http://www.timcdfw.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I7805&tree= Joseph Vann removed to the West in 1836. Then, in Section 2, John Vann's own records will be presented as unembellished as can be in order to glimpse him at work as a Chickasaw packman, Cherokee trader and government translator. And we had corn bread and cakes baked every day. They wasn't very big either, but one day two Cherokees rode up and talked a long time, then young Master came to the cabin and said they were sold because mammy couldn't make them mind him. They'd sell 'em to folks at picnics and barbecues. Lord yes su-er. Nails cost big money and Old Master's blacksmith wouldn't make none 'ceptin a few for old Master now an den so we used wooden dowels to put things together. Dat was one poor negro dat never go away to de North and I was sorry for him cause I know he must have had a mean master, but none of us Sheppard negroes, I mean the grown ones, tried to get away. We made money and kept it in a sack. Oh Lord, no. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Vann, Feb 11 1798 - Spring Place, Murray, Georgia, United States, Oct 23 1844 - Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky, United States. Well, I go ahead, and make me a crop of corn all by myself and then I don't know what to do wid it. They wanted everybody to know we was Marster Vann's slaves. De brothers was Sam and Eli. If someone they didn't want to have it try to dig it up, money sink down, down deep in the ground where they couldn't get it. Marster never whipped no one. At night dem trundles was jest all over the floor, and in de morning we shoved em back under de big beds to git dem outn' de way. Dey come to de house one time when he was gone to Fort Smith and us children told dem he was at Honey Springs, but they knowed better and when he got home he said somebody shot at him and bushwhacked him all the way from Wilson's Rock to dem Wildhorse Mountains, but he run his horse like de devil was sitting on his tail and dey never did hit him. Indians wouldn't allow their slaves to take their husband's name. They was so many of us for dat little field we never did have to work hard. I remember that home after the war brought my pappa back home. He jest kept him and he was a good negro after that. He was a slave on the Chism plantation, but came to Vann's all the time on account of the hourses. All Indians lived around there, the real colored settlement was four mile from us, and I wasn't scared of them Indians for pappa always told me his master Henry Nave, was his own father; that make me part Indian and the reason my hair is long, straight and black like a horse mane. 33, No. Of course I hear about Abraham Lincoln and he was a great man, but I was told mostly by my children when dey come home from school about him. Others were returned to their owners. He made a deal with Dave Mounts, a white man, who was moving into the Indian country to drive for him. Old Master had some kind of business in Fort Smith, I think cause he used to ride into dat town about every day on his horse. Rich Joe Vann died in Oct. 1844 when the boiler exploded on his steamboat, the "Lucy Walker" during a race with another vessel near New Albany, Ind. My mother saw it but the colored chillun' couldn't. She was raised up at dat mill, but she was borned in Tennessee before dey come out to de nation. Everbody goin' on races gamblin', drinkin', eatin', dancin', but it as all behavior everything all right. You see, I'se one of them sudden cases. He is indeed of warm temper, but who can gain his love, which is no hard task, has gained all, and we have no doubt that with reasonable management, he may be made a very useful man.". Bahnen der Stadt Monheim GmbH. We had fine satin dresses, great big combs for our hair, great big gold locket, double earrings we never wore cotton except when we worked. Joe had two wives, one was named Missus Jennie. It had no windows, but it had a wood floor that was kept clean with plenty of brushings, and a fireplace where mammy'd cook the turnip greens and peas and corn--I still likes the cornbread with fingerprints baked on it like in the old days when it was cooked on a skillet over the hot wood ashes. Missus Jenni lived in a big house in Webbers Fall.s Don't know where the other one lived. Cornelius Neely Nave was a grandson of Talaka Vann, a slave owned by Joseph Vann in Webbers Falls. I know he is right, too. Joe had two wives, one was named Missus Jennie. We had home-made wooden beds wid rope springs, and de little ones slept on trundle beds dat was home made too. Son of James (Ti-ka-lo-hi) Crazy Chief Vann and Nancy (Go-sa-du-i-sga) Timberlake Marster had a big Christmas tree, oh great big tree, put on the porch. I dunno her other name. Then he hide in the bushes along the creek and got away. He never come until the next day, so dey had to sleep in dat pen in a pile like hogs. Joseph, 11 years old, was in the room when his father, James, was murdered, in Buffingtons Tavern in 1809 near the site of the family-owned ferry. Although he was born after slavery had ended, Nave's remembrances of what his father had told him about slavery days include some interesting details. When meal time come, someone ring that bell and all the slaves know its time to eat and stop their work. Everybody cry, everybody'd pretty nearly die. Historical records and family trees related to Cherokee Vann. Person Interviewed: Betty Robertson Location: Fort Gibson, Oklahoma Age: 93 I was born close to Webbers Falls, in the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation, in the same year that my pappy was blowed up and killed in the big boat accident that killed my old Master. Revolution and the growth of industrial society, 1789- 1914 Developments in 19th-century Europe are bounded by two great events. 1795(Chas.Fox Taylor)(John Stidham,Sr. Their slaves also helped build the nearby Moravian mission and school in Spring Place. My husband didn't give me nothing. Although Joseph Vann's body was never found, slave Lucinda Vann revealed that one of his arms had been found, positively identified, and taken to Vann's home at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, where it was preserved for many years. He would start at de crack of daylight and not git home till way after dark. The colored folks did most of the fiddlin'. He took us back to Texas right down near where I was born at Bellview. My husband was a Cherokee born Negro, too, and when he got mad he forgit all the English he knowed. They spun the cottons and wool, weaved it and made cloth. But we couldn't learn to read or have a book, and the Cherokee folks was afraid to tell us about the letters because they have a law you go to jail and a big fine if you show a slave about the letters. Its got a buckeye and a lead bullet in it. Old Master bought de cotton in Ft. Smith, because he didn't raise no cotton, but he had a few sheep and we had wool mix for winter. Of course, all slaves were officially freed during the Civil War. Couldn't nobody go there, less they turn the key. The first time I married was to Clara Nevens, and I wore checked wool pants, and a blue striped cotton shirt. When Mammy went old Mistress took me to de Big House to help her and she was kind to me like I was part of her own family. Like the Ph.D. and the Christmas tree, as Tony Weir has pointed out, the Festschrift is a German import.2 The literal . It made my Master mad, but dey didn't belong to him no more and he couldn't say nothing. The slaves who worked in the big house was the first class. Mistress try to get de man to tell her who de negro belong to so she can buy him, but de man say he can't sell him and he take him on back to Texas wid a chain around his two ankles. Used to go up and down the river in his steamboat. He was called by his contemporaries "Rich Joe" and many legends of his wealth ware still told among the Cherokees. Seneca Chism was my father. Everything was cheap. My pappy run away one time, four or five years before I was born, mammy tell me, and at that time a whole lot of Cherokee slaves run off at once. When we wanted to go anywhere we always got a horse, we never walked. There was big parties and dances. Oh the news traveled up and down the river. While attending the American Board college in Cornwall, Connecticut, he met and married Harriet Gold. On October 23, 1844, the steamboat Lucy Walker departed Louisville, Kentucky, bound for New Orleans. I had the money Black Hock had won on the track. Our clothes was home-made---cotton in the summer, mostly just a long-tailed shirt and no shoes, and wood goods in the winter. After it was wove they dyed it all colors, blue, brown, purple, red, yellow. Some of these slaves served as crew members of Vann's steamboat, a namesake of his favorite race horse "Lucy Walker". There'd be a whole wagon-load of things come and be put on the tree. It was "Don't Call the Roll, Jesus Because I'm Coming Home." Master Thompson brought us from Texas when I was too little to remember about it, and I din't know how long it was before we was all sold to John Harnage, "Marse John" was his pet name and he liked to be called that-a-way. The following year, Joseph Vann and several of his black rebels died in the explosion of his steamboat Lucy Walker during a race on the Ohio River. I went to see dem lots of times and they was always glad to see me. He come to our house and Mistress said for us Negroes to give him something to eat and we did. Born 11 February 1798 - Spring Place, Cherokee Nation-East, IT., GA. Deceased 23 October 1844 - Aboard the Lucy Walker,aged 46 years old Parents James Vann, Chief 1809 Nancy Ann Timberlake Brown 1780-1850 Spouses and children Married, Georgia., USA, to Elizabeth Catherine Rowe 1798- with Living Vann Clarinda Rebecca Vann ca 1817- Delia Vann 1834- Sometimes just white folks danced; sometimes just the black folks. Soon as you come out of the water you go over there and change clothes. The engineer's name was Jim Vann. Everybody had fine clothes everybody had plenty to eat. Clarinda Vann and my aunt Maria turned the keys to the vault and commissary. The following oral history narrative is from the The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives in the Library of Congress, edited by T. Lindsay Baker, Julie Philips Baker: Yes Sa. "We'd say "Come on buffalo", and it would come to us. Pappy worked around the farms and fiddled for the Cherokee dances. )(Alexander Nave) and Joseph Rich Joe Vann b. Joseph and his sister Mary were children of James Vann and Nannie Brown, both Cherokee of mixed-blood, with partial European ancestry. He moved his family to this location and resided there two or three years, until he could establish himself in the west. I eat from a big pan set on the floor---there was no chairs--and I slept in a trundle bed that was pushed under the big bed in the daytime. Joseph H. Vann, (11 February 1798 - 23 October 1844). Mr. Reese had a big flock of peafowls dat had belonged to Mr. Scott and I had to take care of demWhitefolks. He had charge of all Master Chism's and Master Vann's race horses. Old Mistress cried jest like any of de rest of us when de boat pull out with dem on it. Dey called young Mr. Joe "Little Joe Vann" even after he was grown on account of when he was a little boy before his pappy was killed. Old Master Joe was a big man in the Cherokees, I hear, and was good to his negroes before I was born. 29 November 2015. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/black-genealogy/slave-narrative-of-b - Last updated on Aug 24th, 2012, VANN SLAVES REMEMBER 2003 By Herman McDaniel Murray County Museum. I go to this house, you come to my house. Soon as you come out of the water you go over there and change clothes. Old Master Joe had a big steam boat he called the Lucy Walker, and he run it up and down the Arkansas and the Mississippi and the Ohio river, old Mistress say. He had charge of all Master Chism's and Master Vann's race horses. In summer when it was hot, the slaves would sit in the shade evenings and make wooden spoons out of maple. He had black eyes and mustache but his hair was iron gray, and everybody like him because he was so good natured and kind. The big house was made of log and stone and had big mud fireplaces. Everybody had a good time on old Jim Vann's plantation. There'd be races and people would have things what they was sellin' like moccasins and beads. People all a visitin'. No nails in none of dem nor in de chairs and tables. There were some Cherokee slaves that were taken to Mexico, however, she makes vivid references to Seminole leaders John Horse, and Wild Cat. In the master's yard was the slave cabin, one room long, dirt floor, no windows. We went down to the river for baptizings. We settled down a little ways above Fort Gibson. Women came in satin dresses, all dressd up, big combs in their hair, lots of rings and bracelets. At least twenty-five of Vann's slaves participated in the Cherokee slave revolt of 1842. Den I went to a subscription school for a little while, but didn't get much learning. The commissary was full of everyting good to eat. The second time I married a cousin, Rela Brewer. Didn't you never see one of them slidin' beds? There'd be a hole wagon-load of things come and be put on the tree. Bus operators. When father was young he would go hunting the fox with his master, and fishing in the streams for the big fish. He was a Cherokee leader who owned Diamond Hill (now known as the Chief Vann House), many slaves, taverns, and steamboats that he operated on the Arkansas, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers. Chief Joseph H. Vann was a prominent Cherokee leader in Georgia. De furniture is all gone, and some said de soldiers burned it up for firewood. A few days later they caught up with the slaves, still in Indian Territory. Indians wouldn't allow their slaves to take their husband's name. She dye with copperas and walnut and wild indigo and things like dat and made pretty cloth. Every dollar she make on the track, I give it to Lucy." My mother died when I'se small and my father married Delia Vann. There was lots of preserves. I lost my land trying to live honest and pay my debts. He worked in the gold mines. If somebody bad sick he git de doctor right quick, and he don't let no negroes mess around wid no poultices and teas and sech things, like cupping-horns neither! I sure did love her. Because mamma was sick then he brought her sister Sucky Pea and her husband, Charley Pea, to help around wid him. We never put on de shoes until about late November when de front begin to hit regular and split our feet up, and den when it git good and cold and de crop all gathered in anyways, they is nothing to do 'cepting hog killing and a lot of wood chopping and you don't get cold doing dem two things. Joseph Vann is listed in the Cherokee census of 1835 as a resident of the Cherokee nation within the chartered limits of Hamilton County, Tennessee, his family consisting of fifteen persons. He never seen them neither. "Rich Joe" owned a large plantation on the Tennessee River near the mouth of the Ooltewah Creek. My grandmother Clarinda Vann, bossed the kitchen and the washing and turned the key to the big bank. Some officers stayed in de house for a while and tore everything up or took it off. Everybody a hollerin' and a cryin'. They didn't go away, they stayed, but they tell us colored folks to go if we wanted to. There was five hundred slaves on that plantation and nobdy ever lacked for nothing. They never sent us anywhere with a cotton dress. I couldnt buy anything in slavery time, so I jest give the piece of money to the Vann children. Joseph Vann took the rebel slaves belonging to him out of the Cherokee Nation and permanently assigned them to work on his steamboats. Everybody, white folks and colored folks, having good itme. My mother was seamstress. I don't know how old I is; some folks say I'se ninety-two and some say I must be a hundred. In one month you have to get back. He'd take us and enjoy us, you know. When the Indians decided to return home for reinforcements, the slaves started moving again toward Mexico. A doctor put it in alcohol and they kept it a long time. I'se born across the river in the plantation of old Jim Vann in Webbers Falls. Joseph Vann was born February 11, 1798 near Springplace in the Cherokee Nation (now Georgia) the son of James Vann and Nancy Brown. Yes Lord Yes. We left de furniture and only took grub and tools and bedding and clothes, cause they wasn't very big wagons and was only single-yoke. Then we all have big dinner, white folks in the big house, colored folks in their cabins. Yes, Lord Yes. My other sisters was Polly, Ruth and Liddie. This is a reconstruction of the non-Indian immediate relatives of Chief James Vann, based on the solid evidence of Cherokee sources (especially the Moravian Diaries at Spring Place,GA 1800-1836), plus confirming information obtained from postings on the Vann Family Forum: Joseph H. Vann was born in Spring Place, Georgia. When the war come they have a big battle away west of us, but I never see any battles. Its got a buokeys and a lead bullet in it. Cherokee tribes are native to the North American continent. The comfort accorded house slaves is in stark contrast to the lives of the field slaves described in other interviews. I joined the Catholic church after the war. I sure did love her. Elizabeth Scott; parents of Delilah Vann; married Nancy Brown; parents of Mary b. After the explosion someone found an arm up in a tree on the bank of the river. Marster and missus never allowed chillun to meddle in the big folks business. Records may include photos, original documents, family history, relatives, specific dates, locations and full names. We was at dat place two years and made two little crops. The colored folks did most of the fiddlin'. There was five hundred slaves on that plantation and nobody ever lacked for nothing. I wore a stripedy shirt till I was about 11 years old and den one day while we was down in the Choctaw Country old Mistress see me and nearly fall off her horse. on the Ohio River. When I left Mrs. McGee's I worked about three years for Mr. Sterling Scott and Mr. Roddy Reese. Born on February 11, 1798, in Murray County in northwest Georgia, Vann was the son of Chief James Vann and Margaret "Peggy" Scott. 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