We was too tired when we come in to play any games. He said that those troops burned the Vann home during their pillage. I had a brother named Harry who belonged to the Vann family at Tahlequah. I go to this house, you come to my house. 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. The slaves had a pretty easy time I think. The preacher took his candidate into the water. Everybody had a good time. There was a house yonder where was dry clothes, blankets, everything. Lord yes su-er. 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. In the pre-dawn hours of November 15, 1842, the Negroes locked their still-sleeping masters and overseers in their homes. Women came in satin dresses, all dressd up, big combs in their hair, lots of rings and bracelets. After the old time rich folks die, them that had their money buried, they com back and haunt the places where it is. After we got our presents we go way anywhere and visit colored folks on other plantation. There was great big wooden scaffolds. We had meat, bread, rice, potatoes and plenty of fish and chicken. Now I'se just old forgotten woman. Lord, Yes! 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. The home was subsequently owned by . Birth 04 Oct 1852 - New Hope, Ok. Death 24 Sep 1879 - Saline District, Cherokee Nation, I.T. Coming out of the army for the last time, Pappa took all the family and moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, but I guess he feel more at home wid the Indians for pretty soon we all move back, this time to a farm near Fort Gibson. Yes, my dear Lord yes. 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 slave cabins was in a row, and we lived in one of them. 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. Missus Jenni lived in a big house in Webbers Falls. I got my allotment as a Cherokee Freedman, and so did Cal, but we lived here at this place because we was too old to work the land ourselves. There wasn't nothing left. We had to get up early and comb our hair first thing. Yes Lord yes. Joseph Harold Vann, born 31 May 1920 in Canton Texas, passed away on 24 December 2003 in Fort Worth Texas. Black Hock was awful attached to the kitchen. 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. Im glad the wars over and I am free to meet God like anybody else, and my grandchildren can learn to read and write. Everybody a hollerin' and a cryin'. We had bonnets that had long silk tassels for ties. De clothes wasn't no worry neither. Everybody had a good time. My marster and missus buried their money and valuables everywhere. The master's house was a big log building setting east and west, with a porch on the north side of the house. There'd be races and people would have things what they was sellin' like moccasins and beads. That house was on the place my papa said he bought from Billy Jones in 1895. Up at five o'clock and back in sometimes about de middle of de evening long before sundown, unless they was a crop to git in before it rain or something like dat. on the Ohio River. One time old Master and another man come and took some calves off and Pappy say old Master taking dem off to sell I didn't know what sell meant and I ast Pappy is he going to bring em back when he git through selling them. By and by I married Nancy Holdebrand what lived on Greenleaf Creek, bout four miles northwest of Gore. They get something they need too. The young, single girls lived with the old folks in another big long house. I dont know, but that was before my time. I went to the missionary Baptist church where Marster and Missus went. Eventually the Cherokee council granted Joseph the inheritance in line with his father's wish; this included 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of land, trading posts, river ferries, and the Vann House in Spring Place, Georgia. We had a good song I remember. Pappa got the soldier fever from being in the War; no, I don't mean like the chills and fever, but just a fever to be in the army, I guess for he joined the regular U.S. Army after a while, serving five years in the 10th Cavalry at Fort Sill during the same time John Adair of Tahelquah and John Gallagher of Muskogee was in the army. Young Master Joe let us have singing and be baptised if we want to, but I wasnt baptized till after the war. One day Missus Jennie say to Marster Jim, she says, "Mr. Vann, you come here. By 1800 slavery had become firmly entrenched in the Five Civilized Tribes. The commissary was full of everything good to eat. Lord have mercy I'll say they was. Chief John Joseph Vann was born circa 1736, at birth place, Kansas, to John Vann. I know he is right, too. I raised eleven children just on de sweat of my hands and none of dem ever tasted anything dat was stole. My mother, grandmother, aunt Maria and cousin Clara, all worked in the big house. The fugitive slaves killed the two bounty hunters and the slaves they had been returning joined those attempting to reach Mexico. They'd cut brush saplings, walk out into the stream ahead of the pen and chase the fish down to the riffle where they'd pick em up. I'se born right in my master and missus bed. We had a good song I remember. Hams cakes, pies, dresses, beads, everything. Every dollar she make on the track, I give it to Lucy." The master had a bell to ring every morning at four o'clock for the folks to turn out. We never had no school in slavery and it was agin' the law for anybody to even show a negro de letters and figures, so no Cherokee slave could read. Joseph was the son of a Chief of the Cherokees James Vann, and Nancy Brown Vann. My uncle belong to old Captain Joe nearly all his life. Dat just about lasted em through until dey died, I reckon. After the assassination of James Vann in 1809, his will left all of his very large estate to only one of his children, Joseph Vann (thereafter known as "Rich Joe.").However, the National Council of Chiefs decided to annul Vann's Will and to provide additional shares for the other children: Mary Vann, Robert Vann, Lilly [Delilah Amelia] Vann, We had bonnets that had long silk tassels for ties. I would have to go tromp seven miles to Mr. Scott's house two or three times a week to bring back some old peafowl dat had got out and gone back to de old place! They spun the cottons and wool, weaved it and made cloth. He sure stood good with de Cherokee neighbors we had, and dey all liked him. Don't know what they ever did with that arm. Some of these slaves served as crew members of Vann's steamboat, a namesake of his favorite race horse "Lucy Walker". My husband was a Cherokee born Negro, too, and when he got mad he forgit all the English he knowed. He'd take us and enjoy us, you know. Our clothes was home-made---cotton in the summer, mostly just a long-tailed shirt and no shoes, and wood goods in the winter. I remember that home after the war brought my pappa back home. I had to work in the kitchen when I was a gal, and they was ten or twelve children smaller than me for me to look after, too. chief joseph vann family tree. Dere come six children; Charley, Alec, Laura, Harry Richard and Jeffy, who waS named after Jefferson Davis. Do you know what I am going to do? He moved his family to this location and resided there two or three years, until he could establish himself in the west. People all a visitin'. 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. They had a big big plantation down by the river and they was rich. The cooks would bring big iron pots, and cook things right there. 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. Everything was kept covered and every hogshead had a lock. View Site Next came the carpenters, yard men, blacksmiths, race-horse men, steamboat men and like that. Connect to the World Family Tree to find out, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Vann, Chief James Clement Ii Vann, Elizabeth (Go-sa-du-i-sga) Vann (born Thornton), Sarah "sallie" Vann Nicholson Or Buzzard Trapper (born Vann), Feb 11 1798 - Spring Place, Georgia, Old Cherokee Nation East, United States, Oct 23 1844 - Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky, United States, Chief James Vann, Ii, Nannie Vann (born Brown), Feb 11 1798 - Spring Place, Murray, Georgia, United States. I had two brothers, Silas and George, dat belong to Mr. George Holt in Webber's falls town. The married folks lived in little houses and there was big long houses for all the single men. That was where all the food was kept. She had belonged to Joe Hildebrand and he was kin to old Steve Hildebrand dat owned de mill on Flint Creek up in de Going Snake District. Brother of Ca-lieu-cah Mary Vann When we git to Fort Gibson they was a lot of negroes there, and they had a camp meeting and I was baptized. He was a multi-millionaire and handsome. Indians made us keep our master's name. They wanted everybody to know we was Marster Vann's slaves. Lord yes su-er. I don't remember old Mistress name. 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. The slaves who worked in the big house was the first class. Den old Master get three wagons and ox teams and take us all way down on Red River in de Choctaw Nation. The most terrible thing that ever happen was when the Lucy Walker busted and Joe got blew up. Them Pins was after Master all de time for a while at de first of de War, and he was afraid to ride into Ft. Smith much. . Nita Caffrey 12/30/07. He owned 110 slaves and on his plantation there were thirty-five houses, a mill and a ferry boat. Christmas morning marster and missus come out on the porch and all the colored folks gather around. They'd clap their hands and holler. After everything quiet down and everything was just right, we come back to territory second time. When father was young he would go hunting the fox with his master, and fishing in the streams for the big fish. You see, I'se one of them sudden cases. Brown sugar, molasses, flour, corn-meal, dried beans, peas, fruits butter lard, was all kept in big wooden hogsheads; look something like a tub. I had me a good blaze-faced horse for dat. They never sent us anywhere with a cotton dress. There was five hundred slaves on that plantation and nobody ever lacked for nothing. The slaves had a pretty easy time I think. Had sacks and sacks of money. McFadden, Marguerite, "The Saga of 'Rich Joe' Vann", Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. They was so many of us for dat little field we never did have to work hard. My mother was born way back in the hills of the old Flint district of the Cherokee Nation; just about where Scraper Oklahoma is now. I was born after the War, about 1868, and what I know 'bout slave times is what my pappa told me, and maybe that not be very much. John Joseph Vann: The Chowan Indians _ Native Heritage Project (PDF) John Washington Vann . Husband of Polly Vann and Jennie Vann Mr. Reese had a big flock of peafowls dat had belonged to Mr. Scott and I had to take care of demWhitefolks. 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. Didn't you never see one of them slidin' beds? I always think of my old Master as de one dat freed me, and anyways Abraham Lincoln and none of his North people didn't look after me and buy my crop right after I was free like old Master did. When I left Mrs. McGee's I worked about three years for Mr. Sterling Scott and Mr. Roddy Reese. She dye with copperas and walnut and wild indigo and things like dat and made pretty cloth. 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. I don't know how old I is; some folks say I'se ninety-two and some say I must be a hundred. They had a big big plantation down by the river and they was rich. Old Mistress cried jest like any of de rest of us when de boat pull out with dem on it. The Vanns later relocated to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. At the time that the interviews were conducted, the Vanns had been gone from Georgia for more than 100 yearsconsequently none of the slaves the Vanns owned in Spring Place were still alive. Some 70 years after "the War," during America's Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration assigned numerous people to interview former slaves and record their recollections of slavery. I never did have much of a job, jest tending de calves mostly. This was before the war. Christmas lasted a whole month. . You know just what day you have to be back too. 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