Editing Joseph Gurney Cannon (section)

==Early life and education==
Cannon was born in [[Guilford County, North Carolina]]. on May 7, 1836. He was the elder of two sons of Horace Franklin Cannon, a country doctor, and Gulielma Cannon (née Hollingsworth).<ref>{{cite web |title=Old Illinois Houses • Cannon House, Danville |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Illinois/_Texts/DRUOIH/Central_Illinois/21*.html |access-date=2012-05-06 |website=Penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

The Cannon family were [[Quakers]] and, like most members of their faith, opposed to slavery. Abhorring the practice and fearing war, the Cannons were among the many Quakers who left the South for the Western frontier. In 1840, his family moved west with other North Carolina Quakers, settling about 30 miles north of [[Terre Haute, Indiana|Terre Haute]] along the [[Wabash River]]. Their new settlement became [[Annapolis, Indiana]].{{Sfn|Mooney|1964|pp=90–96}}  Horace Cannon drowned on August 7, 1851, as he tried to reach a sick patient by crossing a creek. Joe Cannon, aged fifteen, became head of the family and took charge of the family farm. He worked as a clerk in a country store to save money and, after five years, the family were able to pay their mortgage.

Cannon became fascinated by the law when asked to testify in a slander case on behalf of a friend represented by [[John Palmer Usher]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-15 |title=House Speaker Joe Cannon defied attempts to unseat him |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-house-speaker-joe-cannon-20231015-qe4f66nhyrbmxibhrbsyw3473y-story.html |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> He studied under Usher at his Terre Haute office and used the remainder of his savings to enroll in law school at the [[University of Cincinnati]].{{Sfn|Mooney|1964|pp=90–96}} In 1858, he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Terre Haute, Indiana, but was disappointed when Usher refused to offer him a place in his office.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} He relocated to [[Shelbyville, Illinois]] but failed to attract clients, and from there moved on to [[Tuscola, Illinois|Tuscola]], county seat of the newly organized [[Coles County, Illinois|Coles County]]. His choice of a new hometown was involuntary; while travelling from Shelbyville to Chicago to find more clients, he ran out of money. He boarded a Chicago-bound train in [[Mattoon, Illinois|Mattoon]] but was removed from the train in Tuscola after failing to show a ticket.{{Sfn|Mooney|1964|pp=90–96}}

While building his law practice, Cannon became a follower of [[Abraham Lincoln]] during the [[Lincoln–Douglas debates]] of 1858. He launched his first campaign for the office of state's attorney for Coles County in 1860 but was defeated. However, he was elected in 1861 as [[state's attorney]] for the twenty-seventh judicial district, after the Republican legislature reformed the state judicial system. Cannon remained in that position until 1872, when he was elected to the U.S. House.