Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/554

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
520
CANFIELD
CANONICUS

poems, both in English and Italian, published in various journals, she made graceful translations from foreign tongues. Many of her verses appeared in a commercial gazette established by her husband, a New York broker, who died in 1833 while preparing her poems for publication.


CANFIELD, Henry Judson, author, b. in Con- necticut in 1789 ; d. in 1856. lie was graduated at Yale in 1806, contributed to the " Ohio Cultivator" and the " American Agriculturist," and published a " Treatise on the Breed, Management, Structure, and Diseases of Sheep."


CANNIFF, William, Canadian physician, b. near Belleville, Ontario, in 1830. He was educat- ed at Victoria college, Cobourg, studied medicine at the Toronto school of medicine, and at New York university, and in London, England, and took the degree of M. R. C. S. In 1856 he jjassed the army medical board, and was on duty for a time during the Crimean war in the royal artillery. Then he returned to Canada, and was called to the chair of general pathology in Victoria college, and afterward became professor of surgery in the same institution. During the civil war in the United States he visited the hospitals at Washington, and was for a time with the Army of the Potomac. After his return to Canada he resumed the prac- tice of his profession at Belleville, but finally re- moved to Toronto. Dr. Canniflf was one of the originators of the " Canada First " movement, has been president of the medical section of the Cana- dian institute, was invited by the medical faculty of Paris to attend the International medical con- gress as a delegate to that city in 1867, and, with others, formed the Canadian medical association of Quebec in October, 1867. He has written for medi- cal and other periodicals, and is the author of the " Principles of Surgery " and the " Settlement of Upper Canada."


CANNON, Charles James, author, b. in New York city, 4 Nov., 1800 ; d. there, 9 Nov., 1860. He was of Irish parentage, and wrote poems, dramas, and novels. Among his publications are " Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous " (New York, 1851) ; " Ravellings from the Web of Life" (1856); "Dramas" (1857); "Facts, Feelings, and Fan- cies," " The Poet's Quest," " Mora Carraody," and " Father Felix, a Catholic Story." His dramas in- clude " The Oath of Office," " Tighe Lifford," " The Crowning Hour," " The Sculptor's Daughter," " Better Late than Never," and " Dolores, a Trag- edy." Mr. Cannon also compiled a " Practical English Spelling-Book" (New Y'ork, 1852) and a series of readers.


CANNON, James Spencer, clergyman, b. on the island of Curagoa, 28 Jan., 1776 ; d. in New Brunswick, N. J., 25 July, 1852. His father was a sea-captain, who was drowned when James was a boy. He was educated at the academy of Dr. Peter Wilson, in Hackensaek, N. J., and subsequently under the care of Rev. Alexander Miller. After studying theology with Dr. Froeligh and Prof. John H. Livingston, he was licensed to preach by the New Brunswick classis in 1796, and soon after- ward became pastor of the Dutch Reformed churches of Millstone, and Six-Mile Run, N. J., finally devoting himself entirely to the latter church. He was elected professor of pastoral the- ology and ecclesiastical history in the Reformed Dutch theological seminary at New Brunswick in 1826, and remained there until his death, holding also the chair of ms^taphysics at Rutgers. He pub- lished, for the use of his students, " Lectures on Chronology " and " Lectures on Pastoral Theology." The latter, with a memoir of the author, was re- published after his death (New York, 1853). Union college gave him the degree of D. D. in 1819. Dr. Cannon was a hard student and a successful teacher. His discussion of the sacraments was considered especially able.


CANNON, Newton, governor of Tennessee, b. in Guilford co., N. C, about 1781 ; d. in Harpeth, Williamson eo., Tenn., 29 Sept., 1842. After re- ceiving a public-school education he removed to Tennessee, and was a member of the legislature in 1811-'2. He was colonel of the Tennessee mount- ed rifles, composed of three-months' volunteers, from 24 Sept. till 18 Dec, 1813, and commanded the left column in the battle of Tallushatchee, with the Creek Indians, 3 Nov., 1813. He was elected to congress as a democrat to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Felix Grundy, and served from 1814 till 1817, and again from 1819 till 1823. In 1819 he was appointed by President Monroe one of two commissioners to treat with the Chickasaw Indians, and was governor of Tennes- see from 1835 till 1839.


CANNON, William, governor of Delaware, b. in Bridgeville, Del., in 1809 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 1 March, 1865. He united with the Methodist church in 1825, became a class-leader and exhorter before he had reached his twentieth year, and held these offices until his death. He was elected to the legislature in 1845 and 1849, and was afterward treasurer of the state. In 1861 he was a member of the peace congress, where he was "the firm friend of the Crittenden compromise, and of an unbroken union." In 1864 he was elected governor of the state, which office he held initil his death. The legislature was against him ; but he remained true to the union. When, on one occasion, the legislature forbade compliance with a law of con- gress, the governor promptly announced, by proc- lamation, that he would pardon every U. S. officer convicted by a state court for the performance of his duty to the union. In his message to the legis- lature in 1864 he advised that body to take meas- ures for the emancipation of slaves in Delaware. The illness that caused his death was the result of over-exertion in assisting to extinguish a fire in Bridgeville.


CANONICUS, an Indian chief, b. about 1565; d. 4 June, 1647. He was king of the Narragansett tribe when the pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth, and one of the first with whom they had dealings. In 1622 he was inclined to wage war against the colony, which was a serious matter, since he could muster about 3,000 warriors. As an intimation of his mood, he sent to the governor a bundle of arrows tied with a snake-skin. By a happy inspiration, the skin was filled with powder and bullets and returned. Negotiations followed this defiant answer, and peace was established outlasting the life of Canonicus. When Roger Williams and his company felt constrained to withdraw from the colony at Massachusetts bay, they sought refuge at Narragansett, where Canonicus made them welcome, and actually gave them the neck of land where Providence now stands. Fifty years afterward Williams testified to his uniform friendliness and generosity. In 1637 an embassy sent to him from Massachusetts was received in a lodge fifty feet wide, made of poles and covered with mats. Here, seated and surrounded by his savage courtiers, Canonicus received the messengers in royal state, and provided a feast, among the items of which are enumerated boiled chestnuts and boiled Indian pudding stuffed with “black berries, somewhat like currants.” During this period Canonicus engaged in warfare with the Pequots and other