Robert B. ‘Robin’ Vann

Robert ‘Robin’ Vann was a Cherokee man

Biography

Robert (Robin) Vann was born about 1799 in the Cherokee Nation (East) the son of Polly Scott and James Vann. Polly married Vann about 1798 when he was already married to her sister, Peggy. Moravian missionaries visited in 1800 and wrote, "...like most Indians Vann lives with 2 wives, sisters... [1] Robert's parents remained together only briefly and by 1802 his mother Polly was married to a white man named Eliphus Holt. James Vann was murdered in 1809 and in 1810 the Moravian missionaries wrote, "... our dear Peggy [sister of Polly and widow of James] has taken to herself a son of her deceased husband, whom he had with her sister Polly Scott, actually Holt. His name is Robin Vann." [2] Peggy enrolled her nephew in the Moravians' school at Spring Place.

James Vann left a will giving all his property to one son, Joseph. The terms of the will so infuriated the Cherokee that the will was broken by the Cherokee Council and the estate distributed among most of his children. The Council wrote, "Upon a full consideration of the Writing of James Vann deceased purporting to be a Will … annulling & setting aside said writing determining that the same is not agreeable to the rules & regulations of the said Nation and it being their wish that the property should be divided among all the children of the said James & his widow.” [3] A large portion of James' estate was enslaved people, and in 1815 Eliphus Holt claimed the right to manage the enslaved people inherited by step-son Robert. [4]

Robert took a reservation of land in 1818 near Creekpath (now Alabama) under the Treaty of 1817. [5]

He married a white woman named Catherine Myers about 1825. They were the parents of two children, James and Mary Ann. [6] His death date is unknown, but he died before 1851 since only his widow Catherine appears on the 1851/52 Siler and Chapman Rolls. [7]

Sources

1. ↑ Crews & Starbuck, eds. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. 1, pl.217
2. ↑ Crews & Starbuck,. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. 4, p. 1675
3. ↑ Jackson County p65-66
4. ↑ Crews & Starbuck, eds. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. Vol. 4, p. 1951
5. ↑ Hampton, David K. , compiler Cherokee Reservees. Baker Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, OK. 1979. Images at Fold3. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 75. p. 3
6. ↑ National Archives and Records Administration, Eastern Cherokee Applications of the Court of Claims, Record Group 75. Application #1421, grandson Robert Steele. Images at Fold3 Steele
7. ↑ Image at Ancestry.com Chapman

See also
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-908