Supplement to Norwalk, Conn., Volume One: Genealogy

pany's men standing by, "I can." "Then take command of the same and make the trip; and you, Wilcox, see to the repairs on this boat and put it in shape for sailing." Drew and Vanderbilt are dead but the steward lives, hard on to ninety, to tell with eagerness of the matter and wonder whether his adherence to passage orders on the old Norwalk boat may not have had something to do with his promotion. Alanson P. St. John, just mentioned (see page 142), commenced his conspicuous steamboat official career on the Vanderbilt boat Citizen. The duties of clerk, freight master and steward, even in those primi- tive days, were of account. On the morning of the steamer's sailing from New York some hundreds pounds of breakfast beef was ordered aboard by the steward, and a like quantity for dinner. As in the early days seven o'clock a. m. was the hour of de- parture from the city, and one p. m. from Norwalk, the "up" passengers breakfasted and the "down" company dined 011 the boat. Anon Mr. St. John was advanced to the captaincy and assigned command of of the Hudson River Rochester, in which position he distinguished himself and grew in great favor. One of his North River stewards was Abraham Banks of Sawpits, and eventually of Norwalk. Mr. Banks' Rochester tables were taste models. Delmonico's and Martenelli's may be rare and remarkably elegant refreshment resorts of to-day, but the older Hudson steam lines supper table, spread with snow white damask, centered with boquet-interspersed rows of silvered candelbra holding brightly burning tapers and dextrously set in gold monogramed china and crystal glassware, was a life remembered vision. The Captain at the table's head, with the western statesmen and the northern Saratogians on either hand constituted a sort of social zodiac. Dinner was the principal repast on the day, but supper on the night boats. The steamer's steward was also often commission-intrusted. There were three Bridgeport citizens, one of them a noted divine, who always ex- pected the steward of the Nimrod to make hat pur- chases for them at the large 118 Broadway estab- lishment of Charles St. John of Norwalk (see note 2, page 143), and to pay ten dollars each, the standard price of the silk article. After his Rochester connec- tion Captain St. John was put in charge of the Alba- ny night boats and achieved fame. He lived in the days of the Powells, Pecks, Tuppers, Farnhams, N O R W A L K non came to Norwalk and married and settled as per note, page 13. He was a wide awake citizen evidently, and largely interested in Norwalk's commercial development. His home was on the East Avenue of 1899 and immediately south of Gruman's Hill. This acreage was partially or altogether the gift of his wife's uncle, Samuel Cluckstone. He was one of the A. D. 1774 committee of twenty appointed by the town to take action in relation to the measure inaugurated in the Continental Congress at its sitting in Philadelphia September 5, 1774, and he was also one of a committee of three delegated by the town to receive relief donations for the Boston poor a few months prior to the battle of Bunker Hill. He was a sufferer by the burning of Norwalk, and the smoke of his consuming domicile would seem almost to have enveloped Tryon as the latter sat, only a few rods away, overlooking the sorry scene. The "Commodore" does not appear to have rebuilt after the conflagration, but to have resided at or near "The Bridge." The Cannon-Perry descent is as thus exhibited: Cannon. Perry. Gen. I. Andrew and Anna Cannon. Gen. I. Richard Perry. " II. John and Maria (LeGrand) Cannon. " II. Nathaniel and Hester (Lyon) Perry. " III. John and Jerusha (Sands) Cannon. Gen. IV. John Cannon. " III. Joseph and Mary (Cluckstone) Perry. Gen. IV. Esther Perry. John Cannon and Esther Perry were married December 1, 1750, by Rev. Noah Hobart, "V. D. M.," and had John, born July 7, 1752; Samuel, born July 28, 1754 ; James, born June 19, 1757 ; Sarah, born March 21, 1759 ; LeGrand, born October 26, 1762, unmarried ; Lewis, born November 3, 1766, unmarried; William A., born February 23, 1767, married Betsey Seymour, no issue; Esther Mary, born February 17, 1772. John'2'1'1 of Norwalk, son of John and Esther (Perry) Cannon, married, July, 1777, Sarah, daughter of Col. Stephen and Ann (Fitch) St. John (pages 299 and 328), and had: John, born May 16, 1778; Sarah, born October 22, 1780, Mrs. Stephen Buckingham St. John, page 296; George, born May 7, 1784; Harriett, born October 31, 1786, Mrs. Frederick St. John; Antoinette, born April 20, 1789, Mrs. Thaddeus Betts (pages 230, 231, 232); Abrahams and others of like North River renown, but the Norwalk officer was undistanced by any. He closed his life as a manager of the People's Line. "Commodore" John Cannon, the first of the Cannon name in Norwalk, was engaged in the West India trade and a busy citizen. His son John was medicine-acquainted to some extent, and married into a family of influence, while LeGrand, a younger son than Dr. John, was a child of promise, who after education in Paris died before maturity, John Can- non, the grandson of that name of the "Commodore," died, it is presumed, from the effects of a collision on Long Island Sound between a small vessel that he was sailing and one of the Sound steamboats, N O R W A L K 411 Charles Oglivie, born October 13, 1791 ; Esther Mar)', born December 7, 1793, Mrs. Townsend ; James LeGrand, born October 12, 1796. Samuel, son of John Cannon18' of Norwalk, married, December 26, 1781, Sarah, daughter of John and Rebecca (Bartlett) Belden, (page 385) and had : Henrietta, born June 24, 1784, Mrs. Hugh Knox; LeGrand, born March 20, 1787; Esther Mar)', born October 3, 1793, Mrs. Moses Craft.1 James, son of John Cannon15' of Norwalk, married, June 3, 1779, Rebecca Gould of Long Island, and had : Sarah, born March 9, 1780, Mrs. Jonathan Fitch ; Esther, born April 27, 1783, Mrs. William St. John'2"'1;'2 Amelia, born February 6, 1788, Mrs. Garritt Harson Newkirk ;3 Mary,4 born February 6, 1792, Mrs. George Lockwood ; James, born September 20, 1796, probably died young. iEsther Mary Cannon (Mrs. Moses Craft) led in life and spirit the Norwalk young ladies of her period. She was society esteemed during her married life in Troy, and her evening twilight years were soft and beautiful. In her axe she indulged in sweet mem- ories of Norwalk and delighted to visit and learn about the old home. She was the mother of Mrs. Hannibal Green and Mrs. G. Parish Ogden of Troy, and of Mrs. John B. Murray of New York city (pages 272 and 275). 2For the family of William St. John2nd see page 332. The daughters were Mrs. Hoyt, Mrs. Sherry, Mrs. Skiddy and Mrs. Van Zandt. Mrs. Munson Hoyt was universally known, was of sweet disposition, and much prized in society. Her husband was of genial nature and one of the business men of Norwalk. She was an intimate friend of Mrs. Gov. Clark Bissell and had no chil- dren. Mrs. Charles Sherry, a lady of true refinement of spirit and speech, made her home a lovely spot for children and a welcome hearth to relatives and friends. Mr. Sherry was a gentleman of leisure and enjoyed intercourse with his townsmen. The children of Charles and Susan V. Sherry were Emity (Mrs. Dr. Samuel Lynes), Charles, and Susan (Mrs. Charles St. John). Mrs. Francis Skiddy, a true Norwalk St. John woman, never, amid the gaities of Metropolitan life, forgot her native place and its interests. She graced her beautiful Fifth Avenue home and was generous outside it. Julia, the remaining sister, Mrs. J. A. Van Zandt, was marriage associated with the old Van Zandt family of the Metropolis. The children of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Van Zandt were Peter and Sarah. Peter married Mary F. Raymond and Sarah an Allen. 3Amelia Cannon (Mrs. Garritt Harsin Newkirk) was the mother of Mary Cannon Newkirk, or as she was universally Norwalk known, " Mrs. Jonathan Camp"4*, who died December 4, 1896. Mrs. Camp was a woman of extraordinary force. She was a true help-meet to her husband and one who brought up her children wisely. Her home was a comfort abode and the visitor was struck with the good sense of what was there seen and heard. Its hostess enjo)'ed music and was possessed of artistic taste (canvas- painting until past eighty), and yet was of decid- edly practical convictions. 4Mrs. George Lockwood had several children who died young and James, Sarah and Mary who reached maturity. James married twice in the west and there resided. Mary also married in the west. Sarah married Ralph, son of Ralph and Esther An- toinette (Gregory) Lockwood. Mrs. Esther Antoi- nette Gregory Lockwood was a daughter of Captain Moses and Esther (Hoyt) Gregory. Mrs. Moses Gregory was a daughter of Asa Ho)'t, Sr., whose fine home grounds, stretched from the lot upon which stands the now unused Second Congregational Church of South Norwalk, quite around the corner of the Washington Street of to- day. Such a family comfort spot was this site that one of the daughters, a sister of Mrs. Moses Gregory, albeit married into one of the prominent and most pleasantly situated households of Troy, yearned for and finally returned to the ancient "Old Well" hearthstone. The Hoyts were Church of England people, and yet if the South Norwalk Congregation- al records are preserved evidence of their friendly feeling towards that body may easily be obtained. They parted with a slice of their homestead for said church purposes. 412 NORWALK. LeGrand, son of Samuel and Sarah (Belden) Cannon, married (see page 272) Esther, daughter of Nathan and Abigail (Burlock) Bouton, and had: LeGrand B., (Colonel); Henrietta, Mrs. George H. Cramer; Mary, Mrs. George Bird; Amelia, Mrs. Rev. John B. Tibbits. John, son of John'2"* and Sarah Cannon of Norwalk, married (page 189) Fanny, daughter of Joseph and Isabel Lockwood, and had: Jeannette, Mrs. David Nessler first, Mrs. John A. Bioren second; Harriett, unmarried; John, married ; Rebecca, Mrs. John F. Morse of Vermont; James LeGrand.