Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3304 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSHis ancestry includes a number of notable names in American annals. Inthe paternal line his people were largely identified with the colonies of Delawareand Pennsylvania.One American ancestor was John Cann, who came from Bristol, England,in 1664, settling on White Clay Creek, near Newcastle, Delaware, under aland grant issued to him by William Penn. He became a justice of thepeace and was the commissioner for the proprietors who laid out the tractsgranted to the DuPont de Nemours family in Delaware. This John Cann, itis stated, was a younger son of Sir Robert Cann, lord mayor of Bristol,England. The paternal grandparents of George T. Cann were Jacob andJane (Thomas) Cann.James Ferris Cann, father of George T. Cann, was born at Oetavia, Delaware, in 1832. While on a visit to the City of Philadelphia he was takensuddenly ill, his death occurring there in September, 1872. His remainswere sent to Savannah for interment. He was a man of high intellectualattainments, and after his graduation from one of the leading eastern colleges he came from his native state to Georgia in 1850. Establishing hishome at Savannah, he was chosen superintendent of the city schools, anoffice of which he continued the able and honored incumbent for many years.He gained a high reputation as a leader in educational affairs in this state.He also rendered effective service as a private instructor in the higher branchesof learning. During his later years he was not actively employed in educationalaffairs, finding his time taken up with the supervision of his privateinterests. When the Civil war came on James F. Cann was one of those mostloyal to the Confederate cause. From the youths of Savannah he organizeda company of cadets, still known as the Savannah Cadets. In that companyhe received from Governor Joseph E. Brown on June 19, 1861, a commissionas first lieutenant, and as such subscribed to the oath of allegiance to theState of Georgia and to the Confederate States. He was intensely an advo--cate of educating Southern children in Southern schools and colleges.Judge Cann's mother was Anna Sophia Turner. Her paternal greatgrandfather, John Turner, was a gallant soldier in the Continental lines inthe War of the Revolution, in which he served as ensign in Capt. JosephMarsh's Company, Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion, commanded by ColonelKnox. Her father, the Hon. Thomas M. .Turner, who was born in the City ofPhiladelphia xat the beginning of the nineteenth century, became a residentof Savannah, Georgia, when a lad of sixteen years. His people had emigrated to this country from Wales. His lineage is also traced back in Scotlandto Lady Galbraith, who is said to have incurred her father's displeasure bymarrying an untitled gentleman. The first representative of the Turnerfamily settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Colonial times. A memberof this branch of the family served in the First,Pennsylvania Legislature thatassembled at Harrisburg. Thomas Morgan Turner, maternal grandfather dfGeorge T. Cann, passed nearly his entire life in Georgia and was a prominentand honored citizen of Savannah, where he served two terms as mayor. Hedied in 1872 at the age of seventy-three years. His wife was Sophia M. Fell.William Fell and Isabella Lambert were married at Lancaster, England, inJanuary, 1755. On the 10th of March, 1774, Elizabeth Susannah Shick,daughter of John and Margaret Shick, became the wife of Isaac Fell in ChristChurch, Savannah. Isaac Fell in 1812 served as a 'member of the City Council of Savannah, and during the War of 1812 was an officer in the SavannahVolunteer Guards and since that time continuously some one of his descendants has held membership in the guards. George T. Cann and his brotherFerris both became captains therein, and George Turner, their uncle, waskilled in battle at Sailors Creek, Virginia, while an officer of the guards justthree days before General Lee surrendered.Another ancestor of Judge Cann in the maternal line was Charles Ritter,