The Cannon ancestors appear to have arrived in the colonies around 1700. Researchers have reported that they were English or Irish. John Cannon spent his first years in Charleston. He then became one of the earliest settlers in the Dutch Fork area of Newberry District, South Carolina. John Cannon received a land grant dtd 28 Mar 1750 for 550 acres. The Bethlehem Lutheran Church is on the site of the old Cannon land grant. Many generations of Cannons remained in the Newberry area.
The early Cannons were Quakers belonging to the Charleston and Bush River Meetings. Later generations became Lutherans and Methodists. Tracing the Cannon line is difficult because there were so many of them with the same names in the same generations, so there is conflicting information in many family histories as individuals are mixed up.
John Cannon's son Ephraim Cannon, my director ancestor, was a planter and married twice. All of his children but one were with his first wife for whom we have no name. His will has an unusual statement for that time period regarding his second wife. She was a widow and in his will, Ephraim Cannon states "according to contract I give and bequeath unto my beloved Eleanor all her third part of her first husband's estate now remaining." It appears they had a prenuptial agreement.
Col. Samuel Cannon was the son of Ephraim Cannon and his first wife. He was a well respected member of the community and served in various capacities, including Justice of the Quorum, member of both the State House of Representatives and State Senate, teacher, surveyor, and Sheriff. He served in the South Carolina Militia in the War of 1812 as a Major and Colonel.
Samuel William Cannon was the son of Col. Samuel Cannon. Bless him for always using his middle initial that greatly helped differentiate him from all the Samuel Cannons in the records. He was a farmer and married Lavinia Elizabeth "Vinah" Gallman. They were the parents of Sarah Victoria Cannon who married James Alfred Crotwell.
Highlighted names show the direct ancestor line of Selma Crotwell.