The die was next put used to create the E.W. King essay. The identity of E. W. King remains a mystery. Perry suggested that E. W. King might have been Curtis’ unnamed partner in the wholesale grocery business in St. Paul; however a review of the city directories for St. Paul in the Library of Congress, covering the years 1863 thorough 1883, did not reveal a listing for an E. W. King in either the match or the grocery business.
Cannon Match Company Stamp
The die was then used by the Cannon Match Company, of Stillwater Minnesota, of which W. D. Curtis was a partner. The name “Cannon Match Company” was apparently in honor of W. H. Cannon, the cashier of the Lumbermen’s National Bank in Stillwater, who loaned the company the money for the revenue stamps. Curtis also had an unnamed partner in the wholesale grocery business in St. Paul Minnesota. The Cannon company’s die was approved in November 1877, and it received stamps between December 1877 and sometime in 1878.