For every person that has ever lived, there is a story to be told.  My challenge was to tell a story for 16 people that I never knew.  In some cases stories were passed down by family members.   In other cases, stories had to be pieced together from facts and documents.  As I learned more about the lives of my Great Great Grandparents, I came to feel a connection or bond with each of them.  Some were immigrants to this country and others a bit more privileged, but each struggled in their own way, and in the end they lived their lives the best they could and were able to pass on their love and wisdom to the next generation.

 

I inherited the genealogy bug from my grandfather, that, and poor hearing that all the Cann men seem to suffer from.   William Ferris Cann wrote a book called John Cann of Delaware and it was published with the Library of Congress.  This was way before genealogy was cool, back before Roots had even aired.   It was also before the internet, Ancestry.com, email, or even personal computers.  He asked for and received much of his information through the postal service, and every word he wrote had to be banged out on a manual type-writer.  I can't imagine the effort that was involved. 

 

John Cann was the original Cann in our family tree to migrate to the American Colonies from Bristol England where his father was the Mayor.  The book does a thorough job of tracing each branch of the Cann family, but also adds personal stories where possible and it's these stories that need to be written down and passed on.   I've tried to do that here and I hope you enjoy.

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You will see that I have quoted my Grandfather several times on this website, but so much of the information concerning my Dad's side of the family comes from him, that it was impractical to constantly reference him.  Most of the detailed information comes either directly or indirectly from him, and for his knowledge I am eternally grateful.