John ‘Hon John’ Vann

John Vann was a Cherokee man

Biography

"Hon" John Vann was born about 1802 in the Cherokee Nation (East), the son of James Vann and a Cherokee woman named Peggy. He attended the Moravian mission school at Spring Place in 1816, the Brainerd mission school in the spring of 1818, and in the fall of 1818 went with John Ridge to attend the Cornwall Institute in Connecticut. [1] By 1822 John had returned to the Cherokee Nation. The journal of the Brainerd mission records, "John Vann's brother Joseph.... wishes him to make his house his home, and is unwilling to have him make any permanent engagement with us as an interpreter..." [2]

John married a white woman named Martha Denton, and also had a Cherokee wife (possibly named Su-gi or Susie) ). [3] The Moravians wrote in 1826 that John was in a sad state. He had brought suit against his brother Joseph regarding their father's estate, and had left both the church and his wife (Martha). [1]

It is uncertain which children go with which mother. Although Grandson John E. (son of James Denton Vann) said on his Eastern Cherokee application that Saturday, Daniel, Joseph, Mary, and his father James were children of John and Martha, Cherokee genealogist Jerry Clark lists only two children (John E, and a brother Alford who died young) as children of Martha, and all the others as children by the Cherokee wife. Jinnie, Kar-tah-yer, and Kuh-ne-yer-he, born in Indian Territory,, must have been children of Susie. "Hon" John and all the children except James are listed on the 1851 Drennan Roll, living in the Saline District, Cherokee Nation. [4] James Denton Vann and his son John E. appear on the 1852 Chapman roll, living in Murray County, Georgia. [5]

John's death date is unknown.

Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Crews & Starbuck, eds. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. V, p. 2264, Vol. 7, pp. 3380, 3383, 3498, and others
2. ↑ Phillips, Joyce and Paul, eds. “The Brainerd Journal: A Mission to the Cherokees 1817-1823.” University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1998. p. 326, December 28, 1822.
3. ↑ National Archives and Records Administration, Eastern Cherokee Applications of the Court of Claims. Application #4811, grandson John E. Vann. Images at Fold3 JohnE
4. ↑ Drennen Roll of “Emigrant Cherokee,” 1851. Series 7RA-01. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75. The National Archives at Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas. Saline District, p. 284, family #207 , Saturday, p. 283, family #197
5. ↑ National Archives and Records Administration, Chapman Roll, 1851, #1965
https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0021...

Source: The WikiTree Native American Project @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Vann-919