BIOGRAPHY: Lycurgus L. Cannon 1855-1940

Lycurgus L. Cannon, son of John Cannon and Sarah Laughner Cannon, was born February 23, 1855 in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania (Butler County).

He was in the lumber business in Pennsylvania and then for several years in Texas. He then studied telegraphy in his spare time while visiting at the railroad station in near his home in Butler County. Turning from lumber to railroading, he became agent for the Shenango and Allegheny, which became the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie Railroad, and later the Bessemer and Lake Erie.

Lycurgus came to Duquesne, Pennsylvania in 1898, and worked across the Monongahela River at Bessemer's Fort Perry office. He retired in 1930.

In 1905, he began to serve on the Duquesne School Board. His name was on the ballot every election after that, except 1913 but he wound up serving anyway after Fred Clark resigned and Lycurgus was named to replace him. Lycurgus was a member o the Board for 33 years and served as secretary for 30 years, earning a reputation as having "the neatest set of books in Allegheny County." In 1937, he did not run for reelection, but continued to serve as secretary, rarely missing a Board meeting until he was hospitalized.

Always a Republican, Lycurgus won by sizeable margins each time, but he claimed that politics should have no place in school management.

Lycurgus was a member of Eureka Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons in Greenville; McKeesport Commandery, Knights Templar; Syria Shrine; and Knights of Malta. He was also a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Duquesne (of which he was a trustee for some years) and the Old Time Telegraphers' Association.

He died Friday night January 12, 1940 at West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh, after a week long hospitalization for pneumonia. His hospitalization and passing at 88 years of age were both front page news in The Duquesne Times. He was buried Monday morning in Greenville, Pa.

He was survived by his wife, Mary L. Cannon, a daughter Sarah Margaret Cannon who lived at home, a son Edgar Carl Cannon of Donora, Pennsylvania, Edgar's wife Violet Jessie Burke Cannon and their 19 year-old grandson, Daniel Willard Cannon who was attending the University of Pittsburgh.