It was in the Grand River close to the ford, and winter time. Pappy's name was Caesar Sheppard and Mammy's name was Easter. Lord yes, su-er. Everything we had was made by my folks. Sometimes the sleep was too deep and somebody would be late, but the master never punish anybody, and I never see anybody whipped and only one slave sold. But about the home--it was a double-room log house with a cooling-off space between the rooms, all covered with a roof, but no porch, and the beds was made of planks, the table of pine boards, and there was never enough boxes for the chairs so the littlest children eat out of a tin pan off the floor. 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. Marster had a little race horse called "Black Hock" She was all jet black, excepting three white feet and her stump of a tail. Some of us had money. We even had brown sugar and cane molasses most of de time before de War, sometimes coffee, too. I was afraid I would get cheated out of it cause I can't figure and read, so I tell old Master about it and he bought it off'n me. Dey didn't let us have much enjoyment. Oh Lord, no. They never sent us anywhere with a cotton dress. The Chief Vann House is the first brick residence in the Cherokee Nation, and has been called the "Showplace of the Cherokee Nation ". Excepting master and mistress, couldn't nobody put things in there but her. I been a good Christian ever since I was baptized, but I keep a little charm here on my neck anyways to keep me from having the nose bleed. I would have to go tromp seven miles to Mr. Scott's house two or three times a week to bring back some old peafowl dat had got out and gone back to de old place! 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. Everything was stripedy cause Mammy like to make it fancy. a trading post, more than 1,000 peach trees, 147 apple trees, and a still. Lucinda Vann tells an unusual story of plantation life from the perspective of a house slave who was born with privileges. Smoeone call our names and everybody get a present. Isaac had been Young Joe's driver and he told me all about how rich Master Joe was and how he would look after us negroes. He come from across the water when he was a little boy, and was grown when old Master Joseph Vann bought him, so he never did learn to talk much Cherokee. We take a big pot to fry fish in and we'd all eat till we nearly bust. 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. Dey would come up in a bunch of about nine men on horses and look at all our passes, and if a negro didn't have no pass dey wore him out good and made him go home. The slaves had a pretty easy time I think. When the white folks danced the slaves would all sit or stand around and watch. Chief Joseph Rich Joe Vann was born on February 11 1798, in Spring Place, GA, to Chief James Vann, II and Nancy Timberlake. There were some Cherokee slaves that were taken to Mexico, however, she makes vivid references to Seminole leaders John Horse, and Wild Cat. There was seats all around for folks to watch them dance. The home was subsequently owned by . He wanted people to know he was able to dress his slaves in fine clothes. The Vanns were a prolific family who reused many names, so later in life he was referred to as "Rich Joe." He was one of eight children born to his father's nine wives. They was so many of us for dat little field we never did have to work hard. They brought it home and my granmother knew it was Joe's. He builds the large brick mansion house at Spring Place, Murray Country, Georgia, which stands today as a monument at its owner. 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. He related an unpleasant encounter with "Little Joe" Vann, son of "Rich Joe" Vann. The preacher took his candidate into the water. The comfort accorded house slaves is in stark contrast to the lives of the field slaves described in other interviews. James (Chief of Vann's Old Town) Vannfamily tree Parents Joseph Vann 1740- Unknown Johnson Thompson's father had been owned by "Rich Joe" Vann. https://web.archive.org/web/20071026072208/http://www.cherokeebyblo https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5977809/joseph-vann, Webbers Falls, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States of America. McFadden, Marguerite, "The Saga of 'Rich Joe' Vann", Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. I'se born right in my master and missus bed. Cal Robertson was eighty-nine years old when I married him forty years ago, right on this porch. He worked in the gold mines. Again the Indian command system lost the Chickamauga their last chance to carry their colors to the Clinch River. Lord yes su-er. Someone call our names and everybody get a present. One day Missus Jennie say to Marster Jim, she says, "Mr. Vann, you come here. They'd clap their hands and holler. Georgia known as The Chief Vann House In 1819, WA-WLI baptized by the Morav. Old Master had some kind of business in Fort Smith, I think cause he used to ride into dat town about every day on his horse. He wouldn't take us way off, but just for a ride. The spring time give us plenty of green corn and beans too. Black Hock was awful attached to the kitchen. Born in Cherokee, Chowan, North Carolina, United States on 1690 to Holesqua Chief Cornstalk Vann and Sarah Ann Champion. New search. Someone maybe would be playing a fiddle or a banjo. We had out time to go to bed and our time to get up in the morning. We went down to the river for baptizings. Lord it was terible. Dey kept after me about a year, but I didn't go anyways. I'm gonna give Lucy this black mare. Everbody goin' on races gamblin', drinkin', eatin', dancin', but it as all behavior everything all right. That was where all the food was kept. I found your family in the 1880/1900 census. He'd take us and enjoy us, you know. when a guy asks how you're feeling; should i remove him from social media; artisan homes marsh view; who was the opera singer in moonstruck; what happened to sophie stuckey 467-91. 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. The impressive house reportedly stood on a plantation of nearly 600 acres which was tended by some 400 black slaves "Rich Joe" Vann owned. We made money and kept it in a sack. Lord, Yes! In 1842, 35 slaves of Joseph Vann, Lewis Ross, and other wealthy Cherokees at Webbers Falls, fled in a futile attempt to escape to Mexico, but were quickly recaptured by a Cherokee possee. View Site 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. Morris Sheppard was owned by a Cherokee named Joe Sheppard. Cornelius Neely Nave was a grandson of Talaka Vann, a slave owned by Joseph Vann in Webbers Falls. Vann. I go to this house, you come to my house. In 1834 Cherokee chief James Vann's son Joseph lost the family home to the state. Young Master Vann never very hard on us and he never whupped us, and old Mistress was a widow woman and a good Christian and always kind. He wouldn' take us way off, but just for a ride. She bossed all the other colored women and see that they sew it right. He was called by his contemporaries "Rich Joe" and many legends of his wealth ware still told among the Cherokees. The people conducting the interviews from 1936-1938 were instructed to write the material gleaned from the interviews as closely as possible to the speech patterns of the former slaves they interviewed. Mr. Reese had a big flock of peafowls dat had belonged to Mr. Scott and I had to take care of demWhitefolks. I always pick a whole passel of muscadines for old Master and he make up sour wine, and dat helps out when we git the bowel complaint from eating dat fresh pork. When the Cherokees discovered that so many of their slaves had fled, they organized a search party to pursue them. They had a big big plantation down by the river and they was rich. Although Joseph Vann's body was never found, slave Lucinda Vann revealed that one of his arms had been found, positively identified, and taken to Vann's home at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, where it was preserved for many years. There Vann constructed a replica of his lost Georgia mansion. I don't know how old I is; some folks say I'se ninety-two and some say I must be a hundred. Chief Joseph David VANNfamily tree Parents John Joseph 'Indian Trader' Cherokee Vann 1735- 1815 Waw Li Otterlifter 1750- 1835 Wrong Chief Joseph David VANN? In 1829 Clement Vann told General Coffee that he was 83 years old and had been in the Cherokee nation for fifty years.Therefore it is highly unlikely that he could have been the father of the Cherokee Chief, James Vann b 1766, well before Clement Vann entered the Cherokee nation. After a bloody fracas in 1834, Colonel W. N. Bishop established his brother, Absolom Bishop, on the premises and Joseph Vann with his family was driven out to seek shelter over the state line in Tennessee. Poor old master and mistress only lived a few years after de War. They get something they need too. He say he wanted to git de family all together agin. The big house was made of log and stone and had big mud fireplaces. 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. At the time that the interviews were conducted, the Vanns had been gone from Georgia for more than 100 yearsconsequently none of the slaves the Vanns owned in Spring Place were still alive. After it was wove they dyed it all colors, blue, brown, purple, red, yellow. Some Negroes say my pappy kept hollering, "Run it to the bank! The last one was named for Hubbard Ross; he was related to Chief John Ross and was some kin to Daniel Nave, my father's master. Every morning the slaves would run to the commissary and get what they wanted for that day. But de Big House ain't hurt cepting it need a new roof. We had a smoke house full of hams and bacon. He had to work on the boat, though, and never got to come home but once in a long while. on the Ohio River. We all come back to de old place and find de negro cabins and barns burned down and de fences all gone and de field in crab grass and cockleburs. My mother saw it but the colored chillun' couldn't. He had apparently been attending the horse races at Louisville, KY. Vann, Joseph H., Cherokee Rose: On Rivers of Golden Tears, 1st Books Library (2001), ISBN 0-75965-139-6. Used to go up and down the river in his steamboat. 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