The Foncannon Family
by Donald D. Erwin
The early ancestors of the American Foncannons were the fierce Germanic tribes that invaded Switzerland sometime around 400-500 BC. Julius Caesar and his Roman Legions contained them for a time, but they became the dominant people in Switzerland after the decline of the Roman Empire. Eventually, however, Charlemange conquered the country and established Catholicism as the state religion, building many Abbeys and Monasteries. With his death in 814, the country gradually evolved into a loose collection of fiefs governed either by the Church or a group of powerful Lords.
The earliest documentation that mentions the family is dated June 18, 1321. It is a remarkable document that resides in the Swiss National Archives, and it has them living in the Frutigen area just south of Lake Thun that year. According to the document, Baron Johannes von Thurm of Gastelen was Lord of Frutigen in the early fourteenth century. The document indicates that the Baron decided to give the Augustinian Monastery of Interlaken a piece of land near Scharnachtal (next to the town of Reichenbach and a few miles south of Aeschi). In addition, it states that “Peter and Chunradus von dem Kenel and their heirs forever have the right to live on a portion of this property (a farm known as the Kene), as long as they pay a rent of thirty shillings per year” (a practice that was known as the Right of Hereditary Tenancy). It is apparently the first time the name that would later evolve into Voncannon, Vuncannon, Fincannon, Foncannon and/or Cannon was written.
The next known mention of the family is about 1400, and also comes from the Archives. Comments are made about Clawe, Chunrat, and Bury von Kenel. The Church records in the towns of Reichenbach and Aeschi, both in the Frutigen area, and date back to about 1530. By this time the name has been spelled von Kanel — using an umladt over the ‘a’. Most English typewriters lack an umladt key, so it is more correct to spell the name Kaenel. Both versions of the name exist in the Frutigen area of Switzerland to this day.
Around 1500 there was a Hans von Kaenel in Aeschi. He was the assistant to the district governor. In 1583 there was also a Casper von Kaenel who was the mayor of Reichenbach, the highest office then held by a commoner. There is no known evidence that the family ever became part of the nobility. The earliest members of the family were, apparently, members of the “citizen class,” just a step or two above the serfs. It is probable that Conrad von Kaenel, born about 1532 in Aeschi, was the progenitor of our line. Oswald Von Kaenel was prominent in the next generation, and he was born about 1558, also in Aeschi. The earliest documented direct link to the family, however, was Christoph von Kaenel. He lived in Aeschi in the period 1575-1625.
- Conrad Von Kaenel was born in 1532 in Switzerland. He married Ana Achser.
- Oswald Von Kaenel was born in 1558 in Switzerland. He married Ana Lengacher.
- Christoph Von Kaenel was born in 1575. He married Anna Zum Kehn.
- Peter Von Kaenel/Kehnell, was born about 1623 in Aeschi, Switzerland, and later in life moved to Steinsfurt in Germany. He married (1) Ottilia Weber, and (2) Maria Kuntzell.
- Martin Von Kehnell/Kennell was born January 21, 1666 in Steinsfurt, Germany, and died in 1731. He married Martha Graber.
- Hans Michael Von Kennell/Kennen was born in 1701 in Steinsfurt, and died in 1734. He married Anna Elisabeth Laber.
- Johann Jacob Von Kennen/Konnen was born in 1731, and emigrated to Pennsylvaniaas a single man in 1748. No record has been found to identify his wife, but it is known that he had several children.
- Michael Von Kannon/Von Kennon was born in 1760, and died in 1833. He married Margaret Comfort.
- Simon Jacob Foncannonwas born about 1782 in Pennsylvania. Note: A “V” in German is pronounced as an “F” in English, hence the change in spelling. He married Catherine Culp.
- William Foncannonwas the third child of Simon and Catherine Foncannon. He was born in 1809 in Lewiston, Miflin County, Pennsylvania, and died in 1863. He married Phoebe Goodin. She was born in 1813 and died in 1896.
William and Phoebe Foncannon had the following children:
- Joseph P. Foncannon, b. 1832
- Harrison Foncannon, b. 1833
- Susanna Foncannon, b. 1835
- Jacob Foncannon, b. 1838
- Harriett Foncannon, b. 1840
- Mary Jane Foncannon, b. 1842
- Caroline Foncannon, b. 1845
- Rhoda Foncannon, b. 1846
- Sarah Ellen Foncannon, b. 1846
- Nancy M. Foncannon, b. 1848
- Decater Foncannon, b. 1849
- Rosetta Foncannon, b. 1854
- Indiana Foncannon, b. 1857
- Charity Foncannon, b. 1859
Sarah Ellen Foncannon married John W. Freeman, and was the mother of Indiana Mae Freeman and Minnie Olive Freeman. Indiana Mae (India) Freeman married William Coleman (Cole) Erwin, and Minnie Olive Freeman married Michael Ransallaer (Mike) Erwin in a double ceremony in Green Forest, Carroll County, Arkansas on December 16, 1886. She is buried next to her husband in the Munice Cemetery in Dewey County, Oklahoma. Cole and India Erwin are buried there also.
In June 2001, I visited the Munice Cemetery. It is located about fifteen miles west of Canton on State Highway 51. It is in a very isolated area, some distance from the nearest farmhouse. One has to wonder if there might have been a town named Munice at some point or at the very least a church by that name. It is a lonely place, but the cemetery is well maintained, and there had been recent interments.