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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Joseph Vann Postcard



You heard of Joseph Vann (1798-1844) haven’t you? He was the owner of the Vann House in Spring Place, Murray County, Georgia (between Dalton and Chatsworth).

His father James Vann, who was killed, probably for killing his brother-in-law in duel, and Joseph inherited the house and a lot of land.

Joseph owned slaves. He was an equal non-opportunity slave holder. He owned black and Indian slaves. He was just as cruel to the Indians as he was to the blacks.

Chief Vann did one good thing for the community of the area. He financially supported a Moravian Mission to come in and use the land he donated them to build a church and a school for the Indians, to teach them to read and write. The Moravian also cared for sick people…. Joseph must have had a little kindness in him.

My ancestor Jesse Bookout worked for him, which caused some kind of ruckus, because then, it was against Georgia law for a white man to be an employee of an Indian.

This may be the reason Joseph was evicted from his property. He was evicted for working white men. He moved to Tennessee. He died on a ferry boat when it exploded, while in a race, near Louisville, Ky.

The Vann House is a unique mansion looking house that was built by slaves. We went through it one time, sort of a self-tour. It is an interesting house. They claim there is not a nail in it. I heard on PETV that the stairs are unique that they are self supporting with no other support than themselves. There are no braces or anything to keep them from falling – someone designed them to lean against itself. Figure that one out.

My first cousin on my mother's side uncle and aunt on her mother's side was responsible for having the Vann House to get a face-lift. It was becoming run down.

4 comments:

  1. The Kelly Mansion on Kelley's Island on Lake Erie has a similar set of stairs. They've been closed to use due to severe sagging.

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  2. Michael,

    That is odd. I sag too, but I'm not closed.

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  3. A lot of good posts over the past few days - lol.

    This is interesting, the next time I go to Tn, I might stop by.

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  4. Deborah,
    That is an interesting area. Just down the road a piece (closer to Calhoun) is New Echota, the capitol of the Cherokee Nation.

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