William Henry Cannon and son William Henderson Cannon

  William Henry Cannon 1771–1868, my four times great grandfather

 His wife was Catharine Henderson Cannon (1777-1827) (see her post yesterday HERE)

 Burial Trundle Family Cemetery Sevierville,Sevier County, Tenn 

Birth: Nov. 28, 1771 Virginia, 

 Death: Jun. 11, 1868 Sevier County TN 

 Parents: John Cannon, Rev. War patriot, (1744-1806) 

 Nancy Ann Whitlow Cannon (1747 - 1830) 

 Children: Cyntha O. Cannon Rogers (1800 - 1855) 

 John Overton Cannon (1803 - 1846) 

 Guilford Cannon, Dr. (1806 - 1873)

 Nancy Cannon Bogle (1808 - 1844) 

 Rebecca Henderson Cannon Sharp (1812 - 1901) 

Mariah Louisa Bonaparte Cannon Earnest (1814-1851)

William Henderson Cannon (Jr) (1817 - 1901) 

Martha Caroline Cannon Earnest (1820 - 1847) 

 Siblings: 

Jane (Janey) Cannon (1770-1850

Elizabeth (Betsy) M. Cannon Gamble (1778-1849)

John (Jack) Cannon (1779-1864)

Henry Cannon (1780-1850)

Robert C. Cannon (1781-1854)

Martha Elizabeth (Patsey) Cannon Nelson (1784 - 1862) 

Charles Cannon (n.d.)

My Ancestry tree gives a few documents which follow Grandpa Cannon's life.

He married Catharine in 1799, on Aug. 22, in Sevier County TN.

Their first child, Cyntha O. was born Aug. 24, 1800 in Sevier County, TN.

She would grow up and marry Micajah Rogers and moved with him and their family to Huntsville TX...and became my great times three grandparents.

William Henry is listed as the son of John Cannon and Anne Whitlow Cannon on a document in the Allen Papers of the McClung Collection, under John Cannon in the Lawson McGhee Library, Knoxville, TN. This document says John was the son of a William Cannon who moved from Cumberland County VA to Caswell County, NC, where John was born.  He suspposedly moved to Sevier County TN, then to Knox County, TN before 1795.

This information is in a typed format, not saying where it originated. The Allen Papers. The next information is refuted in several census documents, so it brings to question any validity of this document. It says this John Cannon (b. March 18, 1744) had 3 sons, John, William, and Robert and one daughter Cyntha (spelled Cynithia) who married M. C. Rogers before moving to Texas.

So some of the information seems correct. I'm not going to worry about the sons Robert and John, but will look closer at William.

A sentence by itself is typed, saying "John W. Sharp, a grandson of Wm. Cannon says Wm. John and Robt had a sister who married an Olford."

Then there are a couple of hand written sentences. Whether these were just added to my copy of this paper, or exist on the original is unknown...but they look like the same handwriting.

First is a statement:

"John Cannon tax payer in Greene County, TN in 1783."

Then with an asterisk which leads from the name Cynithia above...

"* Cynthia Cannon who. m. M. C. Rogers, was b. Aug. 24, 1804, Sevier Co. TN, daughter of Wm. and Catherine (Henderson) Cannon.

Wm. Cannon, her father, was b. Nov. 28 1771. son of John & Nancy Cannon."

Then the whole page mentioned above from the Allen Papers has a note by an Ancestry member, 

"This John Cannon is not from the Kennon family, contact me for proof of this." Entered by "newseeker" of Eurika, CA. I have no more information on that person.

I'm guessing that the hand written notes are not on the original in the library in Knoxville, TN but on the photocopy.

There's yet another page from the Allen Papers about William Henry Cannon - but it's very confusing also.

I'll go to some other sources first. 

One son of William Henry and Catherine Henderson Cannon as mentioned above, was William Henderson Cannon. His middle name is his mother's maiden name, a tradition carried on by many families. He was b. March 12, 1817 and d. 16 July 1901. He is buried in the Trundle Cemetery in Sevier County, TN, where his second wife, Julia Huffaker Cannon is also buried.

Now the way trivial information has been added wherever I've found it, I've put 2 and 2 together and came up with his first wife completely.

To follow my path, when William Henderson Jr.'s daughter, Elizabeth "Bettie" died in 1912 (which of course doesn't show on his own life history) her younger brother John (J. G.) Cannon provided her parents' names on her death certificate. He said William H. Cannon, for father, and just Heiskell for her mother's name. Obviously she had had a different mother than John's, whose mother was Julia Huffaker Cannon.

So I also saw on William Henderson Cannon's obituary that he'd been married twice, both wives dying young. Then on the Find a Grave site, his first wife is listed as Mary Cannon. I tried a trick I learned long ago, and tried putting Mary and Heiskell together, and got 10 hints for this woman. Her parents, her birth and death dates, and that she had 3 children, only the daughter, Bettie having lived to adulthood. The two sons she gave birth to both died immediately.

William Jr.'s obituary speaks of his daughter Bettie having looked after him in his later life, after the wives had died...and I imagine she raised the son of his second  wife who lived past his mother's death, John (J. G.) Incidentally, Bettie never married. 

All of this is substantiated by several census reports.

The one that I first found brings another generation into the family, is The 1850 Census for Eastern Subdivision 12 of Sevier County TN, in which his father William Cannon, (age 75) is living with him.  William Henderson Cannon is the head of the household at 33 years. His wife Mary is 21, and daughter Betty (sp.) is 4 mos. When looking at the occupations of the two William Cannons, the elder is a farmer, while his son is a merchant.

The obituary I mentioned earlier also says William Henderson Cannon had owned a store, which was destroyed during the Civil War. His slaves of course were freed by the war. So he had to start over as a farmer. He had also been the postmaster for the area before the war, and became the same for the Confederacy. So when he wanted to become a US citizen again following the war, he had to petition to President Andrew Johnson requesting a pardon for having served in an official capacity for the Confederacy.

I have gone in depth to what William Henderson Cannon's life was like, because I just found a cousin who is a descendent of William H. Jr. He recently contacted me, being descended through his sister, Cyntha Cannon Rogers. So I became interested in his early ancestor. As he says, we can help each other work out the mystery. 

Here's the original document describing William H. Cannon's being postmaster at Cannon's Store. (Second line)

As of Aug 4, 1857 William H. Cannon was postmaster for the post office at Cannon's Store. The letter to reinstate his citizenship indicates that it was the son, William Henderson Cannon who had been the postmaster during the war, and it shows that as of 20 Sept 1867 he was no longer postmaster,