John Vann, Indian Countryman

The earliest known mention (in the Colonial Records of South Carolina Relating to Indian Affairs, a.k.a. "The Indian Books") of John Vann, was in 1741 when Governor Lyttleton of South Carolina directed John Vann, an employee of Cherokee trader James Maxwell, to transport supplies into the Choctaw Nation. Unless John was a very precocius 10 year old lad, he could not possibly have been "John Joseph" Vann, b. ca.1737. Thus he represents a totally different individual, whose ancestry has yet to be fully discerned. The name of John Vann appears several times in the South Carolina papers as an "Indian Countryman," the term used at that time to describe merchants (mostly fur and hide traders), who resided amoung the Cherokees and accepted tribal customs, including the taking of a Cherokee female partner, consort, concubine, or wife.
This woman not only performed the usual wifely duties, but served as the European (most were Scots) merchant's intermediary, teacher of Indian ways, and translator. If the "Indian Countryman" was shrewd, he selected a wife who was the sister, daughter or niece of important tribal leaders. Most Cherokee genealogists gringe at the notion of "Cherokee Princesses", but the Indian spouses of the European traders were, if not royalty or nobility, at least the equivilent of Indian "heiresses" or perhaps "debutants." Because of the Cherokee matralineal clan system, many of the mixed-blood offspring of the Cherokee wives and their European husbands rapidly rose to prominece in tribal social, economic, and political affairs because of their mothers, not because of their fathers. James Vann became a chief of the Upper Cherokees, largely because of the high social standing of his mother and grandmother (probably a niece of Oconostota, the Great Warrior [i.e. General] of Chota [a famous Cherokee town].
In the 1760's John Vann and Edward Vann (probably his brother) purchased tracts of land near Ft. Charlotte in the Ninety-Six District (later called the Abbeville or Pendleton District, and later Greenville & Edgefield Counties, SC) and along the Broad, Saluda, and Savannah River in Georgia (later called Wilkes County,GA). Nearby was land owned by Robert Gowdey, a well-known Indian Countryman (3 of his Cherokee children were listed in his will in the Pendleton Dist.), whose name appears frequently in the SC "Indian Books." Gowdey apparently had issues with John Vann, because he sued him in 1758 to collect a debt of 850 pounds and went to court in 1775 to accuse John Vann of instigating the Cherokees to attack the American frontier. The name of Robert Gowdey in the land records compiled by William H. Vann of Ft. Worth prove that this was the same John Vann who lived among the Cherokees. Most of the persons surnamed Vann listed by Dianne Schell, Dick Fox, or Suzi Herman in the Vann Family Forum who resided and left records in the 96 District, Abbeville District, Pendleton District, Greenville County, and Edgefield County, SC and the nearby (accross the Savannah River) Wilkes County, GA were somehow connected to the Cherokees. Those Vanns residing in Chowan, Hertford, Bertie, Gage, and Sampson Counties, NC were not likely to have Cherokee relations, while those living in Madison County, AL might have Cherokee ties.
John Vann was associated with several other "Indian Countrymen," John Downing, James Adair, Bernard Hughes, et al.who each became the progenitor of Cherokee mixed-blood families with those surnames. John Vann's part-Cherokee children included 1/2 bloods named John Vann, Joseph Vann (maybe), Betty Vann (a sister of Waw-li mentioned by the Moravians), and Waw-li Vann. There is a court record in which Mary Christiana Vann, i.e. Waw-li mentions her late brother John Vann. I believe that the Indian Countryman John Vann's brother Edward Vann was the father of Joseph (a.k.a. "John" Joseph Vann) and Clement Vann, who were both husbands of their first cousin Waw-li Vann (she was 1/2 Cherokee) and the grandfather of Avery Vann, Jr. (husband of Peggy McSwain, granddaughter of Indian Countryman John Downing).
In 1779 Robert Due (yet another Indian Countryman) wrote to Alexander Cameron ( British agent to the Cherokees who had 3 part-Cherokee children) concerning a number of whitemen who were living among the Cherokees who joined up with war parties organized by Oconostota during the American Revolution. Two of these Tories or Loyalists joing Chickamauga war parties were named John Vann and Joseph Vann, and each joined separate war groups and went in different directions. The text of this letter can be found posted on the "Jim Hicks Cherokee Page" website, which also has a lot of information about the Cherokee Vanns. I believe that John Vann was the elderly Indian Countryman and Joseph Vann was his nephew (and son-in-law), but more evidence is needed to prove or disprove this theory.
Thus there were probably at least two (2) different Vann connections to the Cherokees: one through John Vann, the Indian Countryman, and the other through a later generation represented by Joseph, Clement, and Avery Vann, Jr. In addition, there may have been a third Cherokee Vann line, if there was another brother of John Vann and Edward Vann named Joseph Vann with an Indian wife [or wives; Cherokees practiced polygamy] who may have been the progenitor of other Cherokee Vann families not obviously related to that of Chief James Vann. Confusion about the Vanns is not only because of the multiplicitiy of persons with the same names, but also because a Cherokee female Vann married white males named Vann, similar same-name alliances occured among several other Cherokee mixed-blood families (i.e. the Adair, Ross, Benge, and some others). Another cause of confusion are some documents discovered by Mr. William H. Vann in his VANN GENERATIONS which suggest a man named "John Vann, otherwise Joseph Vann." This led to the creation of additional "double-decker" (my term) names such as "James Clement Vann I & II" (actually Chief James Vann apparently had an uncle named James and another uncle named Clement). By the way, Nancy Vann (sister of James Vann) mentioned in a court document that her father was named Joseph Vann [NOT John Joseph]. Let us try to eliminate or reduce the amount of such distracting confusions.

Benge Route Signs Going Up in Alabama

Benge Route Signs Going Up in Alabama

Beaver Dam or Beaver Pond Of The Cherokee Nation

1832 Surveyer's Field Book Notice the word Stand.

Indian Improvements in Cave Spring

This is the reason I think Cave Spring is  Beaver Dam or Beaver Pond Of The Cherokee Nation  and the Cabin is Avery Vann's

The article below was research and written by Jeff Bishop

In spite of all this apocalyptic fervor, the Cherokee leadership ultimately

sided with the United States and served under General Andrew Jackson in 1814

against their rebellious “Red Stick” Creek neighbors. Lying unprotected on the

Creek / Cherokee border, on the south side of the Coosa River, Vann’s Valley was

an inviting and vulnerable target for the Red Sticks. By that time a Cherokee

named Avery Vann -- brother of the infamous James Vann of Spring Place, GA – had

settled in the area, which had become generally known as “Beaver Dam” or “Beaver

Pond.” A Jan. 24, 1822 entry in the Brainerd missionary journal located “Beaver

Dam” on “the south side of the Coosa river, opposite to Turnip town,”(50) a

Cherokee town on the northern bank of the Coosa, at the southern base of Turnip

Mountain, near today’s Plant Hammond. Rev. Daniel Butrick noted in February,

1823 that “Beaver-dam,” was located 10 or 12 miles from Turnip Mountain, south

of the Coosa river.” He also said that “Cedar Creek town,” a town that lay “near

a settlement of Creek Indians,” likely at or near today’s Cedartown, was “12

miles south of Beaver dam.”(51) This would place Beaver Dam in the heart of

Vann’s Valley, probably very near today’s town of Cave Spring, or between there

and the former county seat of Livingston. (As more Cherokees – and especially

prosperous Cherokees such as Avery Vann -- began to adopt more of a plantation

lifestyle, the nature of what constituted a Cherokee “town” changed. During the

eighteenth century Cherokee towns tended to be traditional and compact, centered

on a town council house, but by the early nineteenth century the “towns” tended

to be spread out for miles along the river bottoms and associated tributaries.)

Vann, at the time of the Creek War / Red Stick Rebellion, was living at the

northern end of the Beaver Dam area, operating a ferry on the Coosa River. In

1826 Richard A. Blount, who was surveying the Georgia / Alabama state line, said

that Vann, who he described as an “old man,” lived on the Coosa “in the late

war, and took an active part against the hostile Creeks, and while he was down

about the Horse Shoe, some of them came up and burnt his houses.”(52) Records

from the Cherokee Agency report that on March, 1814, the Old Broom sent a “very

urgent express” through Santooly of Brooms Town to the Cherokees living near

Avery Vann’s place, which was located by the agency as “sixteen miles above Fort

Armstrong.” The Agency was informed that Vann’s place had been “burnt By the

hostile Creeks” and that his family had only barely escaped the raid “a day or

two before this happened.” Old Broom said that Cherokee warriors needed to be

“stationed at Avery Vann’s” and wanted to know if they would be considered “as a

part of Genl Jacksons army.”(53)

Vann’s wife, Margaret McSwain Vann, gives a considerably more detailed account

in an 1842 claim to the federal government for the loss of the property:

The claimant … states (on oath) that at the time of the Creek War she resided

with her family on the South side of the Coosa river in the Cherokee Nation

East; where she was exposed to the inroads of the lawless Creeks owning to the

contiguity of her abode to that tribe. That her husband was at the time of the

loss of the above property in the service of the U.S. in the company commanded

by Capt. David McNair, all under command of Genl. Andrew Jackson. That will in

this defenceless condition a friend by the name of Broom sent her word that

she was in great danger of an attack by the Creeks, and advised her to remove

her little family across to the north side of the Coosa river, which advice

she took to save the lives of her family; -- and about the next day after

leaving her residents, the Creeks set fire to & consumed all that is charged

in this account except the Negro Boy. The next day … after the burning of her

property by the Creeks, the Boy was at play with her own children, where she

had constructed a camp to shelter in, and at night on inquiry the Boy could

not be found, and there was no way to account for his absence, but by charging

some outlaw with forcing him off. Suspicion rested … upon some bad white men…

in the neighborhood to Genl. White’s detachment of East Tennessee Militia from

the fact that fresh horse tracks were to be found about the place where the

boy was at play, which were pursued a short distance in the direction of

Tennessee … And now as it must be obvious to every candid mind that this loss

was brought about by the absence of her husband & protector in the ranks of

the citizens of the U.S. in defence of their rights, against the enemy of the

U.S., she thinks it nothing but justice that she should be remunerated for her

loss.(54)

The Indian Removal Act

Although Vann, like most able-bodied Cherokee men, chose to serve with the white

soldiers under General Jackson, that would not save his home and property. In

fact, it would be Jackson -- riding his victories all the way to the U.S.

presidency -- who ultimately would push for removal of the Southeastern Indians,

including his former Cherokee allies, west of the Mississippi River. Vann’s

loyalty to the United States, even to the point of losing his home to

conflagration, wouldn’t spare him or his family from removal. “The consequences

of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, to individual

States, and to the Indians themselves,” Jackson announced to the U.S. Congress.

He characterized the Cherokee Nation and their fellow Indian nations, in spite

of all aspirations to become thoroughly acculturated, as being “now occupied by

a few savage hunters.”(55) In fact, the Cherokees had long since ceded the vast

majority of their once vast hunting grounds to the United States, and had been

living a plantation and subsistence farming lifestyle virtually

indistinguishable from that practiced by their white neighbors. But no matter.

Removal of the Indians from the Southern states would “enable those States to

advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power,” Jackson said. “What good man

would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages

to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms

embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry

execute…?” Jackson concluded:

And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment to his

home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more afflicting to him to

leave the graves of his fathers than it is to our brothers and children?

Rightly considered, the policy of the General Government toward the red man is

not only liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of the

States and mingle with their population. To save him from this alternative, or

perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers him a new

home… (56)

Seeing the writing clearly on the wall, Vann enrolled for emigration to the West

in 1829, abandoning all his improvements in Beaver Pond. Just 11 days after

Jackson’s announcement, the state of Georgia extended its legal jurisdiction

over the Cherokee Nation, abolishing Cherokee government, courts, and police

powers in its own territory. Since Cherokees could not testify against whites in

Georgia courts, this action practically invited whites to invade Cherokee

territory and take what they wanted. This is exactly what happened, and the

people living in Vann’s Valley again found themselves on the front lines of

conflict.

Vann's Valley and Head of Coosa: Nexus of Conflict on the Early American Frontier | On the Trail of the Trail

Vann's Valley and Head of Coosa: Nexus of Conflict on the Early American Frontier | On the Trail of the Trail:

'via Blog this'

Land to continue Pinhoti Trail acquired

RN-T.com - Land to continue Pinhoti Trail acquired

Log Cabin Dig By Boy Scouts

 By Boy scouts

Download our App cavespringga built by Appsgeyser.com

Download our App cavespringga built by Appsgeyser.com

We hope to have this done this summer

Log Cabin Gift Shop Proceeds Goes To Save And Restore The Log Cabin

Pictures Of Ground Behind The Cabin What Could Have This Been

You Can Now Buy Pictures of Log Cabin

Log Cabin

Intruders

Intruders

Cave Spring Historical Tours

more info call 706-777-9447

The Missionary herald - American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions - Google Books

 Beaver Dam

The Missionary herald - American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions - Google Books

Luck O' the Greens Salad Lunch Buffet Style Proceeds go to the Cabin Fund!

Cherokee And Early Settler History Tours

 Cave Spring Historical Tours will be conducting tours April 4 thru 7 Cherokee,Early Settlers History of Cave Spring Georgia,Tours will begin at the Cave Spring Welcome Center and Museum . For Groups of 10 or More $15.00 for tours includes Breakfast or Lunch at the Diner.So email us today and book your group today call 706-777-9447 and make Reservation vabern1246@hotmail.com or bwabernathy@gmail.com. proceeds goes to save and restore the cabin

Ann Boyle Hemphill and Catherine Boyle Montgomery

Andrea Montgomery Adams 

Ann Boyle Hemphill and Catherine Boyle Montgomery took their widow mother Hannah Boyle to Cave Spring. Hannah died there. I suspect the windows that you found in the cabin come from the home of Peter and Hannah Boyle in Jackson County GA. That is where Peter died and then Hannah Boyle moved to Floyd County, with her daughters. Prior to Jackson County, Peter and Hannah Boyle had another daughter that married into the Clements family in Sparta. They all lived in Sparta (late 1790's) The Clements were building construction distributors. They purchased all the supplies to build the square in Sparta. I have a feeling the Boyle's got the windows from the Clements in Sparta prior to building their home in Jackson County GA.

Where the Cherokee Lived In Cave Spring

799 Deed Where Armstead Richardson Purchase It From James Hemphill

There is a 40 Acre Indian Improvement on land Lot 799.

DanielPumpkinpileatCedarCreek001.jpg (JPEG Image, 850 × 1450 pixels) - Scaled (57%)

DanielPumpkinpileatCedarCreek001.jpg (JPEG Image, 850 × 1450 pixels) - Scaled (57%)