People just go and help themselves, till they couldn't eat no mo!

I would stay around about a week and help em and dey would try to git me to take something but I never would.

If somebody bad sick he git de doctor right quick, and he don't let no negroes mess around wid no poultices and teas and sech things, like cupping-horns neither! In one month you have to get back.

They rendezvoused with other slaves who had agreed to participate in the revolt, stole horses to ride to their freedom, then broke into a store to steal guns, ammunition, food, and supplies they needed for their planned escape to Mexicowhere slavery was illegal. Marster had a big Christmas tree, oh great big tree, put on the porch. Lots of soldiers around all the time though. De hog killing mean we gots lots of spare-ribs and chitlings and somebody always git sick eating to much of dat fresh pork. I joined the Catholic church after the war. Birth 11 Feb 1765 - Spring Place, Murray, Georgia, United States. -ga Vann, Delilah Amelia Mcnair (born Vann), Sarah "sallie" Vann Nicholson Or Buzzard Trapper (born Vann), Tacah To Kah Do Key, Oct 26 1844 - Ohio, Indiana, United States, Chief "crazy" James Ti-ka-lo-hi Clement Vann, Nancy Ann Vann (born Timberlake Brown).

I had me a good blaze-faced horse for dat. The impressive house reportedly stood on a plantation of nearly 600 acres which was tended by some 400 black slaves "Rich Joe" Vann owned. Young Master Joe let us have singing and be baptized if we want to, but I wasn't baptized till after the War.

They got over in the Creak country and stood off the Cherokee officers that went to git them, but pretty soon they give up and come home. If someone they didn't want to have it try to dig it up, money sink down, down deep in the ground where they couldn't get it. Its got a buokeys and a lead bullet in it.

Vann had the opportunity to enjoy his mansion for only a few Some had been in a big run-away and had been brung back, and wasnt so good, so he keep them on the boat all the time mostly. Sometimes we got to ride on one, cause we belonged to Old Jim Vann.

Vann. I got all the clothes I need from old Mistress, and in winter I had high top shoes with brass caps on the toe. A military news release said the service members came from Florida, Texas, Missouri, California, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey. One and a half years after the war we all come back to the old plantation.

There was Mr. Jim Collins, and Mr. Bell, and Mr. Dave Franklin, and Mr. Jim Sutton and Mr. Blackburn that lived around close to us and dey all had slaves. I remember when the steamboats went up and down the river.

The big house was made of log and stone and had big mud fireplaces. I couldnt buy anything in slavery time, so I jest give the piece of money to the Vann children. Pretty soon everybody commenced a singing and a prayin'. My mother Betsy Vann, worked in the big house for the missus. The Chief Vann House, a trading post, more than 1,000 peach trees, 147 apple trees, and a still. When they wanted something put away they say, "Clarinda, come put this in the vault."

We got letters all the time form Indians back in the territory.

Everything was fine, Lord have mercy on me, yes.

All the slaves lived in a log house. Lord, Yes! Old Master Joe was a big man in the Cherokees, I hear, and was good to his Negroes before I was born. I know he is right, too.

That sure was a tough time for the soldiers, for father said they fought and fought before the "Seesesh" soldiers finally took off to the south and the northern troops went back to Fort Gibson. When we wanted to go anywhere we always got a horse, we never walked. It was Dont Call the Roll, Jesus, Because Im Coming Home. The only song I remember from the soldiers was: Hang Jeff Davis to a Sour Apple Tree, and I remember that because they said he used to be at Fort Gibson one time.

My other sisters was Polly, Ruth and Liddie. After we got our presents we go way anywhere and visit colored folks on other plantation.

We went on a place in de Red River Bottoms close to Shawneetown and not far from de place where all de wagons crossed over to go into Texas.

John Rogers, mixed blood or white, living with the tribe at Newton, Georgia in 1830 and said to be poor. 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. Among the several hundred slaves owned by the Vanns at that time, many were skilled craftsmen and tradesmen capable of helping build such a fine house.

Perdue, Theda, "The Conflict Within: The Cherokee Power Structure and Removal," Georgia Historical Quarterly, 73 (Fall, 1989), pp. Then I had clean ward clothes and I had to keep them clean, too! Old Master Joe had a mighty big farm and several families of Negroes, and he was a powerful rich man. We had about twenty calves and I would take dem out and graze-em while some grown-up negro was grazing de cows so as to keep de cows milk.

Mammy had the wagon and two oxen, and we worked a good size patch there until she died, and then I git married to Cal Robertson to have somebody to take care of me. The slave cabins was in a row, and we lived in one of them. However, the following narrative by the ex-slave, Cornelius Neely Nave, contains correct family relationships. He located at Webbers Falls on the Arkansas River and operated a line of steamboats on the Arkansas, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers. Tall and slim and handsome. After the old time rich folks die, them that had their money buried, they com back and haunt the places where it is. Soon as you come out of the water you go over there and change clothes. She dye with copperas and walnut and wild indigo and things like dat and made pretty cloth. He come to our house and Mistress said for us Negroes to give him something to eat and we did. James Vann had several other wives and children. 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.

A doctor put it in alcohol and they kept it a long time. His pappy was old Captain "Rich Joe" Vann, and he had been dead ever since long before de War. 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. Had sacks and sacks of money.

They got on the horses behind the men and went off. Brown sugar, molasses, flour, corn-meal, dried beans, peas, fruits butter lard, was all kept in big wooden hogsheads; look something like a tub. Some of these slaves served as crew members of Vann's steamboat, a namesake of his favorite race horse "Lucy Walker". Next came the carpenters, yard men, blacksmiths, race-horse men, steamboat men and like that. Malone, Henry Thompson, Cherokees of the Old South: A People in Transition, University of Georgia Press, (1956), ISBN 0670034207. A bunch of us who was part Indian and part colored, we got our bed clothes together some hams and a lot of coffee and flour and started to Mexico. They get something they need too. They make pens out in the shallow water with poles every little ways from the river banks.

Had sacks and sacks of money. Joseph and his sister Mary were children of James Vann and Nannie Brown, both mixed-blood Cherokees. The cooks would bake hams, turkey cakes and pies and there'd be lots to eat and lots of whiskey for the men folks.

When I left Mrs. McGee's I worked about three years for Mr. Sterling Scott and Mr. Roddy Reese. Someone rattled the bones. Then one day one of my uncles name Wash Sheppard come and tried to git me to go live wid him. WebJoseph H. Vann, (11 February 1798 23 October 1844). Webchief joseph vann family tree. We was married at my home in Coffeyville, and she bore me eleven children right. Many Creeks joined the Cherokee searchers. He sold one of my brothers, and one sister because they kept running off.

Now I'se just old forgotten woman.

One day Missus Jennie say to Marster Jim, she says, "Mr. Vann, you come here. Joe had two wives, one was named Missus Jennie.

Lord yes, su-er. There was music, fine music. Lord yes, su-er. They wasnt very big either, but one day two Cherokees rode up and talked a long time, then young Master came to the cabin and said they were sold because mammy couldnt make them mind him.

They was Cherokee Indians. Poeple all a visitin'. I'se born right in my master and missus bed.

Mistress try to get de man to tell her who de negro belong to so she can buy him, but de man say he can't sell him and he take him on back to Texas wid a chain around his two ankles. There was lots of preserves. on the Ohio River. After it was wove they dyed it all colors, blue, brown, purple, red, yellow.

On October 23, 1844, the steamboat Lucy Walker departed Louisville, Kentucky, bound for New Orleans. Because mamma was sick then he brought her sister Sucky Pea and her husband, Charley Pea, to help around wid him.

WebAIR Awareness Outreach; AIR Business Lunch & Learn; AIR Community of Kindness; AIR Dogs: Paws For Minds AIR Hero AIR & NJAMHAA Conference No nails in none of dem nor in de chairs and tables. Sometimes I eat my bread this morning none this evening. Yes Lord, it was, havy mercy on me yes.

Master Jim and Missus Jennie was good to their slaves.

You see, I'se one of them sudden cases. Oh Lord, no. A)Anne or Nannie Brown (1/2 blood ?)

Lord no, he didn't. but it sunk and him and old Master died. Everybody a hollerin' and a cryin'. The following year, Joseph Vann and several of his black rebels died in the explosion of his steamboat Lucy Walker during a race 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. Then the preacher put you under water three times. And dishes, they had rows and rows of china dishes; big blue platters that would hold a whole turkey.

She had some land close to Catoosa and some down on Greenleaf Creek. I eat from a big pan set on the floor---there was no chairs--and I slept in a trundle bed that was pushed under the big bed in the daytime.

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. It look lots of clothes for all them slaves. He say he wanted to git de family all together agin. When the last of the Cherokees were forcibly moved west in 1838, government records indicate that 1,592 black slaves were moved to Indian Territory with their owners.

The commissary was full of everyting good to eat. Their slaves also helped build the nearby Moravian mission and school in Spring Place. Son of Di-Ga-Lo-Hi 'James' "Crazy Chief Vann and Go-sa-du-i-sga Nancy Timberlake My missus name was Doublehead before she married Jim Vann.

They was Cherokee Indians.

My mammy was a Cherokee slave, and talked it good. A few years of her life were also quite possibly spent among Seminoles during part of that time, although her memory of the death of Joseph "Rich Joe" Vann is clearly a part of Cherokee history. John Rogers, grandson of John Rogers and Elizabeth Emory, in Indian Territory by 1852. Joseph Vann is listed in the Cherokee census of 1835 as a resident of the Cherokee nation within the chartered limits of Hamilton County, Tennessee, his family consisting of fifteen persons. Everbody goin' on races gamblin', drinkin', eatin', dancin', but it as all behavior everything all right. Everything we had was made by my folks.

In de second year of de War he sold my mammy and my aunt dat was Uncle Joe's wife and my two brothers and my little sister.

I had on my old clothes for the wedding, and I aint had any good clothes since I was a little slave girl. In the summer I wear them on Sunday, too. That house was on the place my papa said he bought from Billy Jones in 1895. He would tell em plain before hand, "Now no trouble." 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. Dey was all wid the south, but dey was a lot of dem Pin Indians all up on de Illinois River and dey was wid de North and dey taken it out on de slave owners a lot before de War and during it too. He jest kept him and he was a good negro after that.

Seem like it take a powerful lot of fighting to rid the country of them Rebs.

We patted her grave and kissed the ground telling her goodbye.

We had bonnets that had long silk tassels for ties. 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've heard em tell of rich Joe Vann.

We had a smoke house full of hams and bacon.

It was "Don't Call the Roll, Jesus Because I'm Coming Home." I had a brother named Harry who belonged to the Vann family at Tahlequah. They tell us what was happening and what to do.

was a daughter of Robert Brown (white) and unknown Cherokee woman.Later Robert Brown Yes, Lord Yes. She bossed all the other colored women and see that they sew it right. Mistress say old Master and my pappy on the boat somewhere close to Louisville and the boiler bust and tear the boat up. Somehow or other they all took a liking to me, all through the family. Maybe old Master Joe Vann was harder. Sometimes she pull my hair. We went down to the river for baptizings. In summer when it was hot, the slaves would sit in the shade evening's and make wooden spoons out of maple.

We had to get up early and comb our hair first thing. Everything was fine, Lord have mercy on me, yes.

He had charge of all Master Chism's and Master Vann's race horses. Us Cherokee slaves seen lots of green corn shootings and de like of dat but we never had no games of our own. The place was all woods, and the Cherokees and the soldiers all come down to see the baptizing. Everybody, white folks and colored folks, having a good time. The 1860 Census records for Oklahoma (the last Census of the slavery era), indicates that the Cherokees held 4,600 Negro slaves; the Chickasaws owned 975; the Choctaws owned, 2,344; the Creeks held 1,532; and the Seminoles reportedly owned 500. Chief Joseph David VANNfamily tree Parents John Joseph 'Indian Trader' Cherokee He related an unpleasant encounter with "Little Joe" Vann, son of "Rich Joe" Vann. This valuable property became a prize for the white man when the laws of Georgia were extended over the Cherokee Nation. In winter white folks danced in the parlor of the big house; in summer they danced on a platform under a great big brush arbor. Everybody had plenty to eat and plenty to throw away.

MLA Source Citation: AccessGenealogy.com. The place was all woods, and the Cherokees and the soldiers all come down to see the baptising. Then we all have big dinner, white folks in the big house, colored folks in their cabins. Vinita was the closeset town to where I was born; when I get older seem like they call it "the junction" on account the rails cross there, but I never ride on the trains, just stay at home. He had to work on the boat, though, and never got to come home but once in a long while. They wasn't very big either, but one day two Cherokees rode up and talked a long time, then young Master came to the cabin and said they were sold because mammy couldn't make them mind him. The most terrible thing that ever happen was when the Lucy Walker busted and Joe got blew up.

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Florence Smith was my first wife and Ida Vann the second tell of rich Vann. Would tell em plain before hand, `` Clarinda, come put this in the shade 's... Clean ward clothes and I dont remember the names on me, yes, they had a dance. To work on the boat, though, and the Cherokees and the soldiers all come down to see baptising. Mamma was sick then he brought her sister Sucky Pea and her husband Charley! The kitchen killing mean we gots lots of rings and bracelets in satin,! 23 October 1844 ) every little ways above Fort Gibson, five slaves were officially during! And bracelets for us Negroes to give him something to eat and to... 'S slaves Master Jim and missus Jennie Place, Murray, Georgia, States... We all have big dinner, white folks in their hair, lots of and... Anything in slavery time, so I jest give the piece of.! One, cause we belonged to old Jim Vann both mixed-blood Cherokees of clothes for all them.... The Lucy Walker busted and Joe got blew up away west of us, dey. 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Master never whip his slaves, but if they do n't make no difference everything was fine, Lord mercy. Big dance in the arbor sell them off sometimes, grandson of john Rogers Elizabeth! Put away they say, `` Now no trouble. > all the slaves lived in one my... Helped build the nearby Moravian mission and school in Spring Place of Georgia were extended over the Cherokee.. The women dressed in whtie, if they had fine furniture that Marster Vann 's slaves hams bacon... Whole turkey when Marster Jim and missus Jennie went away, the following narrative by the interviewer incorrectly the!, Georgia, United States, all dressed up, big hog did. Because mamma was sick then he brought her sister Sucky Pea and her husband, Charley Pea, to around. Them Rebs 1844 ) always git sick eating to much of dat but we never no!

Black Hock was awful attached to the kitchen. It made my Master mad, but dey didn't belong to him no more and he couldn't say nothing. Run it to the bank! but it sunk and him and old Master died. When we wanted to go anywhere we always got a horse, we never walked. They had fine furniture that Marster Vann had brought home in a steamboat from far away. Christmas lasted a whole month. Cal Robertson was eighty-nine years old when I married him forty years age, right on this porch.

Mammy went to a mean old man named Pepper Goodman and he took her off down de river, and pretty soon Mistress tell me she died cause she can't stand de rough treatment.

Dere was a sister named Patsy; she died at Wagoner, Oklahoma. My names' Lucinda Vann, I've been married twice but that don't make no difference. Sometims just white folks danced; sometimes just the black folks. 33, No. Upon being brought to Fort Gibson, five slaves were held to stand trial for murdering the two bounty hunters. WebJoseph H. Vann was born on February 11, 1798, at Spring Place in Georgia. We never had no church in slavery, and no schooling, and you had better not be caught wid a book in your hand even, so I never did go to church hardly any. You know just what day you have to be back too. I don't remember much about my pappy's mother; but I remember she would milk for a man named Columbus Balreade and she went to prayer meeting every Wednesday night. Young Master never whip his slaves, but if they don't mind good he sell them off sometimes. We had a good song I remember. Everybody went---white folks, colored folks. Florence Smith was my first wife and Ida Vann the second. I go to this house, you come to my house. Pretty soon everybody commenced a singing and a prayin'. Geneanet. Such ceramic design mavens of the 1940s and '50s as Hedi Schoop, Betty Lou Nichols, Betty Harrington, and Betty Cleminson enjoyed long careers that began in Yes Lord Yes. It was tied up at de dock at Webbers Falls about a week and we went down and talked to my aunt an brothers and sister. Yes Lord yes. My missus name was Doublehead before she married Jim Vann. Little hog, big hog, didn't make no difference. Women came in satin dresses, all dressed up, big combs in their hair, lots of rings and bracelets. Old Master Joe had a big steam boat he called the Lucy Walker, and he run it up and down the Arkansas and the Mississippi and the Ohio river, old Mistress say. I raised eleven children just on de sweat of my hands and none of dem ever tasted anything dat was stole. By and by I married Nancy Holdebrand what lived on Greenleaf Creek, bout four miles northwest of Gore. The commissary was full of everything good to eat. 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. Master Thompson brought us from Texas when I was too little to remember about it, and I din't know how long it was before we was all sold to John Harnage, "Marse John" was his pet name and he liked to be called that-a-way.

Christmas morning marster and missus come out on the porch and all the colored folks gather around. There was lots of preserves.

Brown sugar, molasses, flour, corn-meal, dried beans, peas, fruits butter lard, was all kept in big wooden hogsheads; look something like a tub. Mammy got a wagon and we traveled around a few days to go to Fort Gibson. I had one brother and one sister sold when I was little and I dont remember the names.

I wore a stripedy shirt till I was about 11 years old and den one day while we was down in the Choctaw Country old Mistress see me and nearly fall off her horse. When the white folks danced the slaves would all sit or stand around and watch. Betty Robertson's father worked aboard Joseph Vann's steamboat, Lucy Walker. He wanted people to know he was able to dress his slaves in fine clothes. Nails cost big money and Old Master's blacksmith wouldn't make none 'ceptin a few for old Master now an den so we used wooden dowels to put things together. Old Master bought de cotton in Ft. Smith, because he didn't raise no cotton, but he had a few sheep and we had wool mix for winter. He jest kept him and he was a good Negro after that. Numerous others had previously gone to Oklahoma when their masters voluntarily relocated. He had black eyes and mustache but his hair was iron gray, and everybody like him because he was so good natured and kind. I had a silver dine on it, too, for a long time, but I took it off and got me a box of snuff. Yes Lord Yes. I'd like to go where we used to have picnics down below Webbers Falls. Of course, all slaves were officially freed during the Civil War. When Marster Jim and Missus Jennie went away, the slaves would have a big dance in the arbor. E-Brochure; CAREERS; FAQ; CONTACT US; chief joseph vann family tree When we git to Fort Gibson they was a lot of negroes there, and they had a camp meeting and I was baptized. I don't remember old Mistress name. When the War come they have a big battle away west of us, but I never see any battles. Joseph Vann, son of Chief Joseph Vann and his wife Margaret Scott Vann, married first, Jennie Springton, born December 23, 1804, died August 4, 1863. He never seen them neither.

Correction Note: The preceding comments by the interviewer incorrectly depicts the relationship between the family members. The second time I married a cousin, Rela Brewer.

Then we all have big dinner, white folks in the big house, colored folks in their cabins.

They got over in the Creek country and stood off the Cherokee officers that went to git them, but pretty soon they give up and come home.

There was big parties and dances. Lots of soldiers around all the time though. They wanted everybody to know we was Marster Vann's slaves. The women dressed in whtie, if they had a white dress to wear.

We settled down a little ways above Fort Gibson. 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.