Weldon G. Cannon Collection

Named Collections > C > Cannon, Weldon G.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Weldon Cannon is a lifelong resident and historian of Texas. He grew up in Euless and taught history classes at Birdville High School then Temple College. His collection tells the histories of the Bransford, Euless, and Pleasant Glade communities.

Cannon has a personal interest in researching the history of northeast Tarrant County. His grandparents, Arch and Della (Whitener) Cannon, opened a nursery in Euless in 1897 that supplied the area’s residents and businesses with fruit and plants. When Arch died in 1941, his son and Weldon’s father, Ross Cannon, took ownership of the company. While managing the family business, Ross opened his own short-lived nursery and started a real estate company. By the end of the 1950s, he had closed both nurseries and was concentrating on his commercial and residential rental properties in Euless. 

 

Monochromatic photograph shows a passenger aircraft resting on its fuselage. The left engine propellors are bent. A man and boy are standing next to a fallen tree in the foreground. 

American Airlines DC3 Flagship Skysleeper after emergency landing in Euless, Texas orchard, June 21, 1941

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The Weldon Cannon Collection contains oral histories, publications, photographs, and business records related to aviation and northeastern communities in Tarrant County. Much of the material is from Cannon's extensive research on Bransford, Euless, and Pleasant Glade. The oral histories were conducted and transcribed by Weldon Cannon. He interviewed multiple people about the early history of their communities, including his uncle, Elvis Mead Day. The materials are dated 1881 to 2022 with some undated items.

Weldon spent time working with local historian Richard Davenport Jones on genealogy projects, and their materials on the Haley - Cannon families complement each other. Weldon researched the Haley - Cannon family reunions after identifying the people in a 1963 reunion photograph then donated his research to the Archives. Visit the Richard Davenport Jones Collection page for related materials. 

View the Weldon Cannon image gallery.

 

This collection consists of the following materials by subject:

  • Aviation and American Airlines, 1930-2013, undated 
    • American Airways and Southern Air Fast Express Air Mail Service, American Airways, Inc. brochure, 1930
    • American Airlines DC-3 Skysleeper Airplane Crash in Euless, Texas, photograph, June 21, 1941
    • American Airlines Guide Book to the World's Fair, New York, Cliff Productions, Inc., 1964
    • American Airlines plastic cup, Prolon Manufacturing
    • Plane and Fancy - To the Ladies from American Airlines, American Airlines pamphlet, circa 1962
    • Ship 1 Bell Aircraft NX-41867, Bell Helicopter Company, photograph, 1943
  • Community of Bransford, 1891-1998, undated
    • Bransford and Bransford People, copies of photographs, 1917-1921, undated
    • Directory listings for Bransford places, 1893-1922
  • Community of Euless, 1938-2022, undated
    • Commercial Horticulture in Euless: Historical Narrative in the application for an Official Texas State Historical Marker, by Weldon Cannon
    • Euless and Aviation, essay by Weldon G. Cannon, 2013
    • Euless: A Community that Refused to Die, essay by Weldon Cannon, 2022
    • Euless Identified, essay by Weldon Cannon, 2022
    • Euless Nursery / Euless Lumber Company Abstract of Title with deed of trust, liens, and affidavits for part of the J. P. Hallford Survey abstract 711
    • Euless Nursery and Ross Cannon Real Estate record books with supply order receipts and notes, owned by the Cannon family, Euless, Texas, 1938-1963    
  • Community of Pleasant Glade, 1881-2015, undated
    • Andrew Jackson Day, essay by Weldon Cannon, 2015
    • Copy of a portion of a plat showing the Elizabeth Cox Survey in Pleasant Glade, Grapevine, Texas, undated
    • Pleasant Glade Church register from August 6, 1881, with typed transcription and essay about the church written by Weldon Cannon
    • Transcriptions of 3 interviews with Jesse Driskill and Annie Driskill, interviewed and transcribed by Weldon Cannon, December 29 and 30, 1967
    • Transcriptions of 2 interviews with Elvis Mead Day, with an area map, interviewed and transcribed by Weldon Cannon, October 28, 1962 and August 9, 1968
    • Transcriptions of 2 interviews with Ruth Mahala Parr Miller, interviewed and transcribed by Weldon Cannon, November 29, 1969 and December 29, 1969
    • Transcription of an interview with Mary Mae Sowers Hall, interviewed and transcribed by Weldon Cannon, July 15, 1970
    • Transcription of an interview with Myrtle Weddle, interviewed and transcribed by Weldon Cannon, August 3, 1972
    • Transcription of an interview with Ruby Schugart Thomas, interviewed and transcribed by Weldon Cannon, August 4, 1972
    • Transcriptions of 2 interviews with Frank James Driskill and Leeta Miller Driskill, interviewed and transcribed by Weldon Cannon, November 18, 1997 and August 12, 2000
  • Haley-Cannon Family
    • Typed history of Haley - Cannon family reunions from 1939-1978, researched and written by Weldon Cannon, 2023
    • Copy of a photograph of the Haley - Cannon family reunion of 1963 with identification by Weldon Cannon, 2023