Cedar Creek and Beaver Dam settlement.

            Certificate of Abraham Birdwell
Alabama, Jackson County, February 9, 1830

            I Abrahan (sic) Birdwell, of said State and county do hereby certify, having been into the State of Georgia, and on my return home through the Cherokee nation, and on and within the territory claimed by Georgia as Creek land; and on Thursday, the 4th present instant, had my attention attracted by the burning of houses, and by a company of Cherokees, under the command of Major Ridge, a Cherokee Chief; an inquiry of Ridge, thro' Mr. David Vann, another leading character of the nation, I was informed that Major Ridge was authorized by John Ross, principal Chief of the Cherokee nation, to the burning and otherwise destroying the houses, &c. occupied by the intruders, saying that they were a parcel of scoundrels and rogues, and that the Government would not injure them for thus treating them.  These acts were committed on Cedar Creek and Beaver Dam settlement. The property thus wantonly destroyed, was, as I was informed, valued by the assessors, and paid for by the Government of the United States.  After leaving Vann's on the 5th, I saw about four miles on the route home, a woman on a cart, who I was informed had had a child only four days before.  Coming on three miles further, I saw another, who had a midwife with her, and in a critical condition.  The Cherokees were all armed with guns, pistols, and Ridge himself was clothed in all the garb of Indian warfare,viz; His headdress was a buffalo's forehead & horns, &c., there were sixty Indians; the Indians exalted highly, particularly David Vann; the Indians around the fire, with expressions of Indian joy, yelling, shouting; &c. &c.  I met some men on express to the settlements for aid. 
                     ABRAHAM BIRDWELL.

Avery Vann

AVERY VANN

Avery the second son of James Vann II was born c 1770’s in Georgia, date of death is unknown, and he is buried in the Elm Grove Cemetery south of Rose, Oklahoma.  He married Margaret McSwain c 1790’s, probably in Georgia, she was born c 1775-80 in Virginia(?) and died in 1857 and is also buried in the Elm Grove Cemetery south of Rose, Oklahoma.  She was a daughter of Trader McSwain and Nannie Downing.  Avery and Margaret had fifteen children.

Joseph (Teaultle) Vann-Born February 11, 1798-Died May 3, 1877.  Buried in the Cavalier/Vann Cemetery south of Locust Grove, Oklahoma.  Married Catherine Rowe, after her death, he married her sister Elizabeth Rowe.  May have been sisters of David Rowe, who married his sister Elizabeth or (Betsy) Vann.

David Vann-Born January 1, 1800 and killed by the “Pin” Cherokees December 23, 1863 during the Civil War, he married Martha McNair.

Margaret Vann-Born 1802, death unknown, married David Webber.

Andrew M. Vann-Born 1804, died 1842, married to Margaret Lasley and Susie Alexander.

Nannie Vann-Born 1806, death unknown, married John Chambers.

Catherine Vann-Born 1808, death unknown, married John Rogers and William Williams.

Mary Vann-Born 1810, death unknown, married William Lasley.

Keziah Vann-Born 1812, death unknown, married Robert Webber, parents of Margaret Webber, who married Scott Tyler Cavalier.  After Scott was killed in 1861, she married Edward Crutchfield.

Charles Vann-Born 1814, death unknown, married Eliza West.

Clement Vann-Born 1816, death unknown, married Isadora Mackey.

Sallie Vann-Born June 1818, died May 28, 1882 in Rogers County, Oklahoma.  Married Robert Rogers, Jr. c 1835 Indian Territory.  Their son Clement Vann Rogers was father of world famous William Penn Rogers.

Elizabeth Vann-Born November 2, 1820, died December 11, 1896 she married George West and David Rowe.  She inherited her dad’s place on Rowes Prairie, Indian Territory.

Eliza Vann-Born 1822, death unknown, married John Martin

Clara Vann-Born 1824, death unknown

Jennie Vann-Born 1826, death unknown

Avery was very active in the affairs of the Cherokee Nation East; he kept a Stand “Store” at Beavers Pond, Georgia in Vann’s Valley (district three) where the road branched northwest to the Coosa River.  He and his family operated a plantation.  In 1829 he first enrolled for emigration with his half blood wife and younger children, all of his children were born in Georgia.  His improvements were valued and paid for by the government.  His son Charles took possession of the Stand until it was rented out by the state of Georgia in 1831.  Avery’s other land and buildings were valued in the sum of $2,519.25 at that time, this included two houses of hewn lumber, the Storehouse, 18’ square, with counter and shelves; two cribs, two stables, four “Negro houses”, a cookhouse 14’ square, a hen house 12’ square and a smokehouse.  Records show he enrolled September 14, 1829 along with his sons Joseph and Andrew to move west to Indian Territory; he had eleven members in his family and twenty-two blacks and lived at Beaver Pond, Georgia, Cherokee Nation East.  Joseph had five in his family and nine blacks and Andrew showed one in his family and no blacks, they all came from Beaver pond, Georgia.  Avery did not arrive in the Cherokee nation West until 1837; he may have lived in Tennessee for a while as many did after leaving Georgia.  When he arrived he only had four in his family.  Joseph and Andrew arrived here in 1829.  In 1837 Avery built a fine home in the Saline District of the Cherokee Nation south of what is now Rose, Oklahoma.  Since he was an extensive slave owner he established his own brick kiln on the place and his slaves made brick for the four large fireplaces in his large pine log house.  The logs were cut and hewn near the place by his slaves and each corner of the house was pinned together with wooden pins.  The house contained seven rooms, each 20’ square, five downstairs and two upstairs.  The lumber for the floors was cut and sawed on the place, tongued grooved and planed by hand.  The lower floor was laid on hewn logs, while the upper floor lay on joists 18” apart.

This is a good place to bring in the house of Joseph Vann; Avery’s son who settled near Spring Creek, south of Locust Grove on what is now the John T. Cavalier home place.  Joseph Vann moved here in 1829 and built a home of which I have no knowledge, however, it was probably built of logs as most construction was at that time in I.T, and it burned during or right after the Civil War.  He rebuilt it, which is the front two rooms of our present house and may have been like his home that burned.  Some of the similarities of his dad’s home are the wood pinning in the attic and the hewn logs for floor joists.  The walls have slave made brick up to about six feet.  The studs are hand hewn timbers about four to five inches square.  The first Vann buried here was in 1833, there are two graves surrounded by a brick wall about four feet high, these brick and those in the house most likely came from his dad’s brick kiln south of Rose.

Avery operated his plantation with his slaves until the Civil War; he joined the Union Army along with his son-in-law David Rowe.  His two sons Joseph and Andrew chose to join the Confederacy and fight under Stand Watie, we have always heard brother against brother and father against son.  I find records where Avery taught school in the Saline District at Lynch’s Prairie, I also have one document where he signed with an X so I don’t know what his level of education was.

Avery being recognized, as a white man could not hold office among the Cherokees, but four of his five sons held many office of trust from 1839 to 1875.  Joseph Vann served eight years in the Cherokee Senate and was sent to Washington three times to represent his people.  He was elected one time as Assistant Chief of the Cherokee Nation, but resigned and his brother Andrew M. Vann was elected to take his place.  While holding this position he served as acting Chief and on one occasion signed the papers that established the National Capital at Tahlequah.  Clement Vann went to Washington one time to represent the Cherokee Nation, served as clerk of the Council and was in the Senate one term.  David Vann served as Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation from 1831 to 1839.  Margaret died in 1857 and Avery must have died at the beginning or right after the Civil War, because David Rowe and Avery’s daughter Betsy lived in his house during the Civil War.

At the death of Avery, Betsy became owner of the old place, she had married David Rowe and they lived there for forty years.  Dave Rowe was a very prominent Cherokee and served in on the Cherokee Council, he too was an extensive slave owner and raised many hogs and cattle.  He lived within eight miles “as the crow flies” of the Cherokee Orphan Asylum at Salina, in the Saline District.  At one time he had the contract to furnish the orphanage with beef and pork.  He was elected Assistant Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1875, was judge of the Saline District 1855 to 1859, Circuit judge, Northwestern Circuit 1867-1871.  He bought a full set of equipment for the third series of the Cherokee Advocate in St. Louis, Missouri.  Dave had a hideout on a high hill about 100 yards from his house, the hill was so high and the brush so thick that he could see anyone approach his home, but they could not see him.  He had a little log hut up there he called the “hideout”, he would watch the Confederate soldiers come and search his place for him.

Dave died April 13, 1891 and Betsy died in 1896, he was seventy-one and she was seventy-six, both are buried in the Elm Grove Cemetery south of Rose as were most of their children.  The prairie land around his home was called Rowe’s Prairie, but through the years it was changed to Rose.  At the death of Betsy, their sons Pole and Cul sold the place to J. E. “Red Cloud” Duncan, the last High Sheriff of the Cherokee Nation, in 1900 when the Cherokee Government was abolished.  Red Cloud released all the prisoners in the National Prison and moved his family to the old Avery Vann place.  A place or plantation at this time consisted of the improvements on the land, the land belonged to the Cherokees in common, and in 1904 the Dawes commission allotted the land to the Cherokees.  All persons born that year and before who could prove their Cherokee blood were allotted approximately 160 acres of land, J. E. Red Cloud Duncan and his wife had enough children to get 1200 acres.  They took their allotments on and adjoining the old place, they lived there forty years until a fire on December 23, 1940 destroyed it.  The old house was historic in association, social and political, with the events of the Cherokee Nation since the days of the first tribal government.  As a center of social occasions it was known throughout the Saline district and from Vinita to Tahlequah, it’s hospitable assemblages of relatives and friends, parties, dances, and dinners are unforgotten and no festive occasion was complete without Red Cloud to play the fiddle, which was brought from Georgia by his grandfather.  Aunt Alice (Rogers) Cavalier’s family was raised on Rowe’s Prairie and she would tell of attending dances along with her brothers and sisters and the Cavalier boys, Cicero, Ted, whom she married and Scott.  Red Cloud was eighty years old when the house burned.  The fire of unknown origin occurred in the temporary absence of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, destroying the entire contents of the house with the exception of a gold watch.  Hundreds of old books, pictures, letters, records and documents of inestimable interest relating to affairs of the Cherokee Nation throughout it’s history, were lost.  Two men at work saw the fire from a distance, but reached the house too late to save anything but the old watch, which one, knowing how much it was prized by it’s owner, rescued it as they ran through the smoke filled room.  The following is an article written by Will Drew when interviewing Red Cloud:  I have seen many watches, but the one placed in my hand seemed different, and with closer inspection, more different.  Made of ultra pure shining gold, it was heavy and thick, as watches were made in a passed era.  It had a beautifully engraved case of hunting style and a very heavy link chain.  About it was an air of substance and durability implanted by the old hand work artisans who made it. The chain was long, designed to hang across the vest front in the style of other years.  No ticking was audible, but on holding to my ear, as directed by Mr. Duncan, there came a low click, click, click of beautiful slow rhythm and precision unlike the nervous tick-tick-ticking of ordinary watches.  To me it seemed whispering the words of the arched inscription above the door of old Worchester Academy in Vinita-“Tempus Fuget” (time passes)-at which we old-timers gazed with perplexity when we were little boys and girls.  Gold of which the watch was mined in Georgia in 1827 by Mr. Duncan’s father and sent to England by sail ship, where the watch was made.  It contains an unusually large number of diamond jewels, some so small as to be almost invisible.  Inside the case is the clear engraving “Sheffield-James Stoddard, 4504 Red Lyon Street, London, England.  The old watch saw the evacuation of Cherokees from the old nation East: birth of the Indian Territory; rise and passing of the Cherokee Government with it’s institutions and it’s Chiefs—Ross, Downing, Bushyhead, Joel Mayes, Sam Mayes, Harris, Buffington and Rogers.  It saw established the first post office in the Indian Territory 185 years ago (now 2002); saw the Cherokee Nation become Indian Territory in 1873 (?); measured time of four wars, Civil War, Spanish War, World War I and present World War II.  End of interview.  The gold discovered in Georgia is the reason the Cherokees and other tribes were removed from that area.

Red Cloud and my grandfather john T. Cavalier were very close friends for many years and their sons grew up together, our families treated each other like family.  Dewitt told me he used to go with his dad to the Cavaliers and they would visit for hours on the front porch or under a large pecan tree at the barn.  The sire of “Lucky Boy”, the golden palomino stallion that Uncle Scott had, was owned by John Duncan, I can remember when he was born in 1947, the year Grandma Cavalier died, I told dad the new foal was wrapped in cellophane.  Red Cloud and granddad both could speak the Cherokee language very fluently.  One of Red Cloud’s sons carved western scenes on cattle horns; there were two large horns that I think Uncle Walter Cavalier had.  There was a smaller wolf hunting horn with a cowboy roping a goat, I gave it to Red Cloud’s great grandson, Binks Wilkerson, who is our neighbor.  Below is the old Avery Vann house built in 1837, the siding was probably added by Red Cloud Duncan.

NOTE:  Written by Jon Charles Cavalier

Hugh Lawson Montgomery

Hugh Lawson Montgomery

Hugh Lawson's father was (James Montgomery - son of Hugh Montgomery b.1747 and Agnes Jane Cunningham)  James was married twice.  First to Elizabeth McConnell, by whom he had three sons - 1. John (said to have died a British prisoner at Battle of Washaws), 2. Hugh Lawson, b. 1767 and 3. James McConnell.   James second marriage to Susannah Strange bore (John, (?), Virginia, William, Margaret, Eleanor, and Sarah.

Col. Hugh Lawson Montgomery, second son of James was born in South Carolina in 1767.  In 1783 he married Margaret Barkley (Barclay) daughter of John and Agnes Barkley.

He lived for a time in Jackson Co., GA and represented Jackson Co. in the state legislature from 1807-1811.  In the state senate from 1812-1818 and 1823-1825.  His name appears first in the Georgia records, when in 1786, he was employed to survey the line "between Franklin County and the Cherokee Nation."  This line has always been known as the Hawkins line from the fact  that Col. Benjamin Hawkins, the United States Indian Agent, authorized the survey of the Government.  The original plats made by Hugh Montgomery and bearing his signature are on file and are almost daily consulted, being recognized as authority in line disputes, etc.

He was a devout Presbyterian, bringing Christianity to the Cherokee Nation and is said to have financed the first missionary to the Cherokees.  In 1825, he was appointed by President Monroe, to be Indian Agent of the Cherokee Purchase.  Thus he acquired the title of Colonel because his appointment came under the War Department.   He served until the Indians were moved West in 1838.  His salary was $1,500 per year and upon retirement was given a tract of 3,000 acres in Chattooga Co., GA where he settled (near the Clemmons Place).  There surrounded by several members of his large family, he lived until Jan 22, 1852.  He was buried at Alpine (same county) by the side of his wife-Margaret Barkley  b.1768  d.1848.  Also around 1832, his sons, Dr. Madison Montgomery and Bartley Montgomery and General Hemphill his brother-in-law and William Montgomery his half-brother, took up their residence in Vann's Valley, Floyd County GA.

 His will recorded in Chattooga County has been lost along with others, though minutes of the Inferior Court state that it was offered for probate by three witnesses, John Montgomery, John Wyatt, and William Smith on February 2nd, 1852.  Bartley Montgomery, David L. Knox, Robert Boyle, Samuel Knox, William Montgomery, James Montgomery, Agnes Cunningham, G. R. Grant, M. Montgomery for John Hardwick, heirs to Hugh's landed estate-Lot Nos. 74, 107 and 106, signed over their interest to Madison on March 20, 1852.  The court also authorized Madison and Bartley Montgomery, Samuel Knox, Robert Boyle as executors to appraise the estate of Hugh Montgomery and return the signed inventory to the court as prescribed on April 3, 1852.  I have a copy of the minutes and returns of the proceedings, etc.

Hugh's children were.

1.     Agnes

2.     Barkley (Barclay)(Bartley)

3.     Mary

4.     Cynthia

5.     James

6.     Elizabeth

7.     Jane

8.     Christopher

9.     William

10.  Madison

11.  Eliza Ann

12.  obert and Margaret (Henderson) Hiett as well as George and Jane (White) Agnew were charter members of the Alpine Presbyterian Church founded in 1853.  These four people were my paternal great grandparents. There were others: Great Grandparents, Great Uncles and Great Aunts fifteen (15) in all.

13.   Chattooga, The Story of a County and Its People by Robert S. Baker, page 142-144

14.  "The history books are quick to note that the Alpine Presbyterian Church was older than this for its 36 members signing the peition to the Presbytery of Cherokee had in total been meeting in the upper room of an academy built by L. M. Force and his brothers." 

15.  Of the 36 Members signing the peition thirteen (13) were Talitha (Hiett) Leath's family.  Talitha Hiett was the mother of Mary Alice (Leath) Roberts.  They were: Talitha's grandparents, parents, a great uncle and his second wife, six aunts and uncles and Tabitha Henderson, probably Robert Clark Hiett's sister Talitha Cumi Hiett who married Lawson Henderson.

16.  According to Cook: History of Chattoga County, Chapter 6, Religous Development.

17.  "The religious development of Chattooga County can best be given by tracing the development oif a few of the large churches of the county.  The principal denominations represented in the county are the Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist.  However, there are several other denominations represented.  Probably, one of the earliest churches in the county was the Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Green which was established in 1835.  It was called Enon.  From this church, the other Presbyterian churches were later formed. 

18.  From this Pleasant Green church, with the membership of fifteen, was later formed the Church of Alpine Presbyterian.  Rev. William Quillian was the first pastor of this church in 1835.

19.  When the church of Pleasant Green was organized, all the members of the Presbyterian Church, in what is now Chattooga County, Georgia, connected themselves with it.  Those members of Pleasant Green, in the neighborhood of Alpine, for many years worshipped in an upper room built for an academy by Mr. L.M. Force and his brothers.  The Rev. A. B. McCorkle during the time of his ministration at Pleasant Green, preached in this academy once a month.  The Rev. A. Y. Lockridge, his successor, continued to preach until the place became too small for the congregation.  They then resolved to build a new house of worship. Robert Boyles and Samuel Knox gave the land on which to erect a church and a cemetery.

20.   When the building was completed, a petition was sent to the Presbytery of the Cherokee at its session in March 1853, begging the Cherokee Presbytery at its next regular meeting to organize a churh to be known as Alpine.  This petition was signed by the following:  Samuel Knox, Mary Knox, Robert Boyles, William Barry Henderson, Mary (Barry) Henderson, Martha Alexander, John Lyday, Margaret Lyday, John B. Knox, Agnes Knox, N.W. Graves, Sarah A. Graves, Samuel W. Harris, Mary Harris, James F. Henderson, Jane Henderson, Harriet Henderson, John Barry Henderson, Nancy Henderson, Lawson Henderson, P. A. Smith, Mary Smith, Lewis Belote, Amanda Belote, Robert Clark Heitt, Margaret (Henderson) Hiett, C. M. Barry, Jane Barry, Libitha Henderson, M. S. Hooper, Robert Biggers, Rebecca Biggers, M. F. Cain, C. C. Boyle, E. A. Knox, Naomi Cain.

21.  At the meeting of the Presbytery at Bethel in October 1853, the church was ordered to be enrolled on the list of churches in Cherokee Presbytery.  Charles Moore Barry took his seat as ruling elder on May 20, 1854.  The other elders: Robert Boyles, William W. Graves and John B. Knox. The first deacons were: C.C. Boyles, P. A. Smith and Lewis Belote.

22.  George Agnew, having been transferred from Pleasant Green, was elected elder.  The church building was erected by John Barry Henderson and Tom Allison, the greater part of the material was donated by Samuel Knox.  Few changers have been made in the general structure. 

23.  Names of the ministers who have served since the establishment of the church are A. Y. Lockridge from May 1, 1859 to September 1872. During the Civil War, Union men used the church for a hospital.  Then came W. A. Milner who ministered from Decembe 1875 to November 1896. The pastor's salary rarely exceeded $200 a year.  Committees were appointed to see those members who in any way had conducted themselves in a unbecoming manner.  If they did not rectify their mistake or promise to live differently they were dismissed from the church.  Succeeding ministers were C. B. McLeod, H. E. McClure, Wm. Goodard, B. F. Guille, P. S. Burrell, C. B. Rathford, Charles Bailey, Paul Patrick.

24.  People early identified with Alpine Presbyterian Church: W.W. Graves, John B. Knox, W. H. Cochran, T. J. Knox, W. F. Mobley, R. T. Hassell, the Agnew family, Lyday family, Alexander family and the Wyatt family."

25.  Chattooga, The Story of a County and Its People by Robert S. Baker, page 143-144

26.  "The history of any institution involves the lives and contributions of men and women who dared to give of themselves for a cause.  A few names that posterity should ever cherish in connection with the Alpine Church are:

27.  Hugh Montgomery, agent for the Cherokee Indians in 1832, and his family, all staunch Presbyterians.

28.  Robert Boyles and Samuel Knox, who gave the land for Alpine Church and the cemetery.

29.  John B. Knox, whose trustful voice was the only instrument to lead the early congregations, white and black, in the lining hymns and singing them.

30.  Aunt 'Tinie' Agnew, a vital force in establishing a Sunday School at Alpine.

31.  Rev. John Lester Edwards, first and only minister who as gone out from this church, was taken under watchful eye of Presbytery in 1939.

32.  Mrs. Daphene Ransom Long, who offered much help in getting a bus operating to bring children and adults not attending any Sunday School to Alpine.

33.  Miss Helen Wyatt, a Sunday School teacher for many years.

34.  Mrs. Fannie Agnew Henderson, whose devotion to Alpine Church was evident by her years of teaching the Adult Class there.

35.  Mrs. Pearl Edwards, who served Alpine Church as a faithful teacher of the Adult Class.

36.  Rev. F. E. Crowe, who for a number of years supplied the pulpit between regular preaching days.

37.  Mr. Carlton Tucker, who served Alpine Sunday School as Superintendent for many years with a willing, Christian spirit."

·  Letter from Indian Agent Hugh Montgomery 1817

·  June 1817 , Cherokee country that became Hall County

·  In 1817, Hugh Montgomery, later an Indian agent for the State of Georgia, was paid 16 dollars for a journey down the Chattahoochee River to what is now Hall, Gwinnett, and Fulton counties. This was freshly ceded Indian land full of white intruders and Montgomery’s job was to notify them they had to report to authorities. He mentions seeing persons listed in a deposition concerning intruding, whom he reported to governor William Rabun, saying he had advised them to return to Georgia to face inquiries. He begins:

3rd July 1817 
Sir

I have just Returned from the Frontiers & have Down to give you the names of the white persons (heads of Familys) who I find living on the Indian lands adjasent to this County Let it be Remembered that I did not vissit the South west Side of the County, I had no expectation before I set out that any person had Settled over the appalatchee, when I got to the Hog mountain I learnt that the persons named in the Deposition sent to you were all in that Quarter & that they had been all advised to Return before the Depositions were forwarded to you & had Refused. I had a Right to believe that the names of all were sent you, I was also informed that most of them had either moved in or were about to Remove with the exception of a John Camp& a few others.

He then includes a long list of names of white intruders living on Indian lands  from Suwanee Old Town, down past Stone Mountain to the Standing Peachtree and perhaps Buzzard's Roost on the river. He has informed some of them that they are subject to inquiries in the State of Georgia and some have indicated they will take care of the problem. Most indicated they will ignore the government.

I then turned up the North west side of the County & the following are the persons I find on the Indian Lands in that Quarter together with the  Relative Situations in which they live viz between the Stone Mountain& Chatahoochee River, are Silas McGrady, John Steen, & James Steen Senr.& Clanton Steenin the Settlement Called  Raferses Settlement& on both sides of Chatahoochee are James Steen Junr.  John Rogers, John Difoor, a man by the name of Bill, two men by the name of  Bagwell, John Woodall William Woodall Thomas Woodall, & another Woodall given name not known, & Tabitha Harper a widow Parker Collens, Jonathan Gray, & William Harden above the mouth of Suwanee are William Garner Warren Young John Tidwell, & Austin Dobbs, at & near the mouth of Big Creek are John  Mires Thomas Dasset, John Dasset, Obediah Light, James Smith & Robert Smith Junr., at & near the mouth of the Flowery Branch are Bud Mullins, Robert Smith Senr, & Thomson McGuire at & near the Ferry are John Lessly, Danl May,  Caleb Mosely, Benjn  Murry, John Gathard, John Wilson& Hugh Wilson, on Flat creek are Simon Strickland, Sion Strickland Irvin Strickland, Lazeras Strickland, Lewis Crow, Sion Crow, & Richard Litteral, and near the Chestetee are Freeman Averbee Danl. Short, Noah Langly, John Martin, & Jese Martin & at and above the Shallowford are William Staker, William Baity, a man by the name Mason, an other by the name of Hainsan other by the name of Hawkins, & John Wagoner, James Abercrombi a Senr James Abercrombi a Junr Benjm Morris, Henry Morris, John Diffy, Henry Barton, Holly Barton, Widow & George Davis. I did not see all of them, but the greater part of those that I did, promised to Come in, Some few will, Say about one in ten, the ballance will not.

Now Montgomery changes the tone of his letter, he begins commenting on the whole idea of white intruders and Indians living together and the morality thereof:

… there are a great many Shifts which those people make to get settling on those Lands Some Rent of Indians or Mixed Bloods others Settle Down on Such place as pleases them & get Some stroling Vagabond Indian to live or Stay with them, they Call themselves his Croppers, he is to hunt & they Cultivate the Ground, they find him a Gun & amunition  they have the meat & he the Skins, but it often so turns out that he has two Haggskins  for one Dearskin, & this accounts for the Frontier people loosing so many of their Haggs  as they do -- others (if possible) More Lax in their Morrels & Still Less Delicate in their taste will Kiss a Squaw for the privallage of their Land & Range, he then becomes a Landlord he has his Croppers, Tenants, & Hirelings &c. thus a whole Settlement Claim under him, and what seems more abominable then all is that others give their Daughters to the Indian fellows for the privallage of Living in their Country themselves, of this Last & and worst Class are John Tidwell & Noah Langly the Former has given four of his Daughters to Indian fellows for Wives & the Latter two thus a Motly Race are propigating  fast verry fast on the Chatahoochee & its waters –

            

I Should like to know how far the Individual Indians have a Right to Rent or Lease Lands, my own impressions are that Indians have not a principle tittle to any Lands, that theirs is a mere occupant claim, that they are tenants at the will of the Government, the Treaty Reserves the Lands to them for their Hunting grounds, it prohibits all Citizens of the U. S, or other persons from Settling on them with out permits from the Agent of Indian affairs, those people have no permits they are not Indians altho Some of them try to look & act like them, & it seems that to get foothold in the Nation by any of their ways which I have Described has all the effect of taking the Indian Black Drink, it makes them inimical to every person who Does not  ware a Long hunting Shirt & mockisins or a Match Coat & Smell like Tainted Dearskins  & I think I am warranted in saying that If the Comrs. fail of success in the present Treaty it will be in not intirely to the Clamours of those fellows Seconded by a few of the Mixed Bloods, the spurious product of those Disgracefull & unnatural Matches.

I am Sir very Respectfully your Obt Humbl Servnt  H Montgomery 

Cherokee Phoenix and Indian's Advocate
Wednesday, November 25, 1829
Vol. II, no. 33
Page 2, col. 3b

We have seen the documents to which Col. M'Kenney referred in his letter to us. Let it be distinctly remembered, that the point to be proved is, the great body of the Cherokees are anxious to remove, and that the chiefs deter them from enrolling. In just to Col. M'Kenney we give below all the evidence he has produced -- the public will judge whether he has made his word good.

Extract of the letter from Colonel Hugh Montgomery to the Secretary of War, dated Cherokee Agency, 26th September, 1828:

"We (the agent and the sub-agent) then crossed the mountains, visited several of the villages in what is called the Valley Town. We found that the runners had been there also ahead of us, and the chiefs prepared with a reply, which was generally that they liked the country and were determined not to remove; here we learnt that one man who had talked of enrolling had been driven out of a company and not suffered to drink with them, and a report had been circulated that the first man who enrolled was to be killed."

Extract of a letter from Colonel Hugh Montgomery to the Secretary of War, dated Cherokee Agency, 21st October, 1828:

"I had occasion to mention to you several times the personal hostility which those people had expressed against Rogers and Maw, on account of their mission to this country, but had hoped that it would end in empty threats; especially after the understood that these men were on the employ and entitled to the protection of the United States Government. But as the times had become alarming to those who are opposed to the emigration business, and as several had enrolled, and a considerable number especially in this neighborhood had agreed to enrol, and we were about to break into some of the most influential families, they seem to have come to the determination to put Rogers (who was the most active) down at all events -- and on Friday last, James Speer and Archy Foreman, two half breeds came to the Agency, where they staid [sic] until evening, and I suppose learnt that Rogers had gone over to Calhoun. Foreman crossed the river in the evening, Speers not until dark, when he came into the house where Rogers was sitting, and without speaking a single word to him, struck him on the head with a rock, supposed to weigh near four pounds, which it is thought he took over the river with him on purpose. There were present two or three white men who endeavored to prevent further violence, but were kept off by Archy Foreman who they state said that Speer was his brother-in-law and should do as he pleased. Rogers states that when he came to his understanding he saw Speers sitting in the piazza, and asked him the cause of the assault; Speers said he had not given him his satisfaction, but if he would only name Arkansas or emigrants, that he would. Rogers replied that was his business and he was obliged to do so, he again struck him on the head with a large rock. Rogers is badly cut and bruised on the head, but is about again. This without protection from the Government will put a check if not an end to the emigration here. The hostility is not confined to Rogers and Maw only, but to all concerned, and all those who have enrolled to talk of it; several I understand say they would enroll but are afraid of personal abuse. I have promised them protection, but fear I shall not be able to perform, as I have no force at my command.

"I have engaged two of those who have enrolled, viz: Major Walker and Fishtail, to act on those around this place, but the threats are such that I fear they will decline."

"Just while writing, Wm. Pettit, a half breed, who enrolled yesterday, arrived, having been driven from his house before day by a drinking party: he states they came to this house just before day making hard threats; he caught up his gun, and made his escape, and has sent for his family."

Extract of a letter from James Rogers to the Secretary of War, dated Calhoun, Dec. 26, 1828:

"The Cherokees opposed to the emigration of the Indians east of the Mississippi, held out their enmity towards those emigrating to the west of it" -- "showing at once, not only the hostility to the white people living with them, but a contempt for the government of the United States. On yesterday, I rode about a mile from the Cherokee Agency, and was attacked by the Path Killer, an Indian, who struck me several times with rocks, and who avowed his intention to kill me, and anyone who would aid me in my business of enrolling the Cherokees for Arkansas." "If the government wishes to carry the exertions that are now making into effect, it will be necessary that they should send a small force here to protect the persons actually engaged on the part of the government, as times look very squally here I assure you."



CHEROKEE AGENCY, 3d Jan. 1829.

SIR: On Christmas Day, Major Walker, an emigrant, unfortunately went to an Indian dance, about 4 miles from this. As soon as he arrived, Archy Foreman, (the same who was concerned in the assault on Captain Rogers with Speers,) and others, commenced an assault on him and beat him so that his life was despaired of, or at least doubted for several days. A physician was called and sent out to attend him, and I have declined reporting the case, until I found whether he would live or die. He has so far recovered, as to return to the Agency.
It is thus that those Indians are left to exercise their own pleasure on the subject of emigration.
Respectfully, your obedient:
(Signed) H. MONTGOMERY.
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.

These are then the documents, by which we were to be convicted of falsehood, and the assertion of Col M'Kenney put beyond a doubt. If they are sufficient, their design has been effected long ago, and by our own act, for the reader will these same documents (except the extract of a letter from James Rogers) in the first number of the present volume of the Cherokee Phoenix. We wish our readers to turn to them.

Now, (and we say it with proper respect) we had reason to expect something more. We did not think that any evidence could be brought forward to prove the point now in dispute, but that letters which we ·  Andrea Adams' account

·  , http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/WAXHAW/2006-10/1162063656

·  Col. Hugh Lawson Montgomery was born near Camp Creek, Waxhaw SC in the late 1760's. He was the second child of James and Elizabeth McConnell Montgomery. He was raised and educated in the Waxhaw Settlement. He lost his older brother John Montgomery in the Battle of Hanging Rock during the revolution. Hugh married Margaret Barkley in 1788. She too was from Waxhaw, SC. After the revolution, Hugh Montgomery migrated to Hancock County, GA. In the 1780's he was employed by Benjamin Hawkins to help run the boundry lines that seperated Franklin County, GA from the Cherokee and Creek Indians. These were the lines established in the treaties written in the Hancock County area. (ie. Shoulderbone Treaty) The problem was the Indian Cheifs would give up land in the treaties, then Hugh would have to convince the Indians that their land had been given up. There are many accounts where Hugh could not convince the Indians to move so he gave them trinkets such as blankets and boots to get them to move. His treaty lines can be found throughout Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. By the early 1800's Hugh moved to Jackson County, GA where his father lived. Hugh lived on the "Walnut" in Jackson County, GA. There he served as Justice of the Peace and Justice of the Inferior Court. His younger brother James McConnell Montgomery was the Jackson County Sherriff at this time. Hugh also served in the Georgia state legislature and the state senate. Hugh was a member and elder of the Olney Thyatira Presbyterian Church in Jackson County, GA. With finances from this church he headed into North Georgia and Tennesse to help spread Christianity among the Indians. His endeavor was accompyed by ex-Tenn. Gov. Joseph McMinn. In 1825 the U.S. Senate appointed him as U.S. Federal Indian Agent to the Cherokee Nation. He then moved with his family to Cherokee Nation, Bradley County, Tenn. Here he served as the liasion between the Indians and the U.S. Government. Many of his letters from the Cherokee Nation exist today. He speaks of the troubles he has with the Indians and in the same token he speaks of the troubles that the Indians had with the white man. His last job at the agency was to design a plan to remove the Indians westward. His plan was designed and he stepped down prior to the actual removal of the Indians. The Trail of Tears began with his agency. During this time of turmoil Hugh retired to Menlo, Chattooga County, Georgia. He was buried in the Old Alpine Church Cemetery in 1852.

Col. Hugh Lawson Montgomery was given the title Col. out of respect, not military action. During his day he was in a precarious situation. First he had to take the Indians land away, re-assign them to another piece of land, then he had to protect them from the white intruders that settled on their land. Hugh Montgomery's letters are available on NARA microfilm. (Ref's: University of Tenn Archives, GA Archives, National Archives)

Col. Hugh Lawson Montgomery was the older brother to James McConnell Montgomery that settled Fort Peachtree located in present day Atlanta,GA.

had really published would be produced as decisive in the case, is what we did not conceive.

The above extracts, if they prove anything, prove that the popular feeling of the Nation is decidedly opposed to a removal. Though we have no reason to believe what is said is all true, yet for the sake of placing the matter plainly before our readers, we will admit them as ideas.

1. Col. Montgomery does not say that the Chiefs of the Valley Towns were not acting for the people, when they replied "that they liked the country and were determined not to remove." We do know positively that they did reply in behalf and with the approbation of the people. This we are prepared to prove if it is disputed. Perhaps the best comment on this part of Col. M'Kenney's evidence is the fact, that since the commencement of the emigration business, not one family has enrolled in the Valley Towns. Col. Montgomery says: "Here we learnt that one man who had talked of enrolling had ben driven out of a company and not suffered to drink with them." Is Col. M'Kenney prepared to tell the public that this was a company of Chiefs who drove the man out? No. It was a company of common people in a drinking frolic -- a company of men who are said to be under the sway of the Chiefs, and out of which only one man talked of enrolling. Probably he was drunk, and was driven out by his drunken comrades.

2. In regard to the account of the affray between Rogers and Speers, we would observe, that only one party has been heard. We have only the bare statement of Rogers, who says that he was punished for inducing the Cherokees to emigrate. We have understood that the affair was personal and of a private nature. But supposing the account of Rogers be true, to what does it amount? Does it prove that the great body of the Cherokees are anxious to remove, and that they are deterred from enrolling by the Chiefs? If it does, anything may be proved. Speers is not a Chief, nor was Rogers an emigrant, but was engaged, in interfering, very improperly, in the concerns of the Cherokees. He would expect no better treatment when he indulged himself in drinking frolics. Speers being a common citizen, the affair between him and Rogers is only another proof that the common citizens of the Cherokee nation are opposed to a removal. William Pettit is said to have been driven from his house -- by whom? By the Chiefs? No. By the people who are anxious to remove. If the statement of Mr. P. is true (and for the sake of argument we will believe him, though a very different story would probably be told by the other party, if they were allowed a hearing) how is the assertion of Col. M'Kenney sustained by it? It does not appear very likely that those who want to go west would turn one of their number out of doors, and persecute him for believing as they do.

3. It appears that James Rogers wrote a letter to the Secretary of War, complaining of a certain man by the name of Pathkiller, whom he calls, an Indian, for attacking him with stones, etc. Col M'Kenney lays this letter before the public to prove that "the great body of the Cherokees are anxious to remove, and that they are deterred from enrolling by the Chiefs?" Whether it has any bearing on the question the public can judge. Who this Pathkiller is we know not -- that he is not one of the rulers of this nation, we are pretty certain.

In our remarks on the speech of Col. M'Kenney before the Indian Board, we used the following words: We do not, however, wish to believe that his [Col M'Kenney] misrepresentations are wilful -- It may be he is led astray by his "secret agents." Col. M'Kenney replied, in the communication already published, thus: "The principal bearing of my remarks in my address as quoted by you was upon the Creeks, but I know it, so do you know it, the great body of your people want to get away from the evils that threaten them, and go west -- you know it and I know it (and not from secret agent either) that your influence, and the influence of a very few deter the body of your people from making terms." To sustain this very hasty and untenable assertion, a letter of James Rogers is published. Now we are prepared to prove that this same James Rogers was a secret agent of the Government. In a letter to Col. Hugh Montgomery, dated May 27th 1828, Col M'Kenney says:

"I am directed by the Secretary of War, in addition to the above, to any that Capt. Rogers is confidentially employed to go to the Cherokees, and, explain to them the kind of soil, climate, and the prospects that await them in the west, and to use, in his discretion, the best methods to induce the Indians residing within the chartered limits of Georgia to emigrate. As much, if not all his success will depend upon the keeping of the object of his visit a secret, you will by no means make it known."

There is another thing in the letter of James Rogers which is worth of remark. He says of the Cherokees, showing at once, not only the hostility to the white people living with them" etc. Here it is said by Rogers, whose words are received as authority by Col. M'Kenney, if not by the Government, that the Cherokees are hostile against the whites living with them. According to the nature of things then, these whites cannot have any influence over the Cherokees. On the other hand, it is frequently asserted, that the opposition against emigration among the Indians is owing to the influence and bad counsel of whites. The Secretary of War, in a letter to Col. Ward, agent for the Choctaws, dated July 31, 1829, says: "The President is fully satisfied that the opposition produced among the Indians, against emigration is ascribable mainly to the interference and bad counsel of vicious white men who gain a place in the Nation." This is applied to the Choctaws, but the same views have been avowed frequently in regard to the Cherokees. Rogers says, the Cherokees are hostile against the white who live among them, and who of course have no influence. Others say, the white settlers among the Indians produce the opposition against emigration. Col. M'Kenney says, the Chiefs deter the people from emigrating. How are these to be reconciled?

4. The fourth document is similar to the others we have been considering. It does not appear that Maj. Walker was assaulted by the Chiefs or by order of the Chiefs, or because he was an emigrant. If his being an emigrant was the reason of the assault, then it plainly goes to prove that the common citizens of the nation are opposed to emigration.

We would, in conclusion, ask of the candid reader, whether, in the foregoing extracts, it is asserted by Col. Montgomery or Rogers, that the great body of the Cherokees are anxious to remove, and that they are deterred from enrolling by a very few. This is the point of Col M. to prove. It is true statements are given to prove that there is an opposition -- but this is not the thing -- does the opposition proceed from the Chiefs and from the Minority? That it does not, the extracts themselves abundantly show. Even if it was plainly asserted in the documents, that the majority of the Cherokees are anxious to remove, we do not conceive the question would be decided. A mere opinion of the agent or Rogers on this subject would not be a decisive evidence.

We are sorry the assertion has ever been made. In noticing it we do it not from a spirit of vindictiveness, or for the purpose of being uncivil towards the Gentleman who has made it, but for the purpose of espousing the claims of justice and truth. We wish to treat him kindly and with respect, (begging pardon for all expressions which the strictest propriety will not justify) and in return we hope we will do us the justice to believe, that in differing from him, we are not actuated by interested but by conscientious motive. The civility which he asks of us, we hope he will be ready to give.

Avery Vann

Avery Vann who was Clement's younger brother, was the father of Avery Vann who m. Peggy McSwain and was the progenitor of a prominant Cherokee family. It is unlikely that Avery [Jr?] was a son of Clement, since Clement told the Moravians that he had no children of his own (Clement thought about adopting his wife's [Wawli's] nephew George Vann).

The James Vann (mother unidentified and described as the son of "the late" James Vann) ) who m. Elizabeth Eaton was the youngest son of James Vann and entered the Spring Place school on 5/10/1821, age ca.12. The Moravians very frequently mentioned Peggy Scott (Vann's widow), but never identified her as the mother of any children. Young James [Jr?] was born the same year his father was killed, suggesting that the child was illigitimate (by European standards).

My desire has been to provide solid information about the Cherokee side of James Vann's family, so that others might provided the links to his white family. I want to emphasize that Wawli Vann (mother of Chief James Vann) was surnamed Vann and was a mixed-blood. She had a 1/2 blood brother named John Vann (father of George Vann), a 1/2 blood sister Sarah Hughes (Mrs. Thomas Waters, & identified as a 1/2 blood by U.S. indian agent Col. Benjamin Hawkins in 1796). Sarah's brother Charles Hughes, killed by the teenaged James Vann in a clan dispute, was almost certainly also a 1/2 blood. Another brother might have been James Hughes (father-in-law of Thomas Pettit, the 1/2 brother of Peggy McSwain). Other brothers of Wawli (and uncles of James Vann) were Richard Roe [Rowe] (described as a "1/2 Indian" by the Moravians) and David Roe [Rowe]. The Vanns, Hughes, Rowe (and Downing) Cherokee mixed-blood families were intertwined and interconnected for generations later.

Wawli's mother was a 1/2 sister of Jenny Daughterty (daughter of early Indian trader Cornelius Daugherty). Wawli's mother (still alive in 1819 at the time of Wawli's baptism as "Mary Christiana") had children by white traders named John Vann, Bernard Hughes, and a man named Roe [perhaps a trader at Augusta, GA named John Rae]. She was called "old Mrs. Roe" with her sons David Roe and John Vann by Col. Hawkins in 1796; she may have been the granddaughter of Cherokee "Emperor" Motoy. The Colonial Records of Sourth Carolina Relating to Indian Affairs (the three "Indian Books") contain many references to the activities of white traders John Vann, Bernard Hughes, Robert Goudey, and Major John Downing (grandfather of Peggy McSwain), all operating near the frontier fortress "Ninety-Six" in SC and the Saluda River, in GA.

James Clausee Vann, father of Ave Vann (who m. Betsy Scott, daughter of Richard Scott, the 1/2 brother of Peggy Scott) was the son of Sally Hughes and an unknown Vann. Sally Hughes was probably the sister of Bernard Hughes (Cherokee warrior 1777-1855 plus); both were likely children of either Charles or James Hughes, and thus both cousins of James Vann. In 1796 Col. Hawkins employed both Sally Hughes and Mrs. Sarah Waters as interpreters. He said that Mrs. Waters was the niece of the wife of Chief Sour Mush [he very likely was a brother of Wawli's mother & great uncle of James Vann).

The man "Joseph David Vann", described many years later as a Chickamauga chief and brother of James Vann, is NOWHERE to be found in government or missionary records OF THE TIME. We know that both John Vann AND Joseph Vann were translators for colonial officials in the 18th century (I have a copy of a 1779 letter is which John Vann goes with 1 Cherokee war party, and Joseph goes in another direction with a different war party); there may have been other white men named Vann with Cherokee offspring. A possible senario might have an older brother of Wawli named Joseph? as a Cherokee chief (possibly the "1/2 breed chief Vann" who captured the Brown family at Nickajack in 1788 [OLD FRONTIERS, by John P. Brown, Kingsport, TN, 1938, p. 273), who had died before 1800. However, I believe that the Joseph Vann, father of Lamelia Vann, was in fact Josiah Vann (white cousin of James Vann) whose daughters Lamelia, Levenia, and Anna Sophia were students at Spring Place.

The information I have posted is the "real McCoy", "the real deal", the "straight skinny"; you pick the best cliche. I will identify my speculation as such, but statements of fact are rooted in actual contemporary references to entries by the Moravian missionaries, or letters by colonial or American government officials. A plea to Vann researchers: please discard the multiple-names (compiled by Mr. William Vann of Ft. Worth, TX such as John Joseph; Joseph David; James Clement; David Isaac; etc., unless confirmed by contemporary or solid documentation. They cause needless confusion and distraction in trying to sort out an already confusing family.

This is research done by Jerry I Clark

More Vann Info

Edward Vann I married 1) (ca.1736) Mary Barnes and 2) (ca.1745) Charity _______?
b. ca.1720
d. March, 1773 at Horn's Creek, Abbeville Dist. SC
*********************************************************************************************************************************
Children of Mary Barnes, daughter of Richard Barnes, Chowan Co, NC (Mary Barnes, b. ca. 1720 & d. 1744):

1) Joseph Vann [so-called "John Joseph"] m. Wah-li Vann
b. ca. 1737; d. 1800
[Nancy Vann said her father's name was Joseph Vann]

2) Edward ( "Ned") Vann II m. Mary King
b. ca. 1740; d. 1833 Horn's Creek, Edgefield Co., SC
[11/1/1818 an old man named Ned Vann visited Spring Place. He was a "blood brother of the father of James Vann and the mother of Joseph Crutchfield"]

3) Jenny Vann
b. ca. 1742; d. ca.1820
[Clement Vann visited Spring Place with his sister Jenny]

4) James Vann
b. ca. 1744; d. ca. 1820 Wilkes Co, GA

After the death of his 1st wife Mary Barnes, Edward Vann moved to the Ninety-Six District, SC, later known as Abbeville District, Pendleton District, Greenville County, and Edgeville County, SC, and married Charity_________.
************************************************************************************************************************************
Children of Charity _________ (a "Distressed Refugee, with 1 child, 8/11/1782) (b. ca. 1725; d. ca. 1790)

5) Clement Vann m. Wah-li Vann
b. 4/3/1746; d.ca. 1832 [he came into the Cherokee Nation ca. 1779]

6) Thomas Vann m. Anne [said to be a Cherokee woman]
b. ca. 1747; d. ca. 1839 Madison Co, AL

7) Edith Vann m. Arthur Archibald Coody (b.1742; d. 1782 Horn's Creek, Abbeville Dist.SC)
b. ca. 1752; d. 1805 Wilkes Co, GA
[Edward Vann was one of the adminstrators of A. A. Coody's will; another was Littlejohn Perdue, who may have married a Coody daughter; a young man named Greenberry Perdue, whose mother was named Coody, visited Spring Place with his relative Joseph Crutchfield (i.e. 2nd cousin)]

8) Avery Vann, Sr.
b. ca. 1755; d. ca. 1810
[Avery Vann, "a younger brother of Clement Vann" visited Spring Place. It was probably his son, Avery Vann, Jr.(contemporary in age with James Vann) who married Peggy McSwain (granddaughter of Indian trader John Downing). They were the progenitors of a large Cherokee family (the humorist Will Rogers descends from this line).
9) Susannah Vann m.(ca.1786) John Crutchfield (b. ca. 1755; d. ca. 1810, Wilkes Co,GA)
b. ca. 1760; d. ca. 1800 Wilkes Co, GA
**********************************************************************************************************************************
Notes:
Joseph Crutchfield, overseer on James Vann's estate in 1811 and (non-Indian) first cousin of James Vann, married Peggy Scott, the widow of Chief James Vann. Later Joseph married another Cherokee, Chinosa Halfbreed. He was 24 years old in 1811 and was born 7/4/1787. His younger brother Edmund Crutchfield (d. 1828) married an unnamed white wife; then a sister of Tarcheechee Tiger [probably Ticanohila Tiger], and Nannie Love (the latter two both Cherokees). Joseph's younger sister Rachel Crutchfield (Mrs. John Tiner) also lived nearby. The story of brothers Joseph and Rock Crutchfield as orphans adopted by James Vann after the death of their father (killed by Vann) can be found in Emmet Starr's HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS (p. 597). This story is not in the Moravian Diaries.

IN 1807James Vann hired his (non-Indian) cousin Josiah Vann as an overseer; Josiah Vann and his wife Anna placed 3 of their 10 children into the Spring Place School: Anna Sophia (age 8), Lemelia (age 10), and Lavinia (age 12). It is my contention that this Josiah Vann, cousin of James Vann, and father of Lemelia Vann is the person known as "Joseph David" Vann, supposed brother of James Vann, and father of Lemelia Vann (& a large number of descendants). There is no CONTEMPORARY evidence for Joseph David; Josiah Vann is well documented by the Moravians. It is possible that Josiah Vann might be a son of James Vann (# 4 above).

In 1809 James Vann hired another (non-Indian) cousin Zephaniah Coody as overseer; 2 of his children briefly went to the Spring Place School: Archibald (age 7) and Peninniah (age 9). It is known that Zephaniah's parents were Arthur Archibald Coody, Sr. and Edith Vann (thus Edith was an aunt of James Vann). Zephaniah's younger brother Joseph Coody married a Cherokee, Jennie Ross (sister of Principal Chief John Ross).

Many Vann researchers have been puzzled that Vashti Vann's husband Benjamin Jernigan was involved in some manner with litigation over a portion of the estate of Cherokee Chief James Vann. My reconstruction show that Vashti was a daughter of Edward ("Ned") Vann II (# 2 above) and thus James' first cousin. Vashti's sister Edith (a namesake of her aunt Edith Vann) married Martin Cloud.