West Family Tree

Enlisted as a 3rd Sergeant in Company E, 24th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 24 Aug 1861.
Received a disability discharge from Company E, 24th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 18 Dec 1861 at Washington, DC.
Enlisted and promoted to Full Private in Company E, 24th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 27 Aug 1863.
Absent without leave Company E, 24th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 30 Jan 1865 at Home.

Horace Cannon was a land owner and highly respected citizen in the Rabun Co. area. His wife was Nancy Hefner from North Carolina. Horace served many years in the Ga. Legislature. - Hiram Raleigh Cannon III, from cousin

He apparently was a Mason as well (from his gravestone). - Logan West

LAND GRANTS‚ TO WHOM GRANTED.

July 28, 1902.

Hon. Philip Cook, Secretary of State, Atlanta, Ga.

Dear Sir:—In your letter of November 26, 1901, addressed to Hon. Jos. M. Terrell, then Attorney-General, you say:

"I hand you herewith certificates of sale of lots numbers 10, 11 and 12, in the Fifth Land District of Rabun county, upon which certificates the attorney for the last recorded transferee on said certificates is asking the issuance of grants by the State of the said lots 10, 11 and 12, in the Fifth Land District of Rabun county to the said last recorded transferee.

"The records in this department show no record of a grant of lot 10, but lots 11 and 12 appear on the records as having been granted, In pursuance of an Act passed on the 30th day of December, 1847, as follows: Lot number 11 to Horace W. Cannon, October 1, 1852; recorded In book "Reverted Land, etc., Act 1847," page 289.

"With the above facts before you, I ask that you advise me what action to take in the matter."

The above matter has succeeded to me as a part of the unfinished business of my predecessor.

As to lot number 10, it appears to be clear that there is no outstanding grant, and your duty under the Act of 1829‚ Dawson's Compilation, pp. 266, 267‚ appears to be plain, viz.: that you should issue in the name of the last transferee indorsed on the back of the certificate, number 10, a grant covering this lot.

As to lots numbers 11 and 12, it appears that on October 1, 1852, grants thereto were issued by your office to Horace W. Cannon as the purchaser under an Act passed on the 30th day of December, 1847, recorded in book "Reverted Land, etc., Act of 1847," page 289. The said sale to Horace W. Cannon, under the Act of 1847, has been declared by our Supreme Court null and void, and the Act itself unconstitutional. In a case involving these very two lots of land, to wit, numbers 11 and 12, section 5, Rabun county, our Supreme Court declared the sale under the Act of 1837 null and void, and that the holders under the Act of 1827 held a perfect title. See Cannon et al. v. Young et al., 92 Ga. 164, et seq. I have examined the original record in the above stated case of file in the Supreme Court of Georgia, and discover that the parties now desiring the issuance of grants to lots numbers 11 and 12 were adjudged to be the true owners thereof these holders claiming under deeds from Albert H. Brisbane, the last transferee of the certificates in question.

I think, therefore, that it is clearly your duty to issue in the name of Abbott H. Brisbane grants to lots 10, 11 and 12, above described.

By the Act of 1813‚ see Lamar's Compilation, page 408‚ it was provided as follows:

"That all grants which have, or may be issued by the Governor of this State, to persons who have been, or may be dead, before the issuing or signing of the same, shall be deemed, held and considered, as valid and legal in law, as if the said grantee or grantees had been alive at the time of the issuing and signing of said grant or grants, and as such submitted to the jury; any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." 22 Ga., page 108.

You will perceive, therefore, that the death of the last transferee, Abbott H. Brisbane, constitutes no barrier to the grant being issued in his name at the present time.

I have the honor to be.

Very truly yours,

BOYKIN WRIGHT,
Attorney-General.

From "Opinions of the Attorney General" Volume 1902

Most of the dates and locations I have for the HW Cannon family and children come from John Burnett. - Logan West

Documentation:
Research of John Burnett of Reno, NV. Sketches of Rabun County History by
Andrew Jackson Ritchie, pages 74-85. Rabun County Georgia Cemetery Records, Rabun County
Georgia Census 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900. Rabun County Marriage Records. Mr. Horace W.
Cannon was very active in County and State politics. At the Convention in Milledgeville,
Georgia to decide the question of Secession, Horace W. Cannon voted against Secession from the
Union. However, he supported the Confederacy and as privations got harder during the war he
was appointed to several commissions in which he was the agent for Rabun County, Georgia in
securing supplies of corn and salt and other means of support for indigent women whose
husbands were in the Confederate Army or who had been killed. He served in the House and
Senate of the Georgia General Assembly in the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1851,
1855. Two of the Cannon sons served in the Confederate Army: Jabel V. Cannon served from 1861-1862 as a Captain in Company E, 24 Georgia infantry and Horace Porter Cannon served 1861 to 1864 in the same company first as a private then as a Captain. Both sons died in the war.