The David McKnight Shannon Monument in the Old Keyes Graveyard

The old Keyes Cemetery in western Itawamba County contains hundreds of 19th Century monuments. Pictured above is the David McKnight Shannon monument. The monument reads:

DAVID M.
SHANNON
Born
Mar. 28, 1790
Died
Oct. 18, 1860

David McKnight Shannon was born in Davidson County, Tennessee. He was the son of David Shannon (born 1756 Montgomery County, Virginia) and Jane McKnight. David McKnight Shannon married Anna Pickens on December 10, 1806 in Williamson County, Tennessee. During the 1820’s some of the Tennessee Shannon families moved to Monroe County, Mississippi and by the 1830’s were living in the old Itawamba County river port town of Van Buren and in extreme southwestern Itawamba County along Coonewah and Chiwapa creeks. David McKnight Shannon’s son, Robert Finis was a merchant at Cardsville, south of Van Buren before the Civil War.

David McKnight Shannon’s uncle was Samuel Shannon, an early Itawamba County planter for whom the town of Shannon in adjoining Lee County was named. He owned a plantation between Coonewah and Chiwapa creeks and is listed on the early tax lists of Itawamba County. This area of old Itawamba County became Lee County during 1867.