Hospital. She took this position at the request of the LDS Church.

Two years later, at 27, Martha became the fourth wife to a man 23-years her senior, Angus M. Cannon. As a polygamous wife, Cannon had three children. She was an early version of a polygamous spouse, much like the Sister Wives today on the TLC show.

Martha went on to run for the Utah State Senate and won, beating her husband as one of several opponents at the time.

Sister Wives – Times Not Changed?

A year after Martha married Angus Cannon, he was arrested for “unlawful cohabitation” sending Martha into exile. A warrant for her arrest was issued after she fled to avoid testifying against Angus in court.

She moved from place to place, living in exile until that warrant expired. Kody Brown can probably relate to this. He had to move his Sister Wives family out of Utah in the dark of night to avoid prosecution. That is how the Brown brood ended up living in exile in Vegas.

Kody Brown Vs. Christine Brown- Time for History to Repeat Itself?

Will looking back into the life of Martha Hughes Cannon spark Kody’s interest in running or office again? While Martha lived over a century ago, not much has changed for the lifestyle of the Sister Wives plural marriage.

It seems Martha couldn’t acknowledge her marriage as she made major accomplishments in life. Much like how the Sister Wives women kept their marriages on the down-low until Sister Wives aired on TLC.  Maybe Kody Brown will be the one to change all this for the future families who opt for a polygamous lifestyle. Will his talk about a political run materialize into action one day?

Could it be that history is about to repeat itself? It seems one of Christine’s greatest fans suggested she run for office. With Kody Brown expressing interest in running for office himself – just maybe a new modern husband vs. wife election spins out of the history pages into modern-day life?

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