Marion Cannon (October 30, 1834 – August 27, 1920) was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He was born near

Morgantown, Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as the home of West Virginia Universit ...

(now in West Virginia) where he learned the

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

trade as a teenager and left home, carrying his blacksmith shop with him, from Mt. Morris, PA at the age of 18. He loaded his business onto a Conestoga wagon pulled by two oxen named Buck and Berry and, instead of trying to cross the Sierras, headed west on the

Oregon trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what ...

with a party led by

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and n ...

as the wagon train's scout. Their wagon train arrived in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

in time to witness the laying of the foundation stone for the Mormon Temple. From Oregon, Cannon headed south to

Nevada City, California Nevada City (originally, ''Ustumah'', a Nisenan village; later, Nevada, Deer Creek Dry Diggins, and Caldwell's Upper Store) is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, southwest of Reno and northeas ...

, arriving sometime in 1852. He set up shop there as a blacksmith and around 1860 married Lydia Jane Holland, built a home, and began raising a family of 5 children. He served as Grand Master of the Nevada City

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

and also one term (two years) as the county recorder for Omega County – which no longer exists. At some point he bought the Volcano gold mine, which he then sold in 1874 to purchase acreage in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

on Telephone Road to engage in agricultural pursuits. November 20, 1890, Cannon was elected first State President of the Farmers’ Alliance and was reelected October 22, 1891. He helped to organize the People's Party of California and was elected as a Populist to the

Fifty-third Congress The 53rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1893, ...

(March 4, 1893 - March 3, 1895), but was not a candidate for renomination in 1894. He was chosen as a representative to the Supreme Council in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

in November 1891 and was selected by that body to represent California in the industrial conference at

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

February 22, 1892. He was delegate to the People's Party National Convention in 1892. In Ventura he maintained his blacksmith shop business. He was listed as a blacksmith until the 1900 census. He also began farming, and ran in farming political and social circles. He did not think much of the post Civil War east coast, and was an ardent booster of the West for the rest of his life. He was a member of the California Grange, and, as a member of the Grange, was an ardent enemy of the railroads’ manipulation of costs for shipping produce. Marion Cannon was also a founding member of the Ventura Bank, which became the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's curre ...

, which later became the

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

. After his stint in Congress, Cannon resumed agricultural pursuits until his death at Ranch Home, near Ventura, August 27, 1920. The Cannon family established a longstanding relationship with the Methodist church in Ventura. He was buried in Ivy Lawn Cemetery,

References

* 1834 births 1920 deaths Politicians from Morgantown, West Virginia People's Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Burials at Ivy Lawn Cemetery California Populists Members of the United States House of Representatives from California {{California-Representative-stub