Friday, February 04, 2022
Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Billican
Billican was the pseudonym of Wilfred Canan who was born William F. Canan on May 9, 1888, in Missoula, Montana. The birth information was on his World War I draft card. Canan’s birth name is based on the 1900 U.S. Federal Census and his book, How to Get By In and Out of a Small Town as a Cartoonist (1919). On page seven, the next to last line says, “P.S. His name is William Canan”. Page twenty-seven has a short piece by Philo (pseudonym of Carl Brockway) who wrote
Billican, god of fun, for things as they ought to be, and a contraction of the name Bill Canan, staff cartoonist of the Fargo Daily Courier-News, whose work also appears in all the Nonpartisan dailies and weeklies in about ten states and reaching approximately 300,000 readers.
In the 1900 census, Canan was the oldest of five children born to William H. Canan and Katherine Spillane, who married in February 1887. Canan’s father was a foreman at the railroad round house. The family resided in Saginaw, Michigan at 634 North Second Street.
The 1903 Saginaw city directory listed Canan, a student, and his father at 4276 North 3rd Avenue. The same address was in the 1904 and 1905 directories. During these two years, Canan was an apprentice at the Pere Marquette Railroad.
The 1907 Grand Rapids, Michigan city directory listed both of them as machinists who lived at 637 Jefferson Avenue. The Northern Pacific Railway Company Personnel File, at Ancestry.com, said Canan worked for the company from June 3, 1907 to February 22, 1911.
The 1910 census recorded the Canan family of eight in Yellowstone County, Montana.
By 1913 Canan used Wilfred as his first name as seen in the Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 3, Musical Compositions, 1913, New Series, Volume 8, Number 3.
Do it again; words and music by W. Canan. Washington, H. Kirkus Dugdale co., inc. [4340© Feb. 10. 1913: 2 c. Mar. 13, 1913; F 308589; Wilfred Canan, Jamestown, N. D.
Canan was mentioned in Duluth, Minnesota, newspapers.
Duluth Herald, June 14, 1916
... He is Wilfred Canan, known as “Billican,” a good live Elk. ...
Duluth News-Tribune, May 19, 1917
Who’s Who at Brainerd... Members of the Brainerd Symphonic orchestra as named went to Staples this noon to play in the concert there this evening. They included ... Beatrice Morrison, Wilfred Canan, Robert Gemmell, cellos ...
Duluth Herald, August 11, 1917
Brainerd—Wilfred Canan, cartoonist, for a time employed on a local paper, has accepted a position with a Fargo daily.
Duluth News-Tribune, November 27, 1917
Duluth Herald, July 24, 1918Two Brainerd Boys “Hitting Ball” in “Fourth Estate”Brainerd. Nov. 26.—On the staff of the Courier-News of Fargo, N.D., are two brained boys who are making good. Wilfred Canan, cartoonist, with the nom de plume of Billican and his pictures tickle the fancy of Fargo people and the northwest generally.Another is Carl Brockway, at one time pioneer letter carrier of Brainerd, whose walks circled the globe several times. Brockway now writes under the name of Philo,” and has a column daily of jokes, paragraphs, verses, etc., illustrated by “Billican.”
Wilfred Canan, the “Billican” of Brainerd and Nonpartisan papers of North Dakota and Minnesota, for which he is cartoonist, is in the city on a two week’s vacation.
Cartoons Magazine, October 1918, published a W. L. Evans School of Cartooning advertisement featuring Canan’s letter.
On June 5, 1917, Canan signed his World War I draft card. His address was 1001 Kingwood in Brainerd, Minnesota. Canan’s occupations were musician and illustrator. His description was tall and slender with blue eyes and light-colored hair. He claimed a physical disability of the lower limbs.
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| Billican cartoons from 1918-19 in the Fargo Courier-News |
According to the 1920 census, Canan was in Fargo at 521 1st Avenue. He was a newspaper cartoonist.
Canan was the publisher of The Goat which had an entry in the Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 2, Periodicals, 1920, New Series, Volume 15, Number 1.
Goat (The) A periodical in behalf of the organized farmers and workers of North Dakota. 32 p. illus. 11 by 8 1/2 inches. © Wilfred Canan, Fargo, N. D. [3369v. 1, no. 1, Jan., 1920. © Jan. 28, 1920; 2 c. Feb. 16, 1920; B 456041.
The Grand Forks Herald (North Dakota), July 23, 1921, said
William Canan, better known as “Billican,” cartoonist for the Nonpartisan league, told friends before leaving Fargo for Brainerd last night that things in the Nonpartisan league had become “too strong” for him, and that he was leaving the state and league work “thoroughly disgusted.”“Billican” was originator of the Nonpartisan league goat around which was builded the slogan, “the goat that can’t be got.”
The 1922 Brainerd, Minnesota city directory had Canan’s address as 1001 Kingwood Street.
The National Leader (Minneapolis, Minnesota), July 1923, published four illustrations by Canan. The introduction said
We call your attention to the four pictures in this issue by Billican. Billican, by the way, is William Canan of Brainerd, Minn., who is a rheumatic cripple.But Billican is not crippled in mind, and he talks to a vast audience with his pictures.We sent him proof sheets of the story on the National Producers Alliance and asked him to draw some pictures that even the small boys and girls on the farm would understand. We gave him no other suggestions. Billican tells a simple but powerful story in these four pictures.
The Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 4, Works of Art, 1923, New Series, Volume 18, Number 1 had this entry.
Canan (Wilfred) Brainerd, Minn.182Balance of power. [Drawing of elephant and donkey see-sawing over pork-barrel with goat in center] © 1 c. Dec. 26, 1923; G 67422.
Some of Canan’s 1924 cartoons for the Daily Worker can be viewed here.
The 1926 and 1927 St. Paul, Minnesota city directories said Canan resided at 321 Robert Street and worked on circular letters. In the 1928 he lived in Minneapolis at 314 South 8th Street and worked for the Krieg Letter Company.
Canan had an entry in the Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 1, Group 2, Books, 1928, New Series, Volume 25, Number 7.
Canan (Wilfred)* Minneapolis. Mimeogravure in a nut shell. Mimeogravure. Zip’s art-ad service, v. 3, no. 6, June, 1928. © May 1; 2 c. July 16; aff. July 30; A 1085815.33033
Apparently Canan passed away on April 3, 1929, in Los Angeles, California. The California Death Index, at Ancestry.com, has someone named Wilfred Canan born about 1889.
Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles
