In Georgia, during the early 1800s, slaves owned by the Vann Family made the bricks and milled the lumber used to build the Vann House in Spring Place. The 1860 Census records for Oklahoma (the last Census of the slavery era), indicates that the Cherokees held 4,600 Negro slaves; the Chickasaws owned 975; the Choctaws owned, 2,344; the Creeks held 1,532; and the Seminoles reportedly owned 500. The Chief Vann House is the first brick residence in the Cherokee Nation, and has been called the "Showplace of the Cherokee Nation ". Soon as you come out of the water you go over there and change clothes. Meanwhile, the Cherokees had presented their news of the slave revolt to the Cherokee National Council at the capital, Tahlequah, and gained approval for a Cherokee Militia unit to pursue, arrest, and deliver the fugitive slaves to Fort Gibson. He made a deal with Dave Mounts, a white man, who was moving into the Indian country to drive for him. A town was laid out on his Hamilton Country farm which was called, Vanntown. He had to work on the boat, though, and never got to come home but once in a long while. They wasnt 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 couldnt make them mind him. His parents Peggy Scott Vann and James Vann were both Cherokee of mixed-blood. Yes Sa. Another time his officer give him a message; he was on his way to deliver it when the enemy spy him and cry out to stop, but father said he kept on going until he was shot in the leg. Someone rattled the bones. http://www.timcdfw.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I7805&tree= Joseph Vann removed to the West in 1836. The cooks would bring big iron pots, and cook things right there. Correction Note: The preceding comments by the interviewer incorrectly depicts the relationship between the family members. The last one was named for Hubbard Ross; he was related to Chief John Ross and was some kin to Daniel Nave, my father's master. They never sent us anywhere with a cotton dress. The cooks would bake hams, turkey cakes and pies and there'd be lots to eat and lots of whiskey for the men folks. In one month you have to get back. Old Mistress had inherited some property from her pappy and dey had de slave money and when dey turned everything into good money after de War dat stuff only come to about six thousand dollars in good money, she told me. Two year old when my mamma died so I remember nothing of her, and most of my sisters and brothers dead too. People just go and help themselves, till they couldn't eat no mo! 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. But about the home--it was a double-room log house with a cooling-off space between the rooms, all covered with a roof, but no porch, and the beds was made of planks, the table of pine boards, and there was never enough boxes for the chairs so the littlest children eat out of a tin pan off the floor. Perhaps because they had observed the prosperity so often achieved by slave-holding whites, Indians of mixed-blood were more apt to own slaves. He never come until the next day, so dey had to sleep in dat pen in a pile like hogs. Every dollar she make on the track, I give it to Lucy." Johnson Thompson's father had been owned by "Rich Joe" Vann. He had run off after he was sold and joined de North army and discharged at Fort Scoot in Kansas, and he said lots of freedmen was living close to each other up by Coffeyville in the Coo-ee-scoo-wee District. We git three or four crops of different things out of dat farm every ear, and something growing on dat place winter and summer. Numerous others had previously gone to Oklahoma when their masters voluntarily relocated. I sure did love her. The separation ended at a reunification council with the Cherokee Nation in 1809. A bunch of us who was part Indian and part colored, we got our bed clothes together some hams and a lot of coffee and flour and started to Mexico. Everything we had was made by my folks. Because I'se so little, Missus Jennie took me into the Big house and raised me. We had out time to go to bed and our time to get up in the morning. Young Joseph was his father's favorite child and primary recipient of his father's estate and wealth. The place was all woods, and the Cherokees and the soldiers all come down to see the baptising. There was a house yonder where was dry clothes, blankets, everything. She dye with copperas and walnut and wild indigo and things like dat and made pretty cloth. He wanted people to know he was able to dress his slaves in fine clothes. The commissary was full of everyting good to eat. New search. You see, I'se one of them sudden cases. After supper the colored folks would get together and talk, and sing, and dance. When the War come they have a big battle away west of us, but I never see any battles. They wanted everybody to know we was Marster Vann's slaves. McLoughlin, William, Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic, Princeton University Press, (1986), ISBN 0691047413. Pappy wanted to go back to his mother when the War was over the slaves was freed. 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. 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. He had charge of all Master Chism's and Master Vann's race horses. Pappy worked around the farms and fiddled for the Cherokee dances. Lord it was terible. Malone, Henry Thompson, Cherokees of the Old South: A People in Transition, University of Georgia Press, (1956), ISBN 0670034207. My husband was a Cherokee born Negro, too, and when he got mad he forgit all the English he knowed. He said that those troops burned the Vann home during their pillage. Chief Joseph David VANNfamily tree Parents John Joseph 'Indian Trader' Cherokee Vann 1735- 1815 Waw Li Otterlifter 1750- 1835 Wrong Chief Joseph David VANN? Yes I was! She inherit about half a dozen slaves, and say dey was her own and old master can't sell one unless she give him leave to do it. Dey tole me some of dem was bad on negroes but I never did see none of dem night riding like some say dey did. All the Vann marsters was good looking. Born in Spring Place, Murray, Georgia, United States on 11 Feb 1765 to John Joseph 'Indian Trader' Cherokee Vann and WahLi Wa-Wli aka Polly Otterlifter Mary Christiana Otterlifter Wolf Clan. Someone maybe would be playing a fiddle or a banjo. Different friends would come and they'd show that arm. After de War was over, Old Master tell me I am free but he will look out after me cause I am just a little negro and I ain't got no sense. My uncle belong to old Captain Joe nearly all his life. We had to get up early and comb our hair first thing. He had to work on the boat, though, and never got to come home but once in a long while. Nita Caffrey 12/30/07. My uncle Joe was de slave boss and he tell us what de Master say do. Perdue, Theda, "The Conflict Within: The Cherokee Power Structure and Removal," Georgia Historical Quarterly, 73 (Fall, 1989), pp. 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. I don't know how old I is; some folks say I'se ninety-two and some say I must be a hundred. He would tell em plain before hand, "Now no trouble." Marster Jim and Missus Jennie wouldn't let his house slaves go with no common dress out. Interestingly, Mrs. Vann also speaks of some time that her family spent before and during the war in Mexico. My grandmother Clarinda Vann, bossed the kitchen and the washing and turned the key to the big bank. Joseph Vann was born February 11, 1798 near Springplace in the Cherokee Nation (now Georgia) the son of James Vann and Nancy Brown. I raised eleven children just on de sweat of my hands and none of dem ever tasted anything dat was stole. Dey would come in de night and hamstring de horses and maybe set fire to de barn, and two of em named Joab Scarrel, and Tom Starr killed my pappy one night just before the War broke out. My father was born in Tahlequah just about where the colored church stands on Depot Hill. He passed away on 21 Feb 1809 in Shot at Buffington Tavern, GA, USA. There'd be a whole wagon-load of things come and be put on the tree. In 1837 ptior to the main Cherokee Removal, he transported a few hundred Cherokee men, women, children, slaves and horses aboard a flotilla of flat boats to Webber's Falls on the Arkansas River in Indian Territory. Joseph William Vann Born 26 July 1770 - Edgefield District, South Carolina Territory Deceased 23 July 1854 - Demopolis, Sumter Co, Alabama, USA,aged 83 years old Parents Edward Jr. Vann 1738-1822 Mary King 1743-1786 Spouses and children Married in 1795, Edgefield, South Carolina, USA, to Lucy Jones 1773-1822 with Margaret Peggy Vann 1796-1857 When they gave a party in the big house, everything was fine. Pappy's name was Caesar Sheppard and Mammy's name was Easter. We all come back to de old place and find de negro cabins and barns burned down and de fences all gone and de field in crab grass and cockleburs. But de Big House ain't hurt cepting it need a new roof. Im glad the wars over and I am free to meet God like anybody else, and my grandchildren can learn to read and write. We went on a place in de Red River Bottoms close to Shawneetown and not far from de place where all de wagons crossed over to go into Texas. He born at Spring Place, Georgia on February 11, 1798. After we got our presents we go way anywhere and visit colored folks on other plantation. Although Lucinda Vann was owned by Jim Vann, she told about the death of "Rich Joe" Vann and the recovery of one of his arms, following the deadly explosion on his steamboat, the Lucy Walker. He wouldn' take us way off, but just for a ride. Original newspaper article says captain/owner of the steamboat was David Vann. In slavery time the Cherokee negroes do like anybody else when they is a death---jest listen to a chapter in the Bible and all cry. We had to have a pass to go any place to have signing or praying, and den they was always a bunch of patrollers around to watch everything we done. 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! That house was on the place my papa said he bought from Billy Jones in 1895. View Site It was in the Grand River close to the ford, and winter time. They was Cherokee Indians. I wore loom cloth clothes, dyed in copperas what the old Negro women and the old Cherokee women made. Pappy was the shoe-maker and he used wooden pegs of maple to fashion the shoes. He owned 110 slaves and on his plantation there were thirty-five houses, a mill and a ferry boat. This database contains stories submitted to Ancestry family trees by users who have indicated that their tree can be . Joseph Vann, the husband of Wah li was probably born 1735-1740. But we couldnt learn to read or have a book, and the Cherokee folks was afraid to tell us about the letters and figgers because they have a law you go to jail and a big fine if you show a slave about the letters. There was Mr. Jim Collins, and Mr. Bell, and Mr. Dave Franklin, and Mr. Jim Sutton and Mr. Blackburn that lived around close to us and dey all had slaves. Couldn't nobody go there, less they turn the key. 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