William Cannon, Company I

“She belonged to my grandfather John Cannon and afterwards was inherited by my uncle Matthew Cannon. About 1847 she was bought by W. W. McClanan and was owned by him until she became free. The claimant was hired by Mr. McClanan for some years before he bought her and while still the slave of my uncle Matthew Cannon, and living on the place of Mr. McClanan she gave birth to a boy, afterwards named Wilson…. My uncle sold the claimant about 1847 to Mr. McClanan and the boy Wilson to Henry Stiron, I think. I know he was never owned by Mr. McClanan.”

 

Widow — 493, 286 / —– , Lovey McClanan
Note: The pension index card indicates that Lovey McClanan is the widow but this is a clerical error. Lovey’s the soldier’s mother — Leslie

 

Marriage License (copy), Wilson Cannon & Ann Cason, 11 July 1867
License issued in Norfolk. Marriage took place 11 July 1867. Husband was 28 years old; wife was 25 years old. Both were single. Husband was born in Princess  Anne Co., Va.; wife was born in Princess Anne Co., Va. Both resided in Norfolk. Husband’s parents were [blank] and [blank] Wife’s parents were [blank] and [blank]. Husband’s occupation, farmer. Officiated by Wm. Lewis, Minister, St. Lukes’ Church.

 

General Affidavit, Rosetta James & Corintha Lewis, 25 February 1891
[James] 60 years old; residence, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, 85 Newton St.;
[Lewis] 45 years old; residence & post-office address, Barboursville, Norfolk Co., Va.;
“That they have been well and personally acquainted with Lovy McClanan, for 30 years, and 30 years, respectively, and that they were well acquainted with Wilson Cannon in his lifetime and were with him when he died in the City of Norfolk, Va. in March 1869 …”

 

General Affidavit, William Reed, 10 September 1891 
49 years old; residence & post-office address, 78 Jefferson St., Norfolk, Va…. “[Reed] served as a Sargent in Co. “I” 1st USCol Cav and have often placed him on guard and have been obliged to have him relieved on [account] of his illness and being totally unable to perform duty …”

 

General Affidavit, Isaac Kellum & Rosetta James, 10 September 1891 
[Kellum] 64 years old; residence, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, General Delivery, Norfolk, Va.;
[James] 56 years old; residence & post-office address, 85 Newton Ave., Norfolk, Va.
“We have been well and personally acquainted with Wilson Cannon for 15 years, and 15 years, respectively, and that they have known Wilson Cannon aforesaid from time of his return from army in 1866 to time of his death … their knowledge is derived from having lived in the same city and very close neighbors and visited him …”

 

General Affidavit, Anthony Woodhouse & George Fentress, 29 September 1891
[Woodhouse] 67 years old; residence, Princess Anne C.H., Princess Anne Co., Va.; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Va.;
[Fentress] 55 years old; residence, Princess Anne, Princess Anne Co., Va.; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Va.;
“That they have been well and personally acquainted with Lovey McClanan for 40 years, and 30 years, respectively, and that they knew the said Wilson Cannon in his lifetime … that the said Wilson Cannon was never married … All these facts are personally known to your affiants by reason … they have lived near neighbors to the said Lovey McClanan for more than 30 years …”

 

General Affidavit, Janice M. Reid & Augustus Brown, 29 September 1891
[Reid] 37 years old; residence, Princess Anne, Princess Anne Co., Va.; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Va.;
[Brown] 35 years old; residence, Princess Anne, Princess Anne Co., Va.; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Va;
“That they are well and personally acquainted with Lovey McClanah for 25 years old, and 25 years, respectively …”

 

General Affidavit, Jas. E. Cannon, 17 October 1891
64 years old; residence, Princess Anne C.H., Princess Anne Co., Va.; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Va. … “That hs is well acquainted with Lovey McClanan having belonged to his grandfather and she got the name of McClanan because about the year 1847 she was purchased by one W.W. McClanan and was owned by him until the war and she took the name of her owner. Willis Cannon was son of Lovey McClanan. I have known Lovy McClanan all of my life and know that she has no property of any kind and that were it not for the charity of neighbors she would be a charge on the county in the poorhouse.”

 

General Affidavit, Rosetta James & Corintha Lewis, 27 April 1892
[James] about 60 years old; [Lewis] about 44 years old;
“That they knew Wilson Cannon, also his mother … their knowledge is obtained from having lived close neighbors, attended to his wants as far as their means would permit, was present at his death, and attended his funeral which occurred in Norfolk, Va. where he died …”

 

Questionnaire (Form 3-514), Department of the Interior, Bureau of Pensions, 13 August 1892
“Please furnish the names and P.O. addresses of officers and comrades of Co. I, 1 Reg’t USCCav … ”

Name	Rank	Present P.O. Address
No post-office addresses of officers on file
Richard Webb	Sgt.	209 Bank St., Norfolk, Va.
William Reed	Cpl.	78 Jefferson St., Norfolk, Va.
Frank Smith	Cpl.	Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.
Charles Pearce	Cpl.	Near cor High & Garden Sts, Portsmouth, Va.
Joseph Scott (No. 2)	Pvt.	776 Kaglins Ave., Camden, N.J.
Jacob Sugars	Pvt.	Newsoms, Southampton Co., Va.
Thomas Williams	Pvt.	Wilcox Wharf, Charles City Co., Va.
Henry Stone	Pvt.	18 Paul St., Norfolk, Va.
John Williams	Pvt.	Princess Anne Ave., Norfolk, Va.
Matthias Knight	Pvt.	Portsmouth, Va.
Charles Holmes	Sgt.	1529 4th St., N.E., Washington, DC

 

General Affidavit, Johnson Owens & George W. Fentress, 19 September 1892
[Owens] 57 years old; residence, Princess Anne C.H., Va.; post-office address, Princess Anne Co., Va.;
[Fentress] 56 years old; residence & post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Va.;
“That they were well acquainted with Wilson Cannon in his lifetime and they were acquainted with him in his youth and infancy and remember him as an infant; that they know his mother was Lovey McClanan and that they said Lovey McClanan was the wife of America McClanan … your affiants one of whom was a free colored man and the other a slave before the war lived near neighbors to Wilson Cannon before the war and were in intimate contact with him and his family …”

 

Postmaster’s Statement, [no name], 24 February 1894
“[Princess Anne Court House, Princess Anne Co., Va.] Jas E. Cannon, J.P, post-office is Nimmo, Princess Anne Co., Va.; A. Woodhouse, George Fentress, and J.M. Read get their mail at Princess Anne C.H., Va.; A. Brown is unknown to me.; Sometimes George Fentress gets his mail at Mapleton, Princess Anne Co., Va; all col. but J.E. Cannon.”

 

Postmaster’s Statement, J.M. Dashiell, 26 April 1894
“[Newsoms, Southampton Co., Va.] Jacob Sugars resides about eight miles from this office and only gets his pension letters from here. I would suppose that Capron or [illegible] P.O. would be his post office. He comes here so as to get a notary to certify his claim.”

 

Postmaster’s Statement, Wm. Waddill, Jr., 26 April 1894 
“[Wilcox Wharf, Charles City Co., Va.] Thomas Williams lives very near here and gets his mail at this office.”

 

Deposition, Lovey McClanan now Woodhouse, 2 August 1894
about 85 years old; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Princess Anne Co., Va.;   occupation, nothing … “I saw him about two months after his discharge … I lived continuously in Norfolk after the war and I remained in Princess Anne Co., Va. … I gave birth to the soldier while I was living on William McClanan’s place in Princess Anne Co., Va. His father was America Lewis. I don’t know how old my son was when he enlisted. The soldier was married after the war in Norfolk, Va. to Ann Williams who had been a slave of John Williams (now dead). His wife was living with him when he died. … They had but one child who died before the soldier’s death. The soldier’s wife married again after his death, don’t know who she married. She died about 3 years after the soldier’s death, at childbirth, somewhere’s about “bayside” this county. …. The soldier was called Wilson Cannon because he was owned by Matt. Cannon (dead). … The soldier’s father was sold away and a short time after the soldier died I married Charles Woodhouse with license but everybody calls me Lovey McClanan. … I cannot give the date Charles Woodhouse died. I reckon it been about 18 years ago. I do not own or possess any property whatever and never did own any except some household goods and clothing.”

“… I never had any other children than the soldier’s to grow to be any size. I had some others but they died when quite small. ”
Note: Her “signature” reads “Lovey X Woodhouse Formerly Lovey McClanan” — Leslie

 

Deposition, James E. Cannon, Sr., 2 August 1894
66 years old; post-office address, Princess Anne Co., Va.; occupation, farmer … “I have known the claimant since my childhood. She is called Lovey McClanan but her last husband was Chas. Woodhouse. He has been dead over 10 years. She belonged to my grandfather John Cannon and afterwards was inherited by my uncle Matthew Cannon. About 1847 she was bought by W. W. McClanan and was owned by him until she became free. The claimant was hired by Mr. McClanan for some years before he bought her and while still the slave of my uncle Matthew Cannon, and living on the place of Mr. McClanan she gave birth to a boy, afterwards named Wilson. I don’t know what other names he went by. My uncle sold the claimant about 1847 to Mr. McClanan and the boy Wilson to Henry Stiron, I think. I know he was never owned by Mr. McClanan.

“I know that the claimant was the mother of a boy named Wilson but I do not know that he ever went by the name of Cannon. However, Wilson Cannon would have been his proper name as his owner was named Cannon …. The claimant has no property and never did own any to my knowledge. If it were not for her friends she would have to go to the poorhouse.

 

Deposition, George Fentress, Sr., 2 August 1894
about 56 years old; post-office address, near Princess Anne C.H., Princess Anne Co., Va.; occupation, farmer … “I have known the claimant … about 40 years I know that she had a son named Wilson Cannon. I met him when he was about 15 years old and we used to play together. He belonged to Henry B. Stiron and his mother belonged to Wm. McClanan.”

 

Deposition, Anthony Woodhouse, 2 August 1894
66 years old; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Princess Anne Co., Va.; occupation, farmer … “I have lived in said Princess Anne C.H., Va. all my life and have known the claimant Lovey Woodhouse since my boyhood. Her last husband was my brother Chas. Woodhouse who died about 11 years ago. I know that she had a son … because I heard him call her mother and all the neighbors recognized him as her son … The claimant married my brother Chas. Woodhouse after the war. I don’t know whether it was before or after Wilson Cannon’s death.”

 

Deposition, James M. Reid, 2 August 1894
32 years old; post-office address, Princess Anne C.H., Princess Anne Co., Va.; occupation, farmer … “I have known the claimant … not more than 7 years. I never knew the soldier Wilson Cannon, never heard of him until a few years ago. … I don’t know anything about the soldier’s father …. ‘Aunt Lovey‘ has said if she ever got any pension she would pay me for taking care of her and looking after her mail …. The claimant is a distant relative of mine.”

 

Deposition, Corintha Lewis, 3 August 1894
50 years old; post-office address, Lee Avenue, Barboursville, Norfolk, Va.; occupation, servant … “I lived in Princess Anne, Va. before the war and became acquainted with the claimant some years before the war, and a short time after I met her I became acquainted with her son Wilson Cannon. I know that he was her son because he and her neighbors recognized her as his mother. I know he was in the U.S. Army because when he came home he had on soldier clothes …. I was present when he was married to Ann Cason by the Rev. Wm. Lewis. The said Ann Cason lived in the same house with me prior to her marriage to the soldier and they lived in the same house with me as husband and wife for some time afterwards. His wife was owned by the Williams family in Princess Anne Co., Va. before the war and she was sometimes called Ann Williams … [The soldier] died in Fenchurch St. He had no doctor that I know of. His wife was present when he died. They had no children that lived. I saw the soldier’s widow a number of times after his death. Later on I missed her and I heard she moved to Bayside, married again, and died out there. I do not remember that I heard who she married…”

 

Deposition, Rosetta James, 3 August 1894
70 years old; post-office address, 85 Newton St., Norfolk, Va.; occupation, housekeeper … “I was raised in Princess Anne Co., Va. and have known the clmt from my childhood. She belonged to Wm. McClanan. I know from the general report that she was the mother of Wilson Cannon. I first knew him after the war was over while he lived in Norfolk, Va. He and his wife Ann lived only a few doors from me for about 6 months … He was living with his wife Ann when he died and later on I heard she moved to “Bayside” married again and that she died out there. … The soldier’s wife was named Ann but I don’t know what her maiden name was. She came from Princess Anne Co., Va. but I don’t know who she belonged to. …. I was not present when the soldier died.”

 

Death Certificate, Wilson Cannon, 3 August 1894
“In the Clerk’s Office of the Corporation Court of the City of Norfolk, in the state of Virginia, do hereby certify that it appears from the Record of Deaths of the City of Norfolk, filed in my office, that Wilson Cannon (colored) departed this life on the 27th day of March 1869, aged 30 years; That the cause of death was Phthisis; That the death was reported by E.D. Granier, physician and occurred [blank].”