Patty Canno, born in the 1760's, and died in 1829, was described as a fearsome woman. She would kidnap free blacks and sell them back into slavery. She would also detain and kill travelers who had anything of value with them, burying their bodies in the fields behind her home.

In 1829, four bodies were found on her property, and she was arrested, indicted and jailed in Georgetown, DE. Before trial, she apparently committed suicide. She was interred in the jail's graveyard. In the early 1900's, the jail graveyard was needed for expansion of county buildings, and all bodies were exhumed, including Patty's. Somehow, someone kept her skull. It surfaced in Angola DE, with the skull eventually being donated to the Dover DE Public Library in 1961, where it was kept and made available for viewing by anyone who asked. In 2010, the skull was sent to the Smithsonian for testing, where it remains.

The pictured house is built on the lot where Patty Cannon's residence was located, in Reliance MD, on the Delaware line, with a historical marker identifying the site.