Vann Family
Papers, 1859-1925

Biography/Background:

King Vann migrated to Jefferson County from Sampson County, North Carolina, in the late 1820s. He and his wife Mary Ann purchased a farm near Trussville. They had five children. King Vann died in 1863; Mary Ann died in 1874.

Dr. James Byrd Vann, son of King and Mary Ann Vann, was born February 26, 1833, in Trussville. He was a physician and served in the Confederate army. At the end of the Civil War, J.B. Vann practiced medicine at Elyton until his health failed. He then bought a farm on Five Mile Creek and farmed for several years, until dissatisfaction with farming led him to move to Birmingham to begin business as a real estate agent. He married Neat Wilson, daughter of Judge Wilson, and they had five children. James Byrd Vann died December 27, 1893, and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery at Huffman.

James Byrd's brother, Robert Jasper Vann, was born November 12, 1828. He served in the Confederate Army and held a series of itinerant jobs on farms and working for his brother James Byrd. He died March 31, 1887, and was buried in the King Vann family graveyard in Trussville.

Source:

Vann, Eugene Ellis. The Vann Family in Alabama. (1955)
Vann, Michael King. The History of the Vann Family in Alabama. (1896).
Reproduced for the fiftieth Vann reunion, 1974.

The bulk of these papers are letters dating from 1859 to 1866 to family members from James Byrd Vann and R. J. Vann. Other miscellaneous papers include a deed to property in Jefferson County, newspaper clippings, and a Vann family history. An index to personal names appearing in the papers is included at the end of the inventory.

File level guide available in the Archives Department.

Vann family.

Collection Number: 382

Size: 1/3 linear feet (I box)

Restrictions: Standard preservation and copyright restrictions.