Hulda Cannon was the oldest child of John Milton "Milton" Cannon and his wife Ellender Malinda "Malinda" Rich Cannon. Her grandparents were Russell E. and Elizabeth Cannon. Hulda was born on September 16, 1847, in Calhoun, Gordon County, Georgia. She was almost certainly named after her father's sister Hulda Serena Cannon Rich Powell. Hulda's parents were farmers and owned a partnership in a tannery. When the Civil War started, her father joined the Confederate Army. He wrote home frequently to advise his wife about the farm and tannery and, especially, the children. In one letter, John discussed the problem with sending Hulda to school during the war. She was a much-loved child, and her parents were concerned about her education. In 1864 her father was capured by the invading Northern Army and was sent to a POW camp in Indianapolis where he died. Family legend says that his wife Malinda died without knowing what happened to her husband.

In 1869 Malinda decided to make a new life for herself and her children in Texas. Her daughter Hulda who had married George Washington Crone when she was 20 years old on October 10, 1867, decided to join her mother and siblings on the wagon train to Texas. They brought with them their young daughter Roxanna. At some time before 1880, Hulda and George settled in Smith County, Texas, where they lived and farmed the rest of their lives.

Hulda and George had at least eight children--Roxanna, Albert G., Malinda Frances, James Lafayette, Mary Ann, Theodocia, John Andrew, and Calvin George.

Hulda died at the age of 103 of pneumonia in the hospital in Grand Saline, Van Zandt Conty, Texas, on July 12, 1951. She was buried in Providence Cemetery in Smith County next to her husband George who had died 63 years earlier in 1888.