Happy birthday Cyntha Cannon Rogers (1800-1855)

My great times three grandmother had a birthday 219 years ago today. I've included information about her siblings' lives as well (from previous posts.)

She was a woman who moved from east Tennessee to Texas during the forming of those states.  Her parents were both born in Virginia. Her mother, Catharine Henderson Cannon, may have been born in North Carolina in 1777,  but by the time she was 8 in 1786, her little brother was born in Tennessee.  Her father William Henry Cannon had been born in Cumberland County, VA in 1771, but his sister born in 1784 was either born in North Carolina or Tennessee.

Catharine Henderson married William Cannon in Sevier County Tennessee on Aug. 22, 1799. 

Cyntha was their first child of eight. 

I started celebrating Cyntha's birthday about six years ago on blogs...here's a snippet of one of those:

(Sunday, August 24, 2014)

Cyntha Cannon Rogers, born 24 Aug 1800, was wife of Micajah Clack Rogers, and died 24 Nov 1855 in Huntsville, Walker, Texas.

Her Mother: Catherine Henderson, born in 1778 in North Carolina, died: 15 Nov 1827 in Athens, McMinn, Tennessee
And Cyntha's grandparents were: 
Mary Catherine Beavers born abt 1750 and died after 1786
and
William Henderson.  He was born probably in 1741 in Virginia.  He died in Sevier County, TN, date unknown.
 
Father: William Henry Cannon; born 28 Nov 1771 in Cumberland, Virginia, died: 11 Jun 1868 in Sevier, Tennessee.                                                                       William Henry Cannon's parents were: John Cannon, born 18 Mar 1744 in Caswell, North Carolina; died Oct 1806 in Grass Valley, Knox, Tennessee
 and Nancy Ann Whitlow, born 18 Nov 1747 in Caswell, North Carolina, and died 01 Jul 1830 in Knox County, Tennessee.  More about her was posted HERE.
 
And an even earlier post in 2013 said:

When she was 18 she married the son of Rev. Elijah Rogers, Micajah Clack Rogers (1795-1873) who was  the eldest of 11 children born to the Reverend (from Farquier County, VA) and his wife, Catherine Clack Rogers, who was born in Henry County, VA.

Smoky Mountains

These were pioneering people.  These parents arrived in Sevier County, on the western side of the Appalachian ridges that would be called the Smoky Mountains in years to come.   And Cyntha and Micajah Rogers were among the first generation to be born there.

 Sevier County as it is known today was formed on September 18, 1794 from part of neighboring Jefferson County, and has retained its original boundaries ever since. The county takes its name from John Sevier, governor of the failed State of Franklin and first governor of Tennessee, who played a prominent role during the early years of settlement in the region.  Since its establishment in 1795, the county seat has been situated at Sevierville (also named for Sevier), the eighth-oldest city in Tennessee. (Wikipedia)

Micajah had lots of interests in business, resulting in part ownership of several, and his owning lots and buildings in Sevierville, and even part of a foundry, the Sweeden Furnace.

A Historic Marker now stands to remind us of the Sweeden Furnace, from Sevierville, TN located...

 5 miles northwest, (of Sevierville downtown) this was first called Short Mountain Furnace using local ore bank ore. Started about 1820 by Robert Shields, William K. Love and brothers operated it about 1830. Micajah C. Rogers bought it and changed its name in 1836. It closed in 1840, following the panic of 1837 and deterioration in quality of ore.

Another marker stands on Hwy 441 in nearby Pigeon Forge, TN which after all, was also the site of iron mining. Do you know what Pig-eon Iron is?  And most of you have heard of a forge...right?

About 3/4 mile southeast, Issac Love operated a forge on the site of the flour mill on Pigeon River in 1820, making bar iron. Ore came from an orebank about 3 miles east, later, pig iron came from Sweden Furnace, 5 miles east. Forge hammer and fittings are nearby. 

Micajah and Cyntha did not fare well as the economy had a down turn by 1840 while he was living still in Sevier County.  Cyntha's last child was born in March of 1841, and died in Oct. of that year in  Sevierville.  I'm pretty sure the Micajah Rogers family and the Hiram Gibbs family from South Carolina merged and moved west and south, and some of them stayed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  

The Rogers Family Bible was a wedding present for Cyntha's eldest son, George Washington Rogers, as he married one of the 8 Gibbs children, and his sister married another.

By 1846 Cyntha and Micajah were living in Walker County, Texas.

My cousin Patricia Rogers Seliger, joined a Pioneer Society for Walker County Texas, based upon Micajah Clack Rogers arriving there before Oct. 5, 1850.

Cyntha had 11 children, and perhaps because of the economy, some of them didn't live very long.  Catherine Louisa died at 5. Amelia Amanda was 1. And Cyntha's last 3 children died within a few months of their births, all in Sevierville, TN.  The other 6 did live to become adults.

She only lived to be 55 years old, dying in 1855 in her new home town of Huntsville, Walker County, Texas. And that town was pretty new still at that time, since the Republic of Texas (1836-1845) and the statehood of Texas (1845) had occurred.
 
The Rogers were founding members of the Baptist Church in Huntsville.

Out of focus photo of marker for First Baptist Church of Huntsville, TX.

Cyntha's maiden name was Cannon, on all records except her tombstone, which says Cyntha O. Rogers.  Maybe whoever was in charge of it didn't know her real middle name.

Her son, George Washington Rogers, was my grandfather's grandfather, thus my name Rogers.

A later post (2018) talks about Cyntha's siblings:

The Cannon siblings

Cyntha O. Cannon (1800-1855) married Micajah Clack Rogers (1795-1873.)  She was the eldest of 8 children who all lived to be adults.

Let's discover what her siblings' lives were like.  Here and here were some blogs I've written about her before, focusing mainly on her husband.

I mentioned how grateful I was that some ancestors kept good records in the Rogers Family Bible.  Here's a little information about it from my own research.

The Rogers Family Bible was published in 1848, and begins with going back to Sevier County TN records of Rogers and Clack families. Micajah Rogers is listed as Col. and the Bible covers his 11 children, but not his siblings.  It kept good track of the Rogers and Gibbs births, marriages and deaths from 1848 onwards and was eventually kept in the Gibbs family.

On Sept 14 1848, his son George Washington Rogers married Lucinda Gibbs, in Bienville, LA.  All the George W. and Lucinda Rogers children were born in Bienville, LA.  (But Lucinda at some time came to Huntsville  TX where she died in 1884)

Cyntha at age 19, married Micajah at age 23.  In the Rogers Family Bible, "Cyntha Cannon, Daughter of William and Catharine Cannon, were married at the residence of William Cannon, in Sevier County, Tennessee, February 4th, 1819."

Cyntha's mother gave birth to her youngest sister in 1820, the same year she had her first son, my ancestor, George Washington Rogers.

1) But let's go in chronological order.  The next younger sibling born after Cyntha was John Overton Cannon (1803-1848) He was buried in Madisonville, Monroe County, TN.

The City of Madisonville originally began as the town of Tellico, and prior to that a Cherokee village of the same name. The Calhoun Treaty and resulting Hiwassee Purchase of 1819 opened the area for white settlement. Madisonville was founded in the early 1820s as a county seat for Monroe County, which had been formed in 1819. The town was initially known as "Tellico," but its name was changed to "Madisonville" in 1830 in honor of U.S. President James Madison in accordance with a petition from the residents presented by state representative James Madison Greenway.^[10] Madisonville was incorporated on May 16, 1850. Wikipedia.

He married Caroline Nelson in Knoxville TN in 1827...Knoxville is about 20 miles from where he was born in Sevierville.  They had two children Guilford (1834-39) and John Jr. (1837-75) and then Caroline died in 1839 and was buried in Madisonville TN.

In 1842 he remarried to Mahala Torbett in Monroe County TN. and they had a son, Willie, in 1845. John died in 1846 leaving Mahala a widow with a 4 year old son and probably a 9 year old step-son John Jr. (1837-1875) (since Guilford had died in 1839.)

This is how I get diverted...I had to go look at John Jr.'s record to see if he indeed stayed with Mahala after his father's death. His 1850 census record shows he has gone to Constable William Cannon's household in Overton County TN.

She was from another south-eastern Tennessee county, Blount County, and died in 1882 in Bradly County.  Their son died before she wrote her will, because she instructs that a monument be erected between their graves on May 28, 1882. She also leaves a sum of money from a trust to her church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  And she leaves her brother some furniture, and designates a nephew, Willie Roberts to keep the articles she has already given him. She designates a trust account that will have interest paid annually to her church and the pastor from the sale of her land and property, which she also wants her brother James to be able to cultivate.  I got a bit confused about the orders of rental and sales of the same land.

2) The next brother of Cyntha was Dr. Guilford Cannon (1806-1873) who became a doctor.  He was the Madisonvile TN postmaster from 1842-45. He married in 1838 Mary Ann Bicknell, who supposedly had been born in 1826...making her just 12 years old the way I count! Unfortunately, she died the next year, no matter how old he had been.  He then married Jane McGhee Cannon in 1843 and they had 4 children, 3 of whom lived to adulthood. His will is succinct and leaves his property to his wife, and moneys to his sons and daughter. He also was buried in Madisonville, Monroe County, TN.

3) Next child of William and Catharine Cannon was Nancy Cannon (1808-1844), who married Col. Matthew Bogle. They had one son who died at 2 years. Nancy was buried in Blount County, TN.  Her husband was about 17 years older than she was, and died in 1847.  He apparently remarried to a Mary in 1845 after Nancy's death.

4) Cyntha's next sibling was Rebecca Henderson Cannon Sharp (1812-1901)** who married James Madison Sharp Sr.  He actually outlived her by a few years! In 1900 they were living with their son John, and his family in Sevier County, TN.

John Sharp	52 head
Mary K Sharp	33
William P Sharp	21
Mary R Sharp	19
Bettie L Sharp	17
Johnie Sharp	12
Ruben T Sharp	5
James M Sharp	83
Rebecca H Sharp	88 sister of Cyntha Cannon Rogers

Rebecca and James Sharp had 4-5 children.
** Her obituary is at the end of this post.

5) Next comes Mariah Louisa Bonaparte Cannon Earnest (1814-1851).  She and Joseph Hammer Earnest (1807-1878) had 4 children. She died in Chucky, Greene County, TN and is buried in the Methodist Episcopal church burying ground. Her husband Joseph Earnest remarried twice after Mariah's death in 1851...to Ann Rebecca Barnett and then Lavinia Smith. (See below for his brother married to her sister!)

6) Next is younger brother William Henderson Cannon, (1817-1901).***  He married twice and had 2 children, Bettie and J. G. as listed in his obituary. His daughter was born while William was married to Julia Huffaker Cannon, though several other women are given on various Ancestry trees.  He died in Sevier County, TN.

It appears that William Henderson Cannon was first a U.S. Postmaster in Sevier County, Tennessee, and later for the Confederate States of America.  Because his position was a political appointment, he was not covered under the parole of Confederate soldiers and had to apply individually for a pardon, which was granted by President Andrew Johnson.   information is from http://genealogytrails.com/tenn/sevier/post.htm.

***His obituary is posted at the bottom of this page...***

7)  Cyntha's youngest sister was Martha Caroline Cannon Ernest, (1820-1847).  Her husband (also called her consort) was Nicholas Washington Earnest (1815-1866). They had 4 children, 
William (1841-1845), John Guilford (1842-1932), Maria R. (1844-), Rebecca Catherine (1846-1925).
The Ernests were buried in the Ebeneezer Methodist Burying ground in Chucky, Green County, TN.

And how were Mariah's and Martha's husbands named Earnest related?  Well, I checked with Joseph Earnest, and there it is! He had a brother Nicholas Washington Earnest born in 1815.  There were an even dozen siblings in that family.

** Obituary of Rebecca Cannon Sharp (that is "Mrs. James Sharp Dead" as title)

*** Obituary of William Henderson Cannon