The research identifies a William Cann in the published Delaware military records for Captain Samuel Smith's company in Colonel John Haslet's Delaware Regiment. Version 76 records 19 January 1776 as the enlistment date, correcting an earlier 20 January date. The identified muster establishes a service-name entry. It does not provide a complete biography, parentage or modern line of descent.
Another William Cann appears in pension application R1660. The transcribed 1837 statement describes a man born in Cecil County, Maryland, around 1757, with a later route through Virginia to Kentucky. His account of frontier service is a separate identity problem. It must not be combined automatically with the Delaware soldier or an earlier William reported born around 1721.
The pension transcript also records a later action by a son named John Cann. That supports a relationship within the pension applicant's family, subject to the transcript's limitations. It does not identify that son as the proposed ancestor John born around 1760.
Version 78 corrected a serious interpretive error: the Cann entries in the 1788 Immanuel register are christenings, not burials. The prior inference of several child deaths and a shared epidemic is withdrawn. The correction also prevents the baptized young John from being merged with an older same-name ancestor.
The archive does not currently establish a Revolutionary patriot in the modern direct line. War of 1812, Civil War, First World War, Second World War and later service will be added only when identifiable service records and family links support them.
Sources & interpretation
References are research leads and citations, not confirmation that every original has been inspected. Questioned family connections remain unverified.