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Note: Death Certificate: copy of record on file at VA Bureau of Vital Statistics. Dated 15Sept 1878; age 93 at death, died of disease, parents James andElizabeth Canaday, birthplace Franklin Co, informant: Constantine(son) ************************ some children have been entered from the Ancestral File, but theinformation from differing sources is too confusing, see file forWilliam Cannaday, they were listed in the ancestral file 1994 ***************** GenForum posted by Vickie Arthur May 1999 William Patrick Billy b. 1781 and died July 11, 1874 in VA was marriedtwice. First to Martha Patsy Wright, dau of Hester and Joshua Wrightof Rockingham Co , NC Martha b. May 1782 and died 28 Dec 1857 ofpalsy. Then he married Nancy Hill dau of Stephen and Mary Winfrey onSep 11 1857. William and Martha had 24 ch. I'm not clear on whichwoman is Elizabeth's mother. (the above dates don't make sense: Martha died Dec 1857 and then hemarried Nancy in Sep 1857?) Ch of William Patrick Billy: Elizabeth married to Reuben Raikes (see below) Nancy - James B - Polly - Martha - Flemming -Pleasant Delilah - William - Joshua Constantine mentioned as informant on father's death certificate Jacob Burl - Randolph - John - Stephen -Marshall George - Hester (notes of Vickie Arthur continued) The Cannaday family was in Franklin County in the middle 1700s. Fromthe information that has been found, they migrated from the middle ofVirginia Territory into the Blue Ridge area. The records of BuckinghamCounty were destroyed. but family information indicates that theypossibly came from that general area. There is, to my knowledge, nopossible way to prove it. On page one, Feb. 1786 "An Old Virginia Court" being a transcript ofthe Records of the First Court of Franklin County, Virginia byMarshall Wingfield, D.D. . It was ordered that William Canady beappointed constable for the county.
WILLIAM CANNADAY Spouse: Nancy UNKNOWN
Children: James (~1755-1817) Sarah (~1757-) Misniah (~1759-1803) John (~1761-) Nancy (~1763-) James Cannaday (Kennedy) came to this country with his wife, ElizabethRaikes, a relative of Sir Robert Raikes, an English founder of SundaySchools. History tells us that Sir Robert Raikes, b.1735, d.1811,tookhis Bible and song book and went among those who herded catle andsheep, and taught in the fields; then he came to America. Theinformation I found concerning Robert Raikes is contained in theFamily sheets, located in the Family Archives in the GenealogicalLibrary, Salt Lake City, Utah. We still have no proof as to therelationship of Elizabeth Raikes Cannaday to Sir Robert Raikes.
James Cannaday was a Revolutionary soldier. His war record will befound in the section James Cannaday Family. He and his wife (she wasonly twelve years of age when she married) settled on 'Runnett BagCreek, ' in a house which still stands-opposite Trinity MethodistChurch. Below is a picture of this old house as it appeared in June of1982. On the hilltop, to the left and rear of the house, is the old CannadayCemetery, where James and Elizabeth and their son, Pleasant, areburied. Their graves, however, are lost, as the stones are not legibledue to moss and weathering. Pleasant, however, has a very nice stone,fairly new. There are other graves of Cannadays and Sims, but theentire area is growing up with underbrush and will be lost if it isnot cleared soon. Much of the family heritage will be lost.
The house is two stories high with one large room with a fireplacedownstairs. On the second floor, there were probably two rooms. Thelarge room on the ground floor opens out onto a large porch. The hugefireplace with a mantle has a very interesting story, as follows:
The hickory logs were burning, throwing a faint glow far back in theroom, making deep shadows. One of the old timers began to tell thestory of the 'Real War' and proceeded to tell of the Crossing ofWashington's army over the Delaware River and of the intense cold-how,in these latter days, we do not have winters so severe, snows so deep,nor ice so thick as in his day. He told of his march with the armyinto Princeton the next day, how they surprised those happy,beer-drinking Hessian-Germans, sent them helter-skelter to cover andgained a glowing victory. This so heartened Washington's Army thatthey were enabled to withstand the intense cold and near-starvation inthe winter in Valley Forge.
They moved on across New River, lower down among the hills ofGreenbrier, at Big and Linle Suel Mountains. On the hill they had agood position, but through faulty judgment and the curse of banle gaveit up and marched down into the lower field nearer town, leveling thefences as they went. There, to their surprise, an overwhelming forceof Unions soldiers drove them pell-mell back over the level fieldswith such momentum that it was impossible to stop and reform on thecrest of the ridge. Once, they had an almost impregnable position.Now, the battle was lost and General Floyd almost heart broken againstthe Master spirit of the forces of Grant of the West, camp life,sickness and almost death, fever, etc....
It is told that James Cannaday of Runnett Bag would be introduced atthese gatherings and would tell of his services along the southernborder of Virginia and into North Carolina, chasing and being chased.Mostly being chased. "What we did for that fel!ow, Tarlton, confoundhim, was aplenty," continued James. They would all laugh and calledhim the "father of 'Patrick Billy' ", now famous for his twenty-fourchildren.
James Cannaday owned a large number of slaves, as did all of thepeople in that area. He had a vast estate along these creeks. lt issaid that many times when people were traveling along the road back ofthe house, they stopped and bedded down their slaves for the night infront of the house near the spring.
The queer name, Runnet Bag Creek, came from that of a spring in SmartView Park, spelled 'Rennet Bag,' on Blue Ridge Parkway signs labelingthe creek. It starts as a small stream high in the mountains, runningalong the roadside, winding down through gaps and valleys, receivingother small streams, rippling along the wild rugged mountainside tothe base where it forms a good-sized creek. At one time its water grewcorn that was ground at the old Cannaday Mill built over one hundredyears ago by a Mr. Treadwell. This old mill was destroyed by fireseveral years ago. The creek joins Otter Creek in the midst of theJohn Treadwell Cannaday farm, still owned (in 1948) by hisgranddaughter, Mrs. Sallie Cannaday Ross. The last I heard, she wasvery ill in the hospital in Collinsville, Virginia (1984). The lakeabove the U.S. Flood Control Pilpot Dam, built in 1953, covers morethan two hundred acres of this farm, which made it necessary toabandon the family home. These creeks wind their way to the Smith'sRiver which forms the lake at the Fairystone State Park. Corn grew andstill grows on those rich bottom lands at the top of the mountains inFloyd County; slaves would take their sacks and descend the mountain,carrying bags of corn. The chief occupation of the people was farming.The manners and customs of the people were halfway between theprimitive backwoods settler and the educated and refined.
Captain Benjamin Weddle (also married into the Cannaday family) wouldcome down from West Fork and tell of the battle of Point Pleasant. Hetook his company and ambushed the extreme northwestern end of thefort. He would re-enact that memorable battle of grapple and deathwith the savages, the winning of which according to Weddle finallybroke the backbone of the lndian resistance to colonization along theOhio River and farther in to the west !
He told how the Indians were so enraged at him that they burned hishome on New River Fleeing With his family, we went to Bent Mountain,Montgomery County, where it is believed that his descendants can stillbe found. Wouldn't it be wonderful if some of the memories of thelives and experiences of our forebears could be recalled today. Ourlife, with all the modern trials and tribulations, would be nothing bycomparison.
James Canaday: Listed as a private in American Rev. War and is listed in the 1966D.A.R. Patriot Index on page 382. His will was probated 9 feb 1817, executors were William Cannaday andJames Cannaday. Recorded in Will Book 2 , page 169, Rocky Mount,Franklin County, Virginia. 12 children only four mentioned in the will. But he said " that he put them all on 'a' equal 'footing' except hisyoungest 'sun Pleasant' and he wanted him to have the land he lived onhimself and two hundred dollars also 'William' Cannaday a certaintract of land and also John Cannaday the right to a certain tract ofland, and he said he wanted them to o 'sumthing' clever for agranddaughter of his also stating that he wanted William Cannaday andJames Cannaday to be the executors to the estate. The will waswitnessed by James Radford and Joshua Young. Will proved in court 3 mar 1917. An inventory on 17 mar 1817 listed 6 slaves valued at $1,596.00,household good app. $148.83, farm equipment app. $45.00, 2 horse$125.00, 5 cows $50.00, 5 yearlings $7.50, 28 head hogs $28.75, 14head sheep $28.00, 14 geese $3.50, one still $60.00, eight barrelscorn $40.00. Total inventory app. $2,150.00.
Spouse: Elizabeth (Rakes) RAIKES Birth: abt 1756, Buckingham County, Virginia Death: 1 Sep 1853, Franklin County, Virginia Marr: 1775
Children: William "Patrick Billy" (1781-1874) Mary Polly (1781-1861) James (1793-1861) David (1794-1839) Elizabeth Charles (1793-1853) Pleasant (1801-1829) James John (-1842) William "Patrick Billy" CANNADAY* Birth: 1781, Franklin County, Virginia Death: 11 Jul 1874, Franklin County, Virginia
Known as " Patrick Billy"
Spouse: Martha (Patsy) WRIGHT Birth: abt 1782
Children: Stephen H.
Other spouses Nancy HILL
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