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Biographies
Source:
A Portrait and Biographical
Record of Portage and Summit Counties, Ohio
containing Biographical sketches of many
Prominent and Representative Citizens.
together with portraits and biographies of all the
Presidents of the United States and Governors of Ohio.
V. 2
Logansport, Ind.
A. W. Bowen & Co.
1898
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1898 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX
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MRS.
LORENZO RILEY, of Twinsburg, Ohio, is the daughter of
Israel and Lucinda (Parks) Cannon, was born at
Blandford, Mass., Apr. 13, 1822, and was eleven years of age
when she came with her parents to Portage county, Ohio, in
1833. She received her education in the district
school, in the academies at Aurora and Ravenna, and taught
school at eighteen eyars of age at Twinsburg, at Ripley
high-school, and one year on the Ohio river, where her
sister and husband, William Bissell a graduate of
Harvard college, were teaching. She was married at
Twinsburg, where her father was then living, Apr. 24, 1845,
to Lorenzo Riley who was born Oct. 19, 1820, at
Aurora, a son of Eppy and Rebecca (Parrish) Riley.
Eppy Riley was born at Chester, Mass., a son of
Julius Riley, a Revolutionary soldier for seven years.
He was of old colonial Massachusetts stock, of Scotch-Irish
ancestry, and came to Aurora, Ohio, in 1807, when he was a
young man, and walked back to Massachusetts after his wife,
and then came out on horseback in 1808. He bought land
at Aurora, where his son, Gerdon Riley, now
lives.
He cleared up a good farm from the woods, and became a
substantial farmer. His first wife was Rebecca
Parrish, born at Chester, Mass., and their children
were Olive, Orsmon, Lorenzo, Tallman
and Betsy. His first wife died, and Eppy
then married a sister of that lady, Diana (Boies),
nee Parrish, and by this wife Gerdon was born.
Eppy Riley was a member of the
Congregational church, and lived to be between eighty and
ninety years old, and died on his farm. He was a man
of shrewd wit, and of rare intelligence.
Lorenzo Riley received his education at
the district school and attended the famous school of
Samuel Bissell, at Twinsburg, three winter terms.
He farmed and did business, and was a very energetic and
industrious young man, and began life with a horse, cow and
100 acres of swamp land in Twinsburg township. He
married Sarah Melissa Cannon, of
Twinsburg, Apr. 24, 1845, and after marriage Mr.
and Mrs. Riley settled in Twinsburg township, and here
he passed the remainder of his life—his land laying two and
one-half miles northeast of Twinsburg Center; and he bought
sixty acres adjoining the swamp land, and by hard, patient
labor cleared up his land, drained it, and, aided by his
faithful wife, made a good home. He was a shrewd
business man, and accumulated property until he owned over
2,000 acres in Twinsburg and Aurora townships, was an
excellent cattle and horse raiser, and was the largest
landholder in Portage and Summit counties. In politics
he was a republican, and although frequently solicited to
accept nominations, would refuse all public offices.
He was a member of the Congregational church, and was a man
noted for his honest and straightforward character, and
possessed a native ability as a business man. Mr.
Riley died Feb. 5, 1893, deeply mourned by his family
and numerous friends.
Mrs. Riley is now living in Twinsburg.
She has an excellent memory of pioneer events, and remembers
many of the earlier settlers. She is a member of the
Congregational church at Twinsburg, and has contributed
largely to its maintenance. At her husband's request
she has given the Congregational church, at Aurora, 180
acres of farm land, and the Congregational church, at
Twinsburg, $35 per year, which is to be paid by Lewis
Cochran, and has given a fine farm of 100 acres to
said Lewis Cochran, a poor boy, whom Mr.
and Mrs. Riley reared to manhood. Mrs.
Riley also gave sixty acres of land to Charles
Riley, who lived with them from the time he was
eleven years old. He was a nephew of Mr.
Riley, and he is to have a future bequest of
eighty-seven acres. Mrs. Riley is a lady
of marked intelligence, a woman of excellent business
qualifications, and manages her large property with the
assistance of her brother, Hon. Rueben P. Cannon.
The following facts of the early history and genealogy
of the Cannon family were gathered during a
period of thirty years. Hon. R. P. Cannon spent
a great deal of time and labor to obtain these facts, which
are undoubtedly correct. The original name was
Carnahan, and it is thought the change to Cannon
came gradually through two generations. They were of
Scotch-Irish descent, and came to America during the first
quarter of the seventeenth century, and their first
settlement in America was at Hopkinton, twenty-nine miles
west of Boston, now Landbury. There were two brothers
and one sister, probably unmarried, but the time of their
settlement is not known.
Hopkinton, and surrounding lands, were owned by Harvard
college, and rented very cheaply—two or three cents per
acre. The town was built and peopled by a Scotch-Irish
colony, that came in the year 1718, arriving August 4; five
ships, with people of the same faith, came at this time.
In after years. history says, many more of the same faith
joined them. It is a well-established fact, that the
Cannons were among the early settlers of Hopkinton,
and that some of the name, and relatives, remained in that
town and vicinity for half a century after their settlement.
From this place nine emigrated to the then territory of
Tennessee in early times, and one was later governor there
many years. Many years later, another large family
went from Hopkinton to Genesee county, N. Y., in its first
settlement. With descendants of that branch, this
writer has corresponded. Another branch went from West
Hopkinton to Blandford, Mass., first called Glasgow.
That town was settled in 1736 by a colony of fifty families,
receiving two sixty-acre lots, and among those that followed
were the Carnahans or Cannons. That
colony was made up at Hopkinton, their former residence, and
again we find them, soon after settlement, occupying two of
the original lots—one of the first, and one of the second
division. The first settler of the name in Blandford
was William Carnahan. The time of
settlement cannot be given, but his location was on first
division, Town street. The next generation in the town
was William and John, brothers, supposed sons
of William, Sr. William, Jr., occupied the
first division homestead, which the family held in descent
for a century, and John (calling his name Cannon),
occupied the second division, which the family held in
descent for a century and more, two miles east of Blandford.
In 1775, William was chosen to represent the town in
the congress of the colonies, and he served also in the
Revolutionary war, in two enlistments.
The founders of the family in America were two brothers
and a sister, all probably unmarried, who came with the
Scotch-Irish Presbyterian colony to Hopkinton, arriving Aug.
4, 1718. Their names are unknown. The first name
known is William Carnahan, believed to be a
son of one of the two brothers, who was the original founder
of the family, but William Carnahan may have
been one of these brothers, as he settled at Blandford in
1736. His sons were John and William.
From John Carnahan our subject descends, or,
as he spelled the name, Cannon. He was a resident of
Blandford, Mass., and a farmer. He married Rebecca
Gibbs, and their children were Nathan, John,
Isaac, Ezekiel and Rebecca.
William Cannon died at Blanford, Mass., 1790.
Nathan, his son, next in descent, was born at
Blandford, Mass., Dec. 2, 1759, and married Apr. 5, 1785.
Elizabeth Gilmore was born in 1760, in
Chester, Mass., a daughter of James Gilmore, a
Revolutionary soldier who enlisted twice. Nathan and
wife were the parents of Israel, born Apr., 1796;
Sylvester, born 1790; Nathan, born t80o;
Sallie, born 1788; Artemesia, born 1793; Olive,
born 1795; Salomie, born 1797, and Tryphena, born
1807. Nathan Cannon was a farmer, and a
resident of Blandford, on the old homestead, all his life.
He served three enlistments, of from three to six months
each, in the Revolutionary war. His first enlistment
was in Capt. Carpenter's company, regiment of
Col. Sheppard, for three months, stationed at
Springfield, Mass. The third enlistment was in Capt.
Samuel Sloper's company, for six months, and
was mustered at Northampton. Of his second enlistment
no record is held in Massachusetts, but he enlisted, with
four others, from Blandford township, viz: William
Butler, John Taggert, Reuben
Blair and William Knox, in Springfield,
Mass., served three months, and was discharged at Hartford,
Conn., and paid off with continental money and one ration.
Blandford was forty-five miles distant. They ate their
ration, and walked one day. They found they could buy
no food for their continental money, and it was not until
they reached Westfield, Mass., where they were known, they
obtained food. Their continental money was never
redeemed. He held at one time the office of commissary
in a regiment in Connecticut. He was a member of the
Presbyterian church and died in 1846.
Col. Israel Cannon, son of above, was the father
of subject, was born May 2, 1786, at Blandford, on the old
homestead of John Cannon. He received a
common-school education, was a farmer, and married, in
Blandford, Lucinda Parks, who was born Oct.
21, 1786, in' Russell township, Hampden county, Mass., a
daughter of Reuben and Mary Parks. Mr.
Cannon lived on the old farm until 1833. "Here
all the children were born, viz: Polly, born Nov. 25,
1808; Betsy, Mar. 2, 1811; Franklin, Oct. 10,
1813; Horace, Apr. 8, 1817; Reuben, Jan. 13,
1820; Melissa, Apr. 13, 1822, and Lewis, Aug.
7, 1827. Mr. Cannon was a prominent man
in Blandford. In politics he was a whig. He
represented his town in the state legislature in Boston in
1828-1831. He was minute man in the state militia
during the war of 1812, was a colonel in the Massachusetts
state militia, and held the office of justice of the peace
many years; was also one of the board of selectmen, and held
other offices. In 1833, having met with reverses by
becoming surety for other parties, he came to Ohio, making
the journey by canal to Buffalo, N. Y., and then by water to
Cleveland on the steamboat Enterprise—the first steamer
between Cleveland and Buffalo, and was twenty-four hours
from port to port, and used wood for fuel. He came to
Aurora with wagons and settled on a tract of land, and here
he lived ten years, and then moved on 110 acres in Twinsburg
township, which he had bought the second year after he came.
This was all in the woods, but Mr. Cannon cleared his land,
improved it with good buildings, and made a substantial,
comfortable home. In his old age he bought a house and
lot in Twinsburg, where he died, aged eighty-one years, Jan.
19, 1865, a strict member of the Congregational church, in
politics a whig and republican, an honored citizen, and
trustee of township and church.
Hon. Reuben P. Cannon was born Jan. 13, 1820, at
Blandford, Mass. He attended common school in
Massachusetts, and came with his parents to Aurora, in 1833,
when he was thirteen years old. He attended the
academy at Aurora three years and thus received a good
education to which he added by keeping up with the times and
taking a great interest in politics. He was sent as a
delegate to the whig congressional convention at Ravenna
when he was but twenty-two years old, and in 1848 was
elected clerk of the township unanimously, although it was a
democratic township, and after that he held all the township
offices. In 1867 he was elected to the state
legislature and served two terms— four years—and during that
time was chairman of the agricultural committee, and was the
writer and promoter of the bill which gave Ohio the
agricultural college, which now has become the state
university of Ohio, and as a result of his labors he was
elected to the state board of agriculture, and re-elected
twice, served six years, and was one term, in 1875, its
president. Hon. R. P. Cannon was elected
justice of the peace in 1865, and has held the office of
commissioner covering a period of twenty-five years, and
during this time has done much legal business, and has
settled a great many estates, acting as administrator, and
has married many couples. He himself married, Oct. 18,
1843, Betsy Baldwin, born at Aurora, Ohio,
Jan. 14, 1822, a daughter of Alonson and Ruth (Wallace)
Baldwin. Alonson Baldwin was born Mar. 28,
1799, in Danbury, Conn., a son of Samuel and Rachael
Baldwin. Alonson Baldwin and wife were the parents
of Betsy, Hannah, Melissa, Lucy,
Lois, Alonson and Sophronia. Mr.
Baldwin came to Aurora when he was about nine years
old, with his parents. He married in Franklin
township, and settled on a farm of 300 acres in Aurora.
He was a prosperous pioneer, and was one of the early
merchants in Aurora, in company with S. D. Kelly,
under the firm name of Baldwin & Kelly.
He was a member of the Disciples' church, and church
trustee. In politics he was a democrat and a respected
and honored man, and held the office of county commissioner
several terms, and that of justice of the peace many years.
He was also associated with Harvey Baldwin,
Sr., in the cheese-shipping business, and in the
pork-packing business, and was a well known pioneer.
He died, aged sixty years, in Aurora, Nov. 9, 1859.
Mr. and Mrs. Cannon settled in Aurora, on the
farm on which they lived two years, and then came to his
present farm. Mr. Cannon has prospered by his
industry and good management, and has now 300 acres.
He is a self-made man, and, assisted by his faithful wife,
has succeeded. The children are Addie A.,
Mary Alice, Ella O. and Ruth L.,
members of the Disciples' church; in politics he is a
republican. Mr. Cannon is a substantial
citizen, and has always been a straightforward gentleman.
Source: A Portrait and
Biographical Record of Portage and Summit Counties, Ohio -
V. 2 - Publ. 1898 - Page 870 |
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