Cannon family.

The Cannon family of Bridgeville, Sussex County, Delaware, was prominent in local business and politics for several generations.

William Cannon (1809-1865) was elected state representative for Sussex County (1844-1846) and served as county superintendent of free schools (1847), state treasurer (1853-1856), and governor (1862-1865). He had been a Democrat, but withdrew in 1861 to join the Constitutional Party. His business interests were varied. As a merchant with a general store he also dealt in lumber and grain, owned grist and sawmills and a brickyard. He organized the First National Bank of Seaford in 1865 and encouraged the construction of railroads and peach growing in Delaware, planting 5,000 trees in 1857. He died on March 1, 1865.

His sons, Henry Pervis Cannon (1849-1929) and Philip Leonidas Cannon, founded the mercantile firm of H.P. & L.P. Cannon in Bridgeville in 1874. In 1881 they built their first cannery to supply the New York and Philadelphia market with peaches. Philip L. Cannon withdrew after a few years, but H. P. Cannon continued the canning business and expanded it. In 1911 it was incorporated as H.P. Cannon & Son, Inc., for the packing, canning and preserving of fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, and farm products. It became one of the finest canneries in the country for equipment, management and quality of product. During World War II, 55 per cent of its output went to the armed forces. In 1954 the company erected a second plant in Dunn, N.C.