Carolina. She, also, was a Friend, and traced her ancestry back to the contemporaries of George Fox, the founder of that denomination.
The subject of this sketch passed his early life in the country or in a small village. He endured the hardships which are incident to pioneer life, but he had a strong constitution and good health. In summer he performed the various kinds of work which were required of country boys on a farm; and in winter he attended the common school. In acquiring an education he met the difficulties with which country boys were obliged to contend in what was "the West" sixty years ago; and they were serious difficulties compared with those encountered by the youth of the present day. He had a strong taste for reading, which he gratified by "reading everything that he could get at."
His father died in 1851. Thrown upon his own resources for support, he worked for five years in a country store. For these five years of service, he received one thousand dollars; and half of it he saved. He was not able to go to college, but he fitted himself for entrance to the Cincinnati law school, from which institution he was graduated in 1858. In 1859 he opened a law office at Tuscola, Douglas county, Illinois. For a time clients were few and fees were small. The outlook was discouraging. But a friend, who saw in Mr. Cannon much more than an ordinary young lawyer, gave him encouragement and financial assistance. Business increased and Mr. Cannon became well known in the county circuit courts, in which he continued to practice until 1873, when at the close of fourteen years of hard work at the bar, during one-half of which period he had served as state's attorney for the twenty-seventh judicial district of Illinois, he became a member of the lower house of congress. With the exception of the fifty-second Congress, of election to which he failed because of the general "landslide" to the Democratic party which marked the close of the campaign, he has served continuously as a member of that body. His present term expires March 4, 1907.
In congress, Mr. Cannon has done very much to strengthen his party and has rendered invaluable service to the country at large. In his first term he was a member of the committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, and was chairman of a subcommittee on Revision of the Postal Laws. A large part of the work of this subcommittee was performed by Mr. Cannon; and the work was done so well that it has not
