William B. and Nancy A. (Cannon) Dixon
William Dixon was born May 20, 1820 (tombstone date), probably in Burke Co., NC, the first known child of William Dickson/Dixon and Ellender/Eleanor "Ellen" Teague, both of whom died 1865 in McMinn Co., TN. ("William B. Dixon"--used in an 1865 land deed record--distinguishes him from other Dickson/Dixon men named "William" then living in McMinn Co. His name was recorded as "William M. Dixon"* in the 1900 census and in cemetery records--1885, 1886, and 1901.) About 1839 William Dixon left his family home, probably in Sullivan Co., TN, bound for McMinn Co., TN (Acuff-Kirchner DIXON genealogy). The McMinn Co., TN marriage records list the marriage between William Dixon and Nancy Cannon on August 26, 1840 (his first marriage). Nancy A. Cannon was born October 9, 1924 (tombstone date), probably in Monroe Co., IN, to William Cannon (or Samuel William Cannon) and Elizabeth Swafford. (At least one McMinn Co. history states, probably in error, that Nancy A. Cannon was born in Bledsoe Co., TN. Nancy’s brother Samuel Carl Cannon stated in his military pension file that he was born 1827 in Monroe Co., IN. At the time of the 1840 census this Cannon family, headed by the widowed mother Elizabeth Cannon, lived in McMinn Co., TN.) "William B. Dixon" was one of five heirs of William Dixon, named in the above-mentioned file found in McMinn Co., TN Deed Book O: (200) 21 Aug 1865--"F. A., William B., and John J. Dixon, and Elizabeth Cole to J. W. Dixon, all heirs of William Dixon dec'd."
From McMinn Co., TN census and cemetery records it is known that William and Nancy A. (Cannon) Dixon had at least 13 children, all surnamed Dixon: John J. (1841-1910), Samuel (1843- ), Thomas L. (1844- ), Francis M. (1847- ), James A. (1848- ), Elizabeth E. (1852- ), Jane (1854-1856), Nancy Ann (1857-1904), Mary Ann "Polly" (1859- ), Sarah C. (1860- ), William J. (1863-1940), Tennie (1866- ), Hulda "Paralee" (1868- ). Nancy A. (Cannon) Dixon died May 18, 1885 (tombstone date); William Dixon died December 14, 1906 (tombstone date). Both are buried in Spring Creek Campground cemetery in McMinn Co., TN (also known as Lower Spring Creek cemetery, or Spring Creek M. E. Church cemetery; located on McMinn County Road 26).
On August 15, 1885, in McMinn Co., TN, William Dixon married his second wife: Roxie "Roxy" A. Siggler, born August 7, 1845 (tombstone date), daughter of George and Nancy Siggler of Macon, GA. William and Roxie (Siggler) Dixon had three children: two who died in infancy (Short Creek Baptist Church cemetery records) and Mertie M. Dixon (age 10, with her parents in the McMinn Co., TN 1900 census). Roxie A. (Siggler) Dixon died August 17, 1901 (tombstone date), and was buried in Short Creek Baptist Church cemetery (located on McMinn County Road 50).
William Dixon was a farmer (1850-60-70-80-1900 census). One McMinn County history referred to him as a "well-do-do farmer and miller..." Numerous McMinn Co. Chancery Court records refer to the "Dixon Cotton Mill" in McMinn Co. in the 1860s, operated by John J. Dixon(1806-1874), machinist and millwright and his son William M. Dixon(1832-). Perhaps the author of this county history confused the two unrelated Dixon families in this instance.
Nancy Ann Dixon (1857-1904), daughter of William and Nancy A. (Cannon) Dixon, told her children that her parents were prosperous farmers and kept slaves before the Civil War. She recalled playing with worthless Confederate currency as a child. From the McMinn Co., TN 1890 Civil War Veterans’ Census it is known that one of Nancy Ann’s brothers and a maternal uncle served in the Union Army: "DIXON, Thos. L., Mc-115-1; Cpl. A Co. 10th TN Cav.; 8-12-63 to 8-1-65; Riceville P.O." and "CANNON, Samuel C., Priv. A Co. 5th TN Mtd. Inf.; 9-1-64 to 6-26-65; Joshua P.O." Nancy Ann Dixon was the paternal grandmother of the contributor below. Her youngest son, father of the contributor, was only 11 years old when his mother died in 1904. He remembered his mother and her stories with great fondness, as recorded in his Memoir published posthumously in 1990.
*Another McMinn Co. resident used the name "William M. Dixon" (Chancery Court files, mentioned above). He was listed in the McMinn Co., TN 1860 census as "William Dixon age 28" with a wife "Margaret C. age 15." Why William Dixon’s middle initial was recorded as "B." in the 1865 deed, and as "M." in the 1885-86 / 1901 cemetery records and the 1900 census, is unknown.
Contributed by Mary Foster Ludvigsen