John Vann (abt. 1745 - abt. 1806)

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

John was Cherokee.

His parents were a white trader named John "the Trader" Vann and his Cherokee wife who some researchers believe was a sister of the "Raven of Hiwassee", although she is not named in any contemporaneous records. ^[1] "Sister of Raven" seems to be an assumption based on the fact that Bernard Hughes was warned of trouble by his Cherokee wife and then sent to the "Raven of Hiwassee" for assistance when his trading post was attacked by angry Cherokee in 1751. ^[2]

"Trader" John Vann and his wife had three children together, John and his sisters Wahli and Betty. These children, John, Wahli, and Betty, also had half-siblings, the children of their mother and white traders named Hughes and Rowe. Creek agent Benjamin Hawkins noted in 1797 that he had made the acquaintance of "old Mrs. Roe, near 80, the mother of these men [David Rowe and John Vann]". ^[3]

John Howard Payne recorded a story about James Vann which included the information that Charles Hughes was his mother’s [half] brother, ^[4] and author Tiya Miles confirmed that Sallie Hughes Waters was a half-sister. ^[5]

The Moravians recorded Richard Roe as the uncle of James Vann and John Vann as the uncle of Nancy Vann ^[6]

John "the Cherokee" Vann had children by two or three women.

John "the Cherokee" Vann and Agnes Ruth Weatherford (a white woman) are claimed to have had a daughter, Keziah Vann, who married a white man named Martin Maney. ^[7]

Although Agnes testified in 1837 that she was the mother of John Vann, Jr., the Cherokee Nation believed his mother was an African-American woman. Whoever she was, she was not Cherokee and for that reason the Cherokee Nation did not accept either daughter Keziah or son John Jr. as Cherokee tribe members.

John "the Cherokee" Vann and Polly Terrapin had a son, George Vann.

The Moravian missionaries recorded the parents of their student George Vann as John Vann and Polly [Terrapin] and recorded John Vann's death from smallpox in 1806. ^{[8] [9]}

John Vann's nephew James Vann was killed in 1809 and when his estate was being settled, the Moravians wrote ...

John Vann, the father of our George Vann, had ordered before his death that his entire estate was to be divided between his two stepsisters [they were actually his full sisters], one of whom is the mother of James Vann ... ^[10]

In 1722 Chowan Precinct went into the formation of Gates County in the northeast portion of North Carolina on the border with Virginia.

According to old records the VANN family lived near Saram Chapel, an old landmark in what is now Gates County, which was at the head of Saram Creek in the Bennett's Creek section. There were two Indian towns not far from this settlement.

Legal

State of Tennessee, Cocke County

This day came Agnes Vann before me James Bantas, justice of the Peace for said County and being duly sworn according to law on her oath made the following affidavit, the wit, 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 Holston in the Cherokee Nation for many years, that she had by said John Vann, Senior ...

John Vann, Junior and

Keziah married to Martin Maney,

Nancy, married to Absolom Metcalf.

John Maney, William Maney and James Maney, all four of the children of Keziah and Martin now living, but Martin Maney is dead leaving Nancy, John, William and James, the said children alive and that Keziah the widen is still living. She had no other children. That she Agnes was examined on oath by Col. Return J. Meigs the then Indian Agent at Calhoun at the time that he made the entries of Martin Maney, John Maney, and Wm. Maney for reservations in the Indian Nation near where the Town of New Philadelphia now stands and they each of them took their reservations on Sweetwater at and near the Big Spring where the town now stands. That they, Martin, John and William 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 as she was informed and believes and this despondent said wit. /signed/ Agnes Vann

Sworn to before me a Justice of the Peace for the county aforesaid this 7th day of September 1837 attest.

/signed/ James Bantas, J.P.

I, James Bantas, a Justice of the Peace for the county do hereby certify that Agnes Vann, she has made the foregoing affidavit although old, is of sound min and memory and of good mind and that her statement as heretofore made is entitled to full faith and credit for she understands the English language well.Signed under my hand and seal as Justice of the Peace this 7th day of September 1837. /signed/ James Bantas, J.P. (Seal)

I, William M. Sevier, Clerk of the County of the county of Cocke, State of Tennessee, do hereby certify that James Bantas, who has taken the above affidavit of Agnes Vann is a Justice of the Peace for the county and State aforesaid, duly commissioned to act as such and that all his official acts as such are entitled to full faith and credit.In testimony whereas I have herewith set my hand and affixed the seal of office this 8thday of September 1837. /signed/ Wm. M. Sevier, Clerk

Research Notes

Actual records from the Cherokee Nation before 1800 are few and far between. The Cherokee did not have a written language until 1821, so all records before then were made by non-Cherokee people. Family names and relationships are rarely mentioned. Most of these early families are assembled by extrapolation from later records, primarily from missionaries who arrived about 1800.

Sources

1. ↑ "Upon Our Ruins" p394 by Shadburn and Strange & Cottonpatch Press of Cumings, GA in 2012
2. ↑ "The Cherokee Frontier" p26 by David Corkran & University of Oklahoma Press of Norman, OK in 1962
3. ↑ "Collected Works of Benjamin Hawkins" p22 by Howard Foster & University of Alabama Press in Tuscaloosa, OK in 2010
4. ↑ "Payne-Butrick Papers" v1 p144-116 edited by Anderson, Brown, Rogers & University of Nebraska Press in Lincoln, NB in 2010
5. ↑ "The House at Diamond Hill" by Tiya Miles p52 note#4 & University of North Carolina Press in 2010; “Sally [Hughes] Waters’ position as James Vann’s aunt was confirmed by Cherokee historian and genealogist Jack Baker (conversation with Tiya Miles, July 2008 in Springplace, GA)
6. ↑ "Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees" v1 p217; v2 p457 edited by Crews & Starbuck & Cherokee National Press of Tahlequah, OK in 2010
7. ↑ 1837 Deposition by Agnes VANN which stated in part, "This day came Agnes Vann before me, James Bantas, justice of the Peace for said County and being duly sworn according to law on her oath made the following affidavit, to wit '... 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"
8. ↑ Moravian Journals, "Many … had died of the smallpox this fall. Among others was also son of Chief Bark as well as the husband of our George's mother." 20 Dec 1806.
9. ↑ "Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees" v1 p149 edited by Rowena McClinton & University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NB in 2007
10. ↑ "Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees" v3 p1260 edited by Crews & Starbuck & Cherokee Heritage Press of Tahlequah, OK

• Special Files of the Office of Indian Affairs 1807-1904; NARA# M574 roll#16 Special File#102: Claims to participation in per capita payments to the Eastern Cherokee 1849-57

• "The Maney Files" transcribed by Milus B. Maney, copyrighted 2007