CANNON

I have come to a sticking place with this family. I am needing access to Craven County, North Carolina Deeds to find out of these deeds prove a connection between Jesse Cannon, Revolutionary War sailor of Virginia and our Jesse Cannon NC-GA-MS.

Possible link: Revolutionary War Sailor Jesse CANNON (c1735-1792)

DISCLAIMER: The NSDAR has this man's lifespan wrong. They have combined him into our Jesse CANNON below, and have allowed many memberships based on this wrong information. The Revolutionary War land warrant file of this Jesse CANNON lays out his 1792 death and his descendants very clearly. At this time, there is no connection between the Mississippi family of CANNONS and this man... BUT I do hope to find a connection between them.

The Land Warrant file is attached below and is a study in land fraud and double-dealing, well worthy of a tabloid magazine of today. This Jesse CANNON had family in Dorchester County, Maryland where he grew up and learned to sail. During the Revolutionary War this Jesse joined the Virginia State Navy and served as a Lieutenant aboard the row galley Diligence until she was laid up and dismantled for her iron content. After the war, this Jesse Cannon captained his own sailing vessel, the Black Snake, in the Chesapeake Bay area and down into the Newbern, North Carolina area. By 1783 he was visiting the widow Mary (PARTRIDGE) COPPER there and married her in Craven County, NC on 18 JAN 1786. They had a daughter Polly who grew up to marry Richard BUCK and they, in 1834, filed the legitimate claim for Jesse CANNON's land warrants as his only heir. Throughout those documents, Polly (CANNON) BUCK is listed as the only child of this Jesse CANNON and several depositions reinforce her claim.

To investigate: Could our Jesse CANNON be an illegitimate child of Jesse CANNON, Revolutionary Sailor?

THE PROBLEM: Jesse CANNON, Revolutionary sailor is repeatedly said to only have the one child, daughter Polly (CANNON) BUCK. I think other researchers have assigned our Jesse CANNON the death date of 1834 based on this file, BUT, if our Jesse were a legitimate child of the Revolutionary Sailor, the descendants of our Jesse would be entitled to his share. This means that Polly would have filed for a half-share, and the heirs of Jesse of MS would have filed for the other half-share, but this was not done.

MY POSSIBLE SOLUTION: *IF* our Jesse were an illegitimate child, he would not be entitled to the half-share and Polly would indeed be the only heir of Jesse the Sailor.

WHAT NEEDS WORK:

Our Jesse CANNON was born in Craven County, NC in 1772. There were CANNON families in the area, but none appear to connect with our Jesse. So, how can we link our Jesse NC-GA-MS to Jesse the Sailor?

  • Jesse the Sailor reportedly purchased 130-150 acres of land in Craven County from Stephen MAHAINS in DEC 1772, recorded in Deed Book 24, pg 216. The land is on the East side of Little Swifts Creek.
    • I am trying to find out more about this deed. I need more details about the land plat being purchased.
  • Jesse NC-GA-MS was apprenticed to Will TIGNOR in JUN 1785.
    • His parents are not mentioned in the apprenticeship bond and I cannot find a bastardy bond for him from 1772. Possibly in another county? But NC says these are usually recorded by the name of the mother and I have no idea who she is.
  • Jesse the Sailor married Mary COPPER in 1786.
    • IF he had the illegitimate son, is that why Jesse NC-GA-MS had to be apprenticed out before these two married? They are said to have visited one another for several years before marrying. What caused the delay?
  • Jesse the Sailor died in 1792, in Pungo, Beaufort County, NC. His widow and daughter moved back to Craven County, where his widow died c. 1800. Polly CANNON was given a guardian, and then she married Richard BUCK in 1806.
  • Jesse NC-GA-MS came of age 21 in 1793, and according to Deed Book 30 Page 236 he sold land to Jesse TOLSON.
    • Where did young Jesse get this land?
    • Is it the same land described in the 1772 deed mentioned above? If it IS the same land, doesn't this prove a connection between the two Jesses?

Our known CANNON family:

1. Jesse CANNON (9 MAR 1772-18??)

Jesse CANNON II was born in Craven County, NC on 9 MAR 1772 according to his apprenticeship record of JUN 1785 when he, at age 13, was bound to Will TIGNOR to learn the trade of block-maker. Block-makers engraved the blocks used in printing.

In 1793, Jesse became 21 years old and his apprenticeship ended. He sold the land to Jesse TOLSON. I want to learn more about this land to find out where he got it - I think that will help us find his parents.

Jesse CANNON married Frances HARDESTY in North Carolina; the date is not known. See the HARDESTY Family Page for details about her ancestry.

By 1804 the CANNON family is in Hancock County, Georgia, and by 1818 they are in Pulaski County, GA. The CANNON children married into the SCARBOROUGH family who were moving westward into Mississippi and early in the 1820s, after the death of Frances (HARDESTY) CANNON, Jesse and much of the family moved west.

According to the "Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi", Volume 1, Jesse D. Cannon, Sr. moved after the death of his wife Frances, along with most of their children, westward to Mississippi. This is the only record I have that shows a middle initial for our Jesse CANNON. This book also states that nine daughters (two of whom remained in Georgia, five lived in MS, and two went on to Texas) and three sons survived Frances. I cannot determine the names of two of the daughters.

Confusion re-enters the picture with some sources intertwining this Jesse with his son, Jesse D. CANNON. Some assign this Jesse the same middle initial, but I have never seen a public record with any initial.

It is unclear when this Jesse died, although researchers seem to have settled on the 1834 land claim of Polly (CANNON) BUCK as the year.

The children of Jesse CANNON and Frances HARDESTY were:

  1. Joseph CANNON - b 1784-1790 in North Carolina per the 1800 census and a 1795 deed of his grandfather Joseph HARDESTY. No further details are known about Joseph, other than that he died as a young man.
  2. Son CANNON - b. 1790-1800 and d. before 1820, per census records of the family.
  3. Son CANNON - b. 1790-1800 and d. before 1820, per census records of the family.
  4. Mary "Comfort" CANNON - b. 1794 in North Carolina. This is my line, see the following section for details.
  5. Hannah CANNON - b. 1795 in North Carolina, she married Valentine FORD 25 JUL 1815 in Hancock County, GA. They had 4 children in Georgia. Valentine FORD died before the 1830 Census where Hannah is living in Lawrence County, MS. She married second to John Pigg MARTIN on 16 SEP 1840 there and they had one son, Matthew F MARTIN. In the 1850 Census, Hannah's age jumps up 10 years and is reported that way in 1860 as well. Whatever her age, she and her husband died in the 1860s in Smith County, MS.
  6. Mary Hardesty CANNON - b. 29 JUL 1800 in North Carolina -or- Brooks County, GA, d. 12 AUG 1880; she m. Mathias McCORMICK (b. 18 MAY 1794 Burke Co., GA d. 10 JAN 1879) on 10 SEP 1819, probably Pulaski County, GA. The had 15 children. ** A scanned image of their family Bible is included in the files below. **
  7. Matthew Bonds CANNON - b. 1801, m. Arcadia/Arcinda SCARBOROUGH 23 AUG 1820 Pulaski County, GA. They moved to Lawrence County, MS and had 3 children. Arcadia died 30 MAR 1860; Matthew had died before her.
  8. Mary "Frances" CANNON - b. 1804 in Georgia, she m. 11 MAR 1821 Irvin SCARBOROUGH in Pulaski County, GA. They moved first to Mississippi and then to Louisiana by 1850 where she died in Natchitoches Parish in 1868. Irvin SCARBOROUGH moved on to Coryell County, Texas where he died in 1878. They had 15 children.
  9. Daughter CANNON - b. 1804-1810 in Georgia, she is in the family headcount in the 1820 Pulaski County, GA census.
  10. ?Sarah CANNON? - b. 1810 in Georgia, she married Willoughby GRAY in Jasper County, GA 27 MAR 1827. Willoughby GRAY was the son of Mathias GRAY who died 1818 in Pulaski County, GA and was placed under the guardianship of John GILSTRAP who moved from Pulaski County to Jasper County in 1823. John CUNARD who married Comfort CANNON had moved to Jasper County by 1820. Willoughby and Sarah GRAY were in Randolph County, GA in 1830, and then in Lawrence County, MS by 1834. Sarah CANNON had 9 children and died about 1847 in Lawrence County, MS. Willoughby appears to have married second to a woman Margaret before 1850 and possibly had a son by her, and then he married Sarah HOLMES on 22 AUG 1861 in Lawrence County, MS. They had 3 children, and moved to Simpson County, MS where they are both listed in the 1880 Census and then not in the 1900 Census.
  11. Hopa CANNON - b. 1808 in Hancock County, GA, she married Joseph SCARBOROUGH on 29 MAR 1826 in Lawrence County, MS. They moved to Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana by 1860. Hopa is not listed in the 1870 Census, by which time Joseph had moved on to Ruck County, TX.
  12. Nancy Jane CANNON - b. 17 AUG 1811 Hancock County, GA, m. Norvell ROBERTSON 17 NOV 1835 in Lawrence County, MS. Norvell ROBERTSON died in Lawrence County, MS 1 JUN 1878; Nancy died there 30 NOV 1905.
  13. Jesse D. CANNON - b. 1 APR 1815 in GA, d. 3 OCT 1859 Lawrence Co., MS, he m. Adeline L. OATES on 25 JUL 1837 in Lawrence County, MS. This Jesse D. CANNON patented land in Lawrence County, MS in 1841 and built his home on that land. The "Cannon House" was placed on the National Register in 1980, along with a 6 miles stretch of road and land. See the booklet Pioneer Places of Lawrence County, Mississippi for information about the area Jesse D. Cannon settled in, and for a photo of his historic home. The home is not grand, but is a historical representation of homes of that time period.
  14. Bernilia Ann CANNON - b 1817 GA m. George BURKETT on 27 FEB 1837 in Lawrence County, MS. They had the first of the seven children in Mississippi before moving to Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana before 1850. They died there before 1870.

2. Mary "Comfort" Cannon (1794 - 1832)

Mary, called "Comfort" in family histories, but recorded as "Mary" on her marriage license, was born 13 OCT 1794 in Georgia. She married John CUNARD in Hancock County, GA on 24 APR 1815. A Cunard family record indicates:

John CUNARD the son of Edward CUNARD and Judith his wife was born on the 15th of Feb 1786

Comfort Cunard the daughter of Jesse and Frances CANNON was born on the 13th of October 1794.

Each child of this couple is listed as being "of John Cunard and Comfort his wife".

See the CUNARD Family page for information on this family.

LAST UPDATED 15 JULY 2015 ***