BEDFORD COUNTY
CHARLES L. CANNON was born February 15, 1813, in Shelbyville, Bedford
County, TN and now is the oldest living person born in that town. His
father, Clement Cannon, was a native of North Carolina born in the
latter part of the last century. He was of English descent and
immigrated to Tennessee with his parents, locating in Williamson County,
where he was reared and became a surveyor of lands. He afterward
purchased a large track of land in Bedford County, and in 1806 he
donated 1-- acres of this to the county where Shelbyville now stands for
a county seat. He married Miss Susan Lock, a native of CA and a
resident of Rutherford County. To this union were born six children.
The father was a soldier in the war of 1812 and died January 19, 1860.
Our subject was educated at Shelbyville and upon reaching his majority
began the business of farming, which he has always followed. December
1842, Miss Mary A. Hooser, a native of this county and a daughter of
William and Rebecca (Coots) Hooser, became his wife. To this union the
following children were born: Susan R. (decd.) Maria L. (decd.),
Williams H. Thomas C. (decd.) Lettie (now Mrs. Phillip Willhoite) ,
John H. (decd.), Mary R. (Mrs. William Tilford) Charles L. (decd.),
Macon B. and Charles B. Our subject owns a farm of 550 acres and five
miles east of Shelbyville, where he now resides. He is a Democrat in
politics and he and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
South. Mr. Cannon is a nephew of Gov. Cannon and also a nephew of
General Robert Cannon.
JOHN T. CANNON
the genial clerk of the Circuit Court of Bedford County , is a grandson
of Clement Cannon Sr. on of the five brothers who came from North
Carolina in the first decade of this century. Clement Cannon had five
sons the father of our subject Henry Cannon, being one of them. Henry
Cannon was born in 1812. He lived in this county till 1852, when he
moved to Shelby County, TN, where he died in 1873, having been a farmer
all his life. Of those five brothers, who came to Williamson County,
four soon afterward came to Bedford County. Their father's name was
Minos Cannon and their Mother was a Thompson of Scott-Irish descent.
The mother of John T. was Sally C. M. Tillman a decsendant of the Martin
family, so numerously represented in the county, and a descendant of the
Clay family of KY. She died when John T. was but two weeks old, and he
was then reared with Col. Lewis Tillman and other relatives. At
fourteen he began his own support and attendee school on money earned by
himself. He clerked in a store three years and then taught school about
four years, having married at twenty-two. He then settled down to
farming. In 1861 he enlisted in Company K 23rd TN, as 1st Lieutenant
and served 18 months. He has been farming very successfully since the
war. Now he owns nearly 400 acres of good land. He was elected to his
office in 1878 and has efficiently served to the satisfaction of his
constituents. His birth was December 7, 1835. He was married in 1857
to Narcissa Sutton, a native of Bedford County. Mr. Cannon has a family
of four children, viz.: Sallie C. M. (wife of C.J. Moody), Walter S.,
Lizzie H. and Narcissa W. All the family are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South. He was a Royal Arch Mason. His ancestors were
old-line Whigs and he is a Democrat.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY
NEWTON CANNON, dealer in hardware and groceries, was born near Franklin
June 14, 1846, Son of William P. and Susan A. (Perkins) Cannon, and of
French and English descent. The family is traced back to three brother
who came to America. One settled in Maryland, one in South Carolina and
the other in North Carolina. Our subject is traceable to the North
Carolina branch of the family. The paternal grandfather of our subject
was Newton Cannon who was born in NC and come to Williamson County in
early life. He was a saddler by trade, a colonel in the Seminole war,
under Jackson, and was twice governor of TN and a member of Congress.
He was one of the early prominent men of this State, a leader of the
Whig part, and died at Nashville in 1842. The father of our subject was
born in this county in 1816. He was a farmer by occupation and was
wounded in the Florida war. He now lives in southern KY. The mother
was born in this county in 1821 and died in 1849. Our subject was
reared on the farm, attended Franklin schools and in 1862 enlisted in
Company I, 11th TN Cavalry, Confederate States Army, and was paroled in
May 865 at Gainesville, Alabama. At the close of the war he returned
home and in 1873 was appointed deputy county clerk which position he
occupied for one year. for thirteen years he has been engaged in
merchandising. Five years of which time were spent in the wholesale
hardware business in Nashville. He is now engaged in retail
merchandising in Franklin. but in connection with this carries on
farming on 250 acre of valuable land near Franklin. February 1873 he
wedded Miss Jennie B. McEwen, daughter of John B. McEwen, and by this
union became the father of five children: John B., Leah A., Cynthia G.,
Newton and Samuel P. Mr. Cannon is a Democrat, and his wife is a member
of the Presbyterian Church.