Person:Godfrey Cannon (1)

Godfrey Cannon's origins have yet to be established. It is quite possible that he was the Godfrey Cannon baptised at Clothall in 1722, but this has yet to be proven.

Godfrey's first confirmed sighting is on 31st March 1746, when he was married at Great Wymondley to Ann Bracey.

After their marriage, they moved to the nearby market town of Hitchin, where their first son, Charles, was born just under nine months after their marriage. He was followed by a daughter named Ann in 1749, but she died aged only sixteen months in 1750. Later that year they had another daughter, Mary.

The couple's next child, Sarah, was not baptised at Hitchin but at Caldecote, a tiny parish a few miles north-east of Hitchin. Ann's younger sister Mary Bracey had married a Michael Surrey from Caldecote in 1750 and settled there; maybe Ann had gone to stay with her sister. After Sarah's baptism at Caldecote in 1754 the family returned to Hitchin, where their next child, another Ann, was baptised in 1757. She was followed by Joseph in 1760, William in 1765 and Elizabeth in 1768, all baptised at Hitchin. In 1769, young William died aged three. Geoffrey's first known grandchild (his daughter Mary's eldest son) was baptised later in 1769.

Ann and Godfrey therefore had eight children in total, but lost two as children. Most of the children's baptisms described Godfrey as a labourer.

Ann was buried at Hitchin on 21st November 1781, aged 58. Godfrey outlived her by nearly twelve years. He was buried at Hitchin on 7th June 1793, when he was described as a pauper. He had lived to see at least fifteen grandchildren born in his lifetime.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Hitchin. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   Buried 1793
   June 7th Godfrey Cannon Pauper