Early Life and Family
Cannon was born at Bridgeville, in Sussex County, Delaware, son of Josiah and Nancy Bowlin Cannon. He married Margaret Ann Barker and had six children: William Laws, Lizzie A., Sallie P., Ellie S., Henry Pervis, and Philip Laws. They lived on North Main Street in Bridgeville and were members of the Methodist Church. He began working in his father’s merchandising business in Bridgeville, and gradually expanded it to include lumber, grain, grist and saw mills, and a brick yard. His business interests included peaches, banking, and newspaper publishing, and he was a Director of the Delaware Railroad. By 1864 he was probably the wealthiest man in Sussex County.
Cannon's eldest son, William Laws Cannon (1839–1863), served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was the Captain of Company E of the First Delaware Calvary. The younger William died of exposure in 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign.
Read more about this topic: William Cannon
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