George Cannon was born on December 3, 1794, in Peel on the Isle of Man, England. In 1825, he married Ann Quayle. The couple had six children who lived to adulthood: George Quayle Cannon, Mary Alice Cannon, Ann Cannon, Angus Munn Cannon, David Henry Cannon, and Leonora Cannon. In 1840, the family was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by George's brother-in-law, John Taylor. The family decided to immigrate to America, and in September of 1842, they set sail. Ann Quayle Cannon died at sea. George Cannon remarried in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844, marrying Mary Edwards White, with whom he had one daughter, Elizabeth Edwards Cannon. He died on August 19, 1844.

George Quayle Cannon, oldest child of George Cannon and Ann Quayle, was born in Liverpool, England, on January 11, 1827. He was baptized with his family into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was thirteen years old, and immigrated with his family to America in 1842. By 1844, both his parents had died, and in 1847 he traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, with his uncle John Taylor's family. Cannon had six wives: Elizabeth Hoagland, married 1854; Sarah Jane Jenne, married 1858; Eliza Lamercia Tenney, married 1865; Martha Telle, married 1868; Emily Hoagland, married 1881; and Caroline Partridge Young, married 1884. George Q. Cannon died on April 12, 1901, in Monterey, California.

Angus Munn Cannon, younger brother of George Q. Cannon, was born on May 17, 1834, in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, to parents George Cannon and Ann Quayle. Along with his family, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1840 and traveled to Nauvoo in 1842. In 1849, he traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, and lived in Utah for most of the rest of his life. He had six wives: Sarah Maria Mousley, married 1858; Ann Amanda Mousley, married 1858; Clarissa Cordelia Moses Mason, married 1875; Johanna Christina Danielson, married 1887; Maria Bennion, married 1886; and Martha Maria Hughes, married 1884. Angus M. Cannon died on June 17, 1915, from apoplexy in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Abraham Hoagland Cannon was the son of George Q. Cannon and his first wife, Elizabeth Hoagland He was born on March 12, 1859, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lived most of his life. He had three wives: Sarah Ann Jenkins, married 1878; Wilhelmina M. Cannon, daughter of Angus Munn Cannon, married 1879, and Mary E. Croxall, married 1887. Abraham H. Cannon died unexpectedly of meningitis on July 19, 1896, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Quayle Cannon was the son of Angus Munn Cannon and his second wife, Ann Mousley, born on December 30, 1879, in Salt Lake City, Utah. On September 20, 1905, Cannon married Eugenia Silver in Salt Lake City, Utah. Quayle Cannon died on August 26, 1950, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Quayle Cannon, Jr., son of Quayle Cannon and Eugenia Silver, was born on July 5, 1906, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1935, he moved to Washington, D.C., and on April 10, 1936, Cannon married Fay Allred in Washington, D.C.; she died on June 27, 1969. Shortly after their marriage, the family moved back to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lived most of the rest of his life. He married Lanor Hailstone Rowe on June 18, 1971, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Quayle Cannon, Jr., died on August 28, 1990, in Bountiful, Utah.

Donald Q. Cannon is the son of Quayle Cannon, Jr., and Fay Allred. Born on December 24, 1936, in Washington, D.C., he was raised mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1960, he married JoAnn McGinnis in the Salt Lake City Temple. He was stationed at the Pentagon during his U.S. Army service from 1965 to 1867, and following his service taught U.S. History at the University of Maine in Portland. In 1973, he began teaching at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He retired from BYU in 2007.