WCH & Martha (Kennedy) Vann Family

William Calvin Huss Vann

Martha (Kennedy) Vann

Below are short bios of the children of William Calvin Huss Vann, a Civil War Veteran from Washington County, GA and his first cousin, Martha (Kennedy) Vann of Abbeville, AL.  5 girls, 4 boys, one infant boy died.  (info provided by Bill Vann)

Dr. Jimmy Vann.  The eldest child Jimmy Vann attended Auburn and played football under the coaching of the legendary Coach John Heisman.  He attended medical school at Mobile and interned under the mentorship of Dr. Shelby Lee Burdeshaw in Headland.  Dr. Burdeshaw delivered all nine of GD/GM Vann’s children—two in the Railroad Street home and the others at the home on West Church Street, assisted by “Aunt Mary”, an African-American  midwife/nurse from Dothan.  Aunt Mary stayed with GM Vann while GD Vann was sick and dying.

Dr. Vann lived at Brown’s Crossroads.  He had two children, Robert and Nell.  Robert of Abbeville died at age 94 in 2008..  He had four children:  Ann, Faye, Mary and Jimmy. 

Nell Vann Rogers lived in Columbia.  She had two sons (Robert and Vann) who attended Columbia High.  Robert Rogers was a very good athlete (my age).  He played against us (HHS) in football and basketball but we were always a little better in both sports. 

For more on Jimmy's football career at Auburn and his life story, click here.

Mary Vann Owens.  Mary married Judge Hastings Owens of Abbeville.  Children were Vann, Robert, William and Mary Hagood.  May May is named for her.  Coincidentally, Judge Owens was Mary Dot Vann’s uncle, the brother of Sally Mae Owens Wood.

Lizzie Vann Armstrong.  Married T. Whitt Armstong. Children were Bill, a banker, Mildred who married Tom Aust and Whit, Jr who was developmentally disabled.   Lizzie and Whit lived on East Church Street next door east of Co Camp and GM Emma Laura Solomon.  She ran a dining room in her home that was popular with merchants, teachers, day laborers, and Power and Phone Company employees, many of who “boarded” with “Miss Mockey."

For more on Lizzie Vann Armstrong, click here.

Martha Vann Blackshear.  Known as “Miss Mockey”, she married Dr. Fred Blackshear (DDS) of Headland.  They lived in the Blackshear Home on East Church Street, the town-side neighbor to Co Camp/GGM Solomon.  The home was also Boarding House, mainly teachers and iterant workers for the Power and Phone Companies.  Dr. Blackshear’s Office was next to Dr. Burdeshaw’s Office over the Holly’s Drug Store on East Church Street.

Children were Martha Jule, Bob Frank and Cranford, in that order.  Bob Frank died as a young teenager from an infection, perhaps secondary to having been hit in the leg with a baseball (?).  Martha Jule was a year older than Uncle Sam, a librarian/teacher who never married.  She was the Alabama State Librarian and spent most of her time in Montgomery but she called the Blackshear Home in Headland as home. 

Cranford and his wife Eloise retired in Headland in 1985 from north Alabama and died there in 2000.  They had three daughters—second cousins to the Vann kids (Edith, Felix etc).  The daughters are Martha Salisbury, who married a physician.  She lives in Asheville and has four daughters.  Brenda married Eddie Smith and lives in Decatur.  They have three boys, one of whom is an Endodontist.  Mary married Jeff Sessions (US Senator).  They live in Mobile and DC and they have three children.  

Sam R. Vann Sr. This is Granddaddy Vann.  

Click here for more on SR Vann, Sr. and family.

Ruth Vann Maddox.  Ruth married Clarence Maddox and lived in Columbus, GA.  Children were Willie Ruth, who lived in Columbus and Jake, a cotton buyer who lived in Memphis. Ruth and Clarence later moved to Abbeville and died in the old Vann Home. 

W.C.H. Vann, Jr., known as “Coot”.  Never married, he lived at the old home place in Abbeville and looked after the estate. 

Dan Vann.  Never married, Dan was gassed in WWI and was never the same after.  He spent time in hospitals in France and Atlanta but never recovered.  His younger sister Kathleen looked after him until his death.  Dr. Moody said “he’s worse off on dope than alcohol so he used alcohol to cure his ills.  Dan gave daddy a balloon-tire bike, maybe the first one in the county. 

Kathleen Vann.  She was the baby and never married. She lived at the old home place in Abbeville with Coot and Dan and took care of them. 

Kathleen had a Millinery Shop in Abbeville and also ran a small Flower Shop at the old home place.  

One infant boy died at age 1-2.     

Bill Vann - revised 09/12 with input from Aunt Grace.