Barry County Missouri, William Cannon Civil War Pension Records Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by Suzanne Graves Crawford In November 2001 I received 376 pages of William Cannon's Civil War Pension Records. William Cannon was born in Surry County, North Carolina. When he enlisted he was 48 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, fair complexion, blue eyes, black hair and by occupation a farmer. He was discharged for disability on November 29th 1862. The discharge states that he is affected with partial blindness caused by measles contracted at Rolla, Missouri while at camp. The pension records give these dates, names and other information: On August 9th, 1875 John G. Stokes of Gunthers Creek in Barry County, Missouri took an affidavit from William Cannon in which William stated that; he moved to where he now resides in 1857 or 58; that previous to this time he resided some 10 miles from Neosho, Newton County, on Shoal Creek.. Alsey Cannon gave a statement of births and deaths which she said was taken from her Bible record: Mathias Peters [her first husband] died July 27th, 1860. Alsey Peters was married to William Cannon on January 3, 1871 by Wm. Lee on Flat Creek in Barry County. Her children by her second marriage to William Cannon: Ellias Grant Cannon born November 15, 1873 Mary J. Cannon born September 20th, 1875 - Mary J. Cannon died September 27th, 1875 Susan L. Cannon born September 1, 1876 John C. Cannon born July 27, 1879 James W. Cannon born Dec 15, 1892 William Cannon died March 30th, 1886 near McDowell, Barry County, Missouri. Alsey stated that William Cannon was previously married to Meletie Cannon and that he had no children by his first wife. She said that she became acquainted with William Cannon several years before she married him about the latter part of 1866. I lived about 5 miles from him in this county and lived that far from him until we were married. He used to come every month to Church services held at our house. She also said: Mrs. Matthew Johnson, Erie P.O. McDonald County, Missouri was an orphan and was raised by my husband. She lived with him until she was married in the same year I was married and ought to know about his disabilities just after the war. In an affidavit given by Mary M. Johnson she states that her P.O. is Erie, McDonald County, Missouri. Alsey Cannon is my sister-in-law. I married her brother Mathies Johnson, in Barry County in 1871. In 1857, when I was about 3 years of age, Wm. Cannon took me to his house and raised me and I lived with him until I was married.. This family at that time consisted of his wife Maletie and myself and I was nearly 9 years of age, having been born in March 1854. We were living in Green[e] County, Missouri a mile from Springfield when the soldier [William Cannon] came home and we immediately moved and lived about 10 miles north of Springfield until a year or two after the war closed when we went back to Barry County, Missouri and lived in our old neighborhood several miles S.E. of where Purdy now is. I can't remember the year we moved back to Barry County, but it was 1865 or 66. I lived with the soldier [William Cannon] until I was married, but his first wife Maletie died 9th November 1870 and he married Alsey the claimant January 8th, 1871. I have carried these dates in my mind ever since. I was married February 12th, 1871 and moved 6 miles from the soldier and 2 years after that moved down into this county where I have lived ever since. I [we] moved back to Barry County about '66, his neighbors 10 miles North of Springfield in Green[e] County, Missouri were: Dan Putman [we lived on his farm 1 year], Wm. Crow [on his farm 1 year], James Alexander, Aaron Beckner, John Putnam, Tom Putnam & Elijha Putnam, sons of Daniel, Tom and William Alexander, sons of James Alexander. The affidavit of Matthew D. Johnson states Alsey Cannon, the claimant is my sister. I first became acquainted with Wm. Cannon her husband in the fall of 1870 when I went to Barry County, Missouri and I married his adopted daughter in Feb. 1871. In an affidavit given on June 11, 1895, Margaret E. Linn states that his [William Cannon's] [first] wife was taken sick and was down about 3 months. I went to their house then and stayed there most of the time during her sickness, being there as much as a week at a time. While I was there Wm. Cannon frequently complained of kidney disease...and that it hurt his back so that he could not lift things. He said this in connection with lifting his wife about the bed and room while she was sick. I never saw much of the soldier after his first wife died. In a later paragraph she says that, I told his wife [first wife] that he was to young a man to walk with a stick and she told me that he did so because he had kidney disease. James H. and Benjamin F. Kennedy of Barry County, Missouri testified that they became acquainted with said Cannon on or about June 1857 at Bethel Church in said county, that the said Cannon was ordained deacon of the church when they were members and continued in membership 'til the conflict of the late war necessarily separated them. According to an affidavit given by John Putman of Roseville, Greene County, Missouri, in 1895: in 1863 William Cannon went to Greene County, Missouri near Springfield to farm the land of William Crow. In 1864 he farmed the land of Daniel Putman there in Greene County. He moved away to Barry County after staying here two years, and I have never seen him since". The affidavit of Marshall P. Amos states that he married the neice of William Cannon. He says that he saw William Cannon at his home in Webster County, Missouri after William was discharged from the service. In another affidavit, which was witnessed by a Mary Ann Amos, he states that William Cannon lived 10 or 12 miles North East of Springfield, Green[e] County, Missouri for two or three years after he was discharged. He also states that After the soldier had stayed in Green[e] County 2 or 3 years he moved back here [Barry County] and I came here in 1870 and located about 2 miles from him. In the affidavit of William S. Peters given May 22nd, 1895, he states that: He married my mother. I lived with them about 3 years after they were married and then left them, but I stayed in their neighborhood all the time until Wm. Cannon died. James T. Pennel of Barry County, Missouri, in his affidavit given May 22nd, 1895, states that : I was merely a boy then. I did not know him very well. I first saw the soldier after his discharge from the service in the winter of 1862, when he came back home and sold out his place and went north of here-can't say where. He did not stay here long - not more than a month, I reckon, when he took his wife and adopted girl and left. The next time I saw the soldier was in the Spring of 1866, when he came back to this neighborhood. He located 3 miles north of me and stayed there until about 1872. On July 16th, 1895, James Alexander of Abbott, Greene County, Missouri gives this testimony: I formerly knew Wm. Cannon we called him Billy Cannon. He came right to this neighborhood after he was discharged from the army, at least I so understood, and rented a place from Wm. Crow and his son-in-law Daniel Putman. I never knew nor never saw Cannon before he came here to farm on Crow's place and he stated then that he had been discharged from the army. The same day, Daniel C. Putnam of 3 miles north west of Ebenezer, Greene County, Missouri gave his affidavit. He stated that: When I came home from the Army in the fall of 1864 I found William Cannon as a tenant on my place. He had the place rented when I returned. I do not know how long he stayed after my return but he left there some time that winter so it could not have been many months. He left sometime between October 1864 and the spring of 1865. ------------------------------ Suzanne Graves Crawford