Born in 1620 in Bristol England
was John Cann.
He may have been a younger
son of Sir William Cann.
John Cann was a noted preacher,
teacher, translator and
printer of the Bible, and
author of many religious treatises.
The most famous of which
was; "A Necessity of Separation
from the Church of England."
He preached a reformed baptist
faith, and after the death
of John Hubbard, Cann was chosen
their leader in London.
After a stormy year or so he was
banished to Amsterdam for
preaching against the established
church of England, where
he succeeded Henry Ainsworth as
pastor of the English Independent
Church.
THE CALENDAR OF STATE PAPERS,
June 9, 1641, shows that John
Cann was granted an exclusive
license for seven years "to print
a bible with annotations,
being his own work, and that no man
unless he be appointed by
him, may print his said notes, whether
already printed, or to be
printed." It is interesting to note
that this is among the earliest
of copyrights. I have a bible
printed in Hartford, Conn
by William Andrus, in 1842, with
"Canne's Marginal References."
When he returned to England
from Amsterdam he immediately got
into more trouble than I
have space to enumerate without
boring you. However, when
he died in 1667, one Shaw, a strong
defender of the established
church, and a frequent target of
Cann's barbs, wrote this
biting epigram;
"Is John departed?. Is
Canne dead and gone?
Farewell to both, to
Canne and eke to John
Yet being dead, take
this advise from me
Let them not both in
one grave buried be
But lay John here, and
lay Canne thereabout
For if they both should
meet; they would fall out."
Contemporaries of John Cann,
the preacher, and Sir Robert,
were "Richard Can(n)," who
moved from Bristol to Osborn,
London about 1664. His son,
Thomas, was with Overton when
Cromwell's army was at Hull.
James, another son of William,
lived with John Cann,
the preacher. Sir William
and Sir Robert Cann, though Mayors
of Bristol and occupying
an official position, were none the less
interested in mercantile
matters, as indeed were most of the
members of that important
body, the board of aldermen.
Among this number was Charles
Jones who married, Agnes,
the eldest daughter of John
Cann, and subsequently was
an alderman, and an extensive
trader with the colonies and
doing business with the
merchants of Philadelphia.
John Cann's wife, Agnes,
died about 1657, and was buried at
Holy Trinity Church, Hull,
as was his daughter, Deliverance,
who married her uncle, Sir
Robert Cann, the son of Sir William and
Mayor of Bristol. Their
son, John, migrated to America.
In 1659 John lived in London"House
without Bishopgate"
published tracts against
Monarchy
1664 he published "comprehensive
Bagster Bible"
1667 he "shared the stake"
with John Rodgers his pupil and also was a
comtemporary of John Bunyan,
author of Pilgrims Progress.
End of chapter 3 CANNS of America by H Cann