Cannady Ancestors

An American Adventure

Allen County, Indiana - Moving from Virginia through Ohio, Henry Cannady and wife Caroline Bunn settled in Allen County, Indiana by 1850. Skilled as plasterers, the family contributed to the architectural beauty of the city of Fort Wayne, before moving to Cass County, Michigan shortly after 1860. Son Augustus' marriage to Mary Grosjean took place in Cass County at the home of his grandmother Sophia Bunn in 1862. The only family member to remain in Allen County, Augustus, a saloon proprietor, died in Fort Wayne on 19 March 1877, leaving a widow and five children: Mary, Frank, Emma, George, and Flora. On 24 April 1877, Joseph Dwenger, the Archbishop of Fort Wayne, filed for guardianship of the orphaned children. The fate of Mary Grosjean, Augustus Cannady's widow, is unknown.

• Mary Cannady, enumerated in 1880 as a servant in the home of John Wilkinson in Fort Wayne, married John Edward Crusey in Allen County on 12 May 1881. By 1910 this couple were living in Los Angeles, California.

• Frank Cannady's existence was last noted in Dwenger's 1877 guardianship petition as "Frankie Cannady, aged 11 years."

• Emma Cannady was enumerated in 1880 as Emma Kannada, a 13 year old resident of the St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum in Jasper County, Indiana, a facility administered by Archbishop Dwenger.

• George Cannady has not been located in the 1880 enumeration, but as noted below he had established a family in Cook County, Illinois by 1892 with wife Mary Ryder.

• Flora Cannady was apparently enumerated twice in 1880: once as Flora Kannada, a 7 year old resident of the St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum in Jasper County, Indiana along with her sister Emma, and once again as Flora Canada, a 7 year old adopted daughter of Albert and Sarah Carpenter in Wayne Township, Allen County, Indiana.

This researcher believes it likely that Frank Cannady, at age 14, and his brother George Cannady, at age 9, were residents of the St. Joseph Asylum for boys near Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, a companion institution to the facility for girls in Jasper County where the younger Cannady sisters were living. To date, the 1880 census enumeration for the St. Joseph Asylum for boys has not been located.

Noble County, Indiana - Coming to Indiana around the same time as his brother Henry Cannady in the 1840s, James Cannady settled in Noble County, where he resided in 1850 with wife Tryphena Rich and their children Francis, Martha Jane, and Alonzo. By 1860, Tryphena was deceased and James was married to Nancy. Three additional children were in the household, William, Amelia, and Henry, for a total of six. Based on their ages in the 1860 census, this researcher presumes these six were the children of Tryphena Rich. Further, this researcher presumes that 6 year old Lincoln, enumerated with his father James in 1870, was the son of Nancy.

Cass County, Michigan - Henry Cannady, his wife Caroline Bunn, brother James and in-laws Jeremiah and Sophia Bunn, relocated to Cass County, Michigan shortly after 1860. Charles, Emily, and Ann Eliza, siblings of Augustus, also married in Cass County. After Henry's death in 1882, widow Caroline married Isaac Stewart. Caroline Stewart died in Allegan County in 1900.

James Cannady was residing in Cass County, when he married Ann Cuddy on 31 January 1869. She apparently was deceased by the 1870 census when James was enumerated with his children in Cassiopolis. James married for the fourth time in 1872 to Jane Parker, a widow, who was born in Glascow, Scotland. James Cannady and Jane Parker had two daughters - Vera, born about 1874, and Elva, born about 1875. In total, James Cannady had nine children by three of his four wives.

Cook County, Illinois - George Cannady, fourth child of Augustus Cannady and Mary Grosjean, was residing in Chicago by 1890, earning his living as a carpenter. He married Mary Ryder in 1892; they raised a family of six children. Following Mary's institutionalization about 1919, George relocated to California, accompanied by three of his adult children.

©2004 Sue Phillips - Material on this site may be quoted or reproduced by those engaged in non-commercial genealogical research without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the compiler. Any commercial use of this material without prior permission of the compiler is prohibited.

Updated: Friday, January 2, 2004