Okay, ladies and gentlemen, first a few administrative notes, and then the
information about myself that I said I would send this weekend. In regards
to the former, it is my intention to send brief notes and/or messages from
time to time to keep you informed on things involving the list, so you
would care to offer any input, particularly as it applies to the workings
of the list, please drop a note to my personal e-mail. Regarding the
information about myself, I hope it does not put anyone to sleep, as there
really is not much there to tell <g>.
1. TOPIC OF THE LIST - The topic of this list is genealogy as it relates
to the Cann surname. That is a rather broad area, and allows a good bit of
area to work with, so please keep any discussions within that scope.
2. VIRUS WARNINGS - Virus warnings will NOT be allowed. With the best of
intentions, you can cause problems with them, but they are against RootsWeb
policy for that very reason and are off topic for this list. If you feel
the need to warn someone, please do it off the list.
3. KEEP YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS CURRENT - We have 39 subscribers at the
moment, but there are 3 of you who are in danger of being dropped because
your mail is being returned, or "bounced." If you change your e-mail
address, please "unsubscribe" at the old address and then "subscribe"
when
you have the new one. Instructions for doing so are in the welcome message
you received when you subscribed.
4. "DIGEST" VS "LIST" MODE - 11 of you are subscribed to this list
in
"digest" mode, which means you receive all messages as one large one at the
end of a given period of time. I have just reset that period of time from
24 to 12 hours, since that is the minimum time it will allow me to enter,
but with a list as slow as this one, it would be to your advantage to
change your subscription to normal list mode and receive each message as it
is sent to the list, rather than 12 hours later. Again, instructions for
doing this are in the welcome, or contact me and I will let you know how to
do it.
5. NEW TAG LINES - Please note the bottom of each message on this list, as
I have entered what is called a "tag line" that will show up by default.
At the moment, there is only one of them, but I am creating more with
helpful information and notes, so please take a look at them at the bottom
of messages. Once I enter them, they will default at the bottom of each
message published to the list, one at a time.
Okay, here it is. I hope I do not bore you stiff, but here is a brief
paragraph or two about myself, to give you at least a "thumbnail sketch" of
who you are talking to. If each of you would like to do the same, please
feel free to do so, as it might be nice to know a little something about
each other. Keep in mind, however, that an e-mail message is NOT a very
private place, and your information (phone numbers and other personal
information, etc.) is potentially being read by a number of other people
than actual subscribers to this list, including the RootsWeb archives.
I was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I attended public schools
in Santa Clara County, or what is now commonly referred to as "Silicon
Valley." I briefly attended Foothill College, a local community college,
before quitting (largely "by request of the college" <g>) and joining the
work force in the local area. At the age of 19, I enlisted into the Marine
Corps, and that turned out to be the first "job" I ever had that I kept
longer than 3 or 4 months (that is another story entirely!), and I stayed
in the Marine Corps until I retired over twenty years later (in 1982) as a
Master Sergeant. I did an awful lot of growing up that first year, and I
will always be indebted to the Marine Corps. My son is also a former
Marine, though he did not retire.
As a young Corporal in the Marine Corps, a friend of mine gave me the
address of a friend of his to write to. I always have been something of a
letter writer, and this was "a nice girl to write to," so I did. I did it
pretty much on a whim, but without going into all the details, that "pen
pal" is now my wife of 33+ years, and we now have three "children" and
"2
2/3" grandchildren (third one is due just before Thanksgiving).
From a genealogical standpoint, I am the 10th g-grandson of Sir Thomas
Cann
(b. abt 1565), who was Lord Mayor of Bristol, England at one time. I
descend through his son Sir William Cann (b. abt 1600), who was also Lord
Mayor of Bristol. Sir Thomas had another son that I know of, Rev. John
Cann, and he is one of my favorite characters, although not a direct
ancestor of mine. Seems Rev. John Cann had a habit of preaching against
the monarchy (he was Baptist, not Church of England), and this did not make
him very popular with "the law," despite the fact his brother and father
were both knighted by the Crown. He even went so far as to support the
Cromwells during the time they briefly overthrew the British monarchy, but
when the monarchy was restored a dozen or so years later, Rev. John Cann
found himself in "VERY hot water," and was burned at the stake as a heretic
in 1667. I don't know if any of you are descended from this line or not,
but my family always has had something of a "rebellious streak" in them, so
now I think I know where it might have come from <g>.
I talk too much, so before I get too carried away, I will bring this to a
close. If any of you are of this line, or any other line that connects to
it, I would love to exchange some information with you. I have not been
able to determine who the progenitor is who originated the line in North
America, but if any of you know the answer to that question, I would love
to hear from you. I do know that my line started in North America in Nova
Scotia province of Canada, mostly around the Yarmouth County area, but some
also settled in present day Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England.
However, many of the latter were Tories, so they supported the Crown during
the American Revolution, and many went back north to Canada during that
time due to the fact it was uncomfortable for them here.
That is a sketch of myself and my line, so if any of you would care to do
something similar, that is up to you. I think it might be fun to know a
little something about each other. In the future, I will put some
information from my genealogy on the list as well, in the hopes it might
spark a little activity over the list. My philosophy of genealogy has
always been that it is history, and as such belongs to EVERYONE, so we
freely share anything we have with anyone interested in it.
David
David E. Cann
decann(a)infi.net
List Administrator
Cann surname list on RootsWeb