Copy of Keziah Vann Maney profile

Profile manager: Kathie Forbes [send private message]

Copy of the Keziah Vann Maney profile as of 11/19/2019.

Biography

Keziah was born about 1763.

Keziah Vann married Martin Maney who was an Indian Fighter.

Keziah died on 10 Dec 1849 and was buried on 20 Dec 1849 at the historic Maney Cemetery on Paint Fork Road in Barnardsville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, USA. ^[1]

Disputed Origins & Relations

Her father was supposed to be John "Cherokee" Vann. Her mother has been claimed to be Agnes Weatherford (who some say was half Creek Indian). Agnes' mother is listed as "Susanna" on many lists. Yet the majority of sources state that Agnes was white. ^[2]

Keziah's Indian connections were rejected numerous times for the Cherokee Rolls, supposedly because she couldn't prove her lineage as the daughter of John "Cherokee" Vann. She and the Metcalfs were in some of the Indian Rolls, but not in the final [Dawes] Roll ... It took many years, but finally Keziah and her descendants were acknowledged as of Cherokee blood by a judge. There are numerous papers to prove this.

There are various versions of this family line. Some go back to Chief Moytoy, Pigeon of Tellico. Some say that John "Cherokee" Vann was white. There is a purported photo of Keziah and she is very dark. Her mother was Agnes Weatherford and her maternal grandmother was supposed to be a Creek woman named Susanna" .

A 2012 Bureau of Indian Affairs report summarizes the findings of various government investigations of the Vann/Maney claims "The OFA’s review of the Miller Roll applications found that Martha and Walter Robinson resided in Juniper, North Carolina, and their claims were based on descent from Martin Maney (d. abt. 1833) and Kesiah Vann (d. abt. 1846). However, these two applications and 160 others based on the same genealogical claims connecting them to the Maney-Vann family were rejected by Miller. Miller’s investigation included a special report from Chas. E. Mix, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in 1858. Commissioner Mix reported that Martin Maney was from Ireland and a Revolutionary War soldier who had been on an expedition against the Cherokee. He and his wife, Kesiah (also spelled Keziah and Kaziah), who was the daughter of Agnes Weatherford, did not live among the Cherokee at the time of the treaty in 1817 and their heirs’ claims for reservation lands under the 1835-1845 treaties. Keziah (Vann) Maney was reportedly the daughter of John Vann, whom Miller Roll applicants claimed was part Cherokee. This claim was never established despite repeated attempts from as early as the 1830s to do so. ^[3] The 1858 report of Charles Mix can be found attached to the Eastern Cherokee application of Tabitha Anderson, #276, beginning at https://www.fold3.com/image/205869077.

In 1833 part of Buncombe County went into the formation of Yancey County, North Carolina and this included the area where their residence was. ^[4]

Here is Guion Miller's summary of the Maney claims. Transcript of Guion Miller’s comments regarding the Eastern Cherokee application of Tabitha Anderson: There are a large number of applicants claiming as descendants of Martin Maney and Keziah Vann Maney. This family has been the subject of dispute among the Cherokee a number of times, and from various reports on file in the Indian office, it appears that Martin Maney was an Irishman and died about 1832 or 33; that he served in the Revolutionary War and in the Expedition of Col. Rutherford against the Cherokees. His wife was named Keziah and was said to have been the daughter of one Agnes Weatherford, a white woman, and the claim was made that John Vann, a part Cherokee, was her father. From the same source is appears that prior to the treaties of 1817 and 1819, Martin Maney and his wife were not living with the Cherokee Indians, but that soon after these treaties, at the suggestion of one Nehemiah Blackstock, who is reported to have been a man of fine character and great integrity, who says that he jestingly remarked to Martin Maney that he ought to make a claim to an allotment with the Cherokees. Martin Maney and his family made an effort to secure the allotment under the treaty of 1819. While he appears to have occupied the land there was a controversy as to his right to do so, and he and his family were not returned as entitled to allotments, as reported by the Secretary of War to congress on Jan. 23, 1823. It does not appear that the Maney family were enrolled with the Eastern Cherokees in 1835, and in 1851 it appears from the reports that their names were considered but their rights to enrollment were denied. Shortly after this, about 1856, under the provisions of the Act of March 3, 1855, 10th Statute at large, Page 700, a second investigation was made into the claims of those who had been omitted by Siler and Chapman in the enrollment of 1851, and the right of the Maneys was again considered and denied. Later the subject was the matter of a special report by Charles E. Mix, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to Hon. Jake Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, and the Acting Commissioner under date of Jan. 16, 1858, reviewed the entire mater, but the Maneys were not given any rights and the former action of the Secretary in rejecting their claim appears to have remained unchanged. In view of this repeated investigation on the part of the Indian office and the Secretary of the Interior, which investigations began so many years ago, it does not appear proper to reconsider the question as to whether Keziah Maney, the daughter of Agnes Weatherford, was in fact the daughter of John Vann. It certainly does not appear that this family were recognized members of the Eastern Cherokee tribe at the time of the treaty of 1835-6; nor does it appear that they ever lived with the tribe as members of the tribe. These claims are therefore rejected. ^[5]

Burleson

A c2005 letter from Jeff to son John ... "Isaac Burleson is my great, great, great, great grandfather. He was born in 1750, fought in the Revolutionary War and then died in 1810. Some family members recently replaced (nb: 2004) his crumbling headstone with a new one. I also got to see the uniform he wore, the triangle hat and the flintlock rifle he used. Some other relatives showed CSA swords and other items. Just thought you might like to know."

Burleson Family Research Group response ...

There has been much incorrect information on the internet about Isaac Burlison, in fact there were two different Isaac Burlison’s. Find A Grave has pictures of an Isaac Burlison’s marker that is buried in Monroe Co, TN. The information, dates and military history is completely wrong. His death was in 1846 as the will plainly shows. His birth was in 1769 according to an sworn affidavit signed by Isaac Burlison in 1837;

State of Tennessee, Monroe County

Isaac Burleson, aged about 68 years personally came before Peter B. Haralson one of the acting Justice of the Peace for the county and State aforesaid being first duly sworn according to law disposes and says that he was personally acquainted with Martin Maney, John Maney and William Maney, natives of the Cherokee Nation and who took each of them a reservation in what is now Monroe County, East Tennessee on the creek called Sweetwater in the Treaties of 1817 and 1819 between the United States and the Cherokees and that they the said three Maneys resided on the ceded territory some years before the Treaty above named and that they each were the heads of Indian families having a wife and children and that the said Martin Maney, John Maney and William Maney each resided on their said reservations above described until the spring of 1820 at which time the white people were moving into the county and crowding the Indians very much. The three Maneys had several fields of excellent land and the white people being hard run to get land to make a crop that spring they united against the Maneys and determined to drive them out of the country and take their fields from them which they did and take their fields from them which they did so by threatening their lives and other bodily harm. I lived in the neighborhood and was frequently at their homes and can not be mistaken. Each of their reservations was sold at the land sales at Knoxville by the authorities of the State. Martin Maney’s wife was John Vann’s daughter, a native of the Cherokee Nation of Indians, sworn to and subscribed before me this August 1837.

John and William Maney are Martin Maney’s sons and I am half brother to Martin’s wife. Sworn to August 30th 1837.

(signed) Isaac Burleson

P. B. Haralson, Justice of Peace, Monroe County

This is proof from Isaac’s own mouth of his age and also proves that Isaac was only 13 years old when the American Revolutionary War was ended. Isaac Burlison of Monroe Co did not serve in the War. The marker does show that he served in Company B, North Carolina Militia. There was no such militia and he was only 13 years old. The marker was incorrectly placed on his grave many years after his death, by someone that that did not know his birth & death dates or his service.

Isaac Burlison born c1750 and died between 1810 and 1812 in Montgomery Co, NC did serve in the War. He was a member of Captain Charles Polk’s Clear Creek Militia in Feb 1776 and he joined the 5th SC Regiment in April 1776. His record is documented. This Isaac is the ancestor of all of the Stanly County Burleson Family. In 1995 the Sons of the American Revolution placed a Military marker on his grave. Isaac Burlison of Montgomery Co, NC was probably born in Lunenburg Co, VA and moved as a youth to Rocky River in Anson Co, NC. That area later became Montgomery Co in 1779 and Stanly Co in 1841, where he lived out his life.

Isaac Burlison born 1769 of Monroe Co, TN, was probably born on Rocky River because he was the son of Agnes Weatherford (Vann) Burlison and a Burlison father. He is in the 1800 Buncombe Co, NC census record and settled on the Big Ivey River before he moved to Cocke Co, TN about 1820. He then moved to Monroe Co, TN where he died leaving his Will in 1846.

--John Hoyle Burleson of Stanly Co, NC

Research Notes

A source is needed to confirm her birth location ...

b: Cherokee Territory, Tennessee ?

b: Anson County, North Carolina ?

There is an unproven supposition that there were two Keziah that are half-sisters born around the same time, each with separate mothers who were married to John Vann. Listing found for the wifes of John": a "Betty Que-Di c1748 and Agnus Weatherford. looking for proof of which one belongs to the other. ^{[citation needed]}

She should NOT be confused with Keziah Hall who married Samuel James Southern. The following is proof that Keziah married MANEY and not SOUTHERN ...

In 1837 claims were filed regarding the Cherokee lineage of Keziah Vann and Agnes Weatherford gave an affidavit to Cocke County, Tennessee in front of Justice of the Peace, James Bantas, ^[6] which included the following ...

". . . that she is about one hundred years of age, that she is a native of the Cherokee Nation, that she was married to John Vann, formerly living at the Long Island of the Holston for many years, that she had by said John Vann, Senior, John Vann, Junior and Keziah married to Martin Maney".

"That they, Martin, John and William [latter two are Martin and Keziah's sons] each the head of Indian families there residing on their reservations and continued to do so until the Spring of 1820, when they were driven away by the whites, assisted by some of the Indians ..."

Sources

1. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #46981772 for Keziah (Vann) Maney, b: 1763; d: 1849; buried: Maney Cemetery, Barnardsville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, USA.
2. ↑ Research of DeBee Justice, posted to this g2g thread
3. ↑ Final Determination letter petitioner #227 https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/as-ia/ofa/petition/227_ctbdch_TN/227_fd.pdf
4. ↑ 1840 Census of Yancey County, North Carolina
5. ↑ Report submitted by Guion Miller, Special Commissioner, Mary 28, 1909, Vol. 1, Applications 1-3000, image 36. Images available at Fold3, microfilm at National Archives and Records Administration
6. ↑ 1837 Court Affidavit of Agnes Vann

• BIA Special File #102 Claims to participation in per capita payments to the Eastern Cherokee 1849-1857: The Maney Files p32. Transcription by Milus B. Maney, copyright 2007

• Excerpts from the Keziah Vann Maney Notebook compiled by Milus B. Maney (via Archive.org's WayBack machine; no longer at primary site) 2007-2009. (Unfortunately, the links to PDFs are not on archive.org)

• Erskine-Willis Family History book
• Moravian Journals
• "Cherokee by Blood"
• "Cherokee Lineages" by James Raymond Hicks