Samuel Richard Vann, Sr.

Granddaddy Vann, Born June 23, 1878 - Died October 10, 1933
Sam R. Vann, Sr.

  above: (L-R) Jack, Grace, Jim, Sam Jr., Emily, Bumps (Felix), Edith 

 below: Kate Helen (L) and Mary Owens (R)

Seven of the nine Vann children were born in this home (above) (The Vann Home as I call it), which still stands at 105 W Church Street in Headland. Uncles Jack and Sam, Jr. were born in the first Vann home, on Railroad St. We're still searching for a photo of the Railroad St. residence. That home itself no longer exists.

Granddaddy Vann purchased The Vann Home in 1917. Today, the Vanns refer to their old home as "the Covington House," after the family that once lived in and then later sold the home to Granddaddy Vann. Be sure to click the image above that shows the succession of owners of the property. Incidentally, the current owners of this home also own the building on the Headland square that was once Vann Dry Goods, a business owned and run by Granddaddy Vann. It's now the coffee shop, Koinonia Kaffe.

Posted on Headland Friends and Memories Facebook page by Bruce Jones on 5/22/26.

more pics of the Vann home

My grandmother Edith (Vann) Espy painted this portrait of The Vann Home. I believe she painted one of these for each of her siblings. I also found this sketch, which was more than likely her guide for the painting.  Just recently, Uncle Jim (the cute little baby boy on the table in the above photo) led me on a tour of the grounds of The Vann Home. After you finish exploring this post, click here to enjoy that video.

Click this image to enlarge and read Sam R. Vann's obituary. The one above is also an obit (from The Abbeville Herald).

Uncle Sam told us that he carried a copy in his pocket "during the War" until it fell apart.  - Mike Vann

The Dothan Eagle

Wednesday, October 11, 1933

(L-R) Mary Owens, Edith, Bumps, Kate Helen, Jack, Grandmother Vann, Sam Jr., Grace, Jim, Emily

Uncle Jim also recently led a tour of the Headland United Methodist Church Cemetery, where Granddaddy Vann and numerous other relatives are buried. To see the video, click here.

Uncle Jim, Aunt Grace, Dad, Bill Vann and Sam Vann III were all very helpful in gathering this information and providing descriptions.

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.

Elizabeth “Lizzie” (Vann) Armstrong

Lizzie was the sister of my great-grandfather, Sam Richard Vann, Sr.. 

She was pretty progressive for her time, and clearly had a pioneering spirit.  Hats off to her!

Henry County Siftings

By T. Larry Smith

Vol.17, No. 1

First Woman ever elected in Henry County  

     Elizabeth “Lizzie” Vann Armstrong 1879-1940 of Headland was born at Abbeville, Alabama on April 17, 1879 where she was reared.  Her parents were William Calvin Huss Vann 1845-1918, a Confederate soldier, and Martha Kennedy Vann 1853-1925, both are buried in the Abbeville City Cemetery.  Lizzie was the third of nine children that included Dr. James “Jim” Robert Vann who married Mary Edna Wheeler (this writer’s mother, Edna, was named after her); Mary “May” Vann who married Probate Judge Hasting Whitman Owens; Martha “Mockie” Vann who married Dr. Robert Franklin Blackshear, a Headland dentist, Lizzie and Mockie were very close friends; Samuel Richard “Sam” Vann, Sr., a Headland merchant who married Emma Kate Solomon; Ruth Armour Vann who married William Clarence Maddox of Abbeville; William Cass “Coot” Vann of Abbeville who never married and was a WWI soldier; Daniel Denkins “Dan” Vann of Abbeville who never married and was also a WWII soldier; and Kathleen Vann of Abbeville who never married.

     Lizzie was married to Thomas Whitfield “Whit” Armstrong, Sr. 1879-1956, a son of Thomas Sutton Armstrong 1846-1890 and Martha “Mattie” Elizabeth Balkum 1859-1908 (1) Armstrong of the now dead town of Balkum, Alabama. Mattie was married a second time, after T.S. Armstrong’s death, to (2) Thomas Baldwin Gamble 1871-1931 who is buried in the Balkum Cemetery next to his mother, Mattie and T.B. Gamble had several children including James Leon Gamble.  Whit Armstrong, Sr. was a merchant and farmer and he and Lizzie first lived at Balkum, AL. Whit, Sr., was offered the Postmaster’s job at the Balkum P.O. in 1903 but declined; he and Lizzie soon moved to Headland, AL in1903 where he was a merchant while continuing his farming interests at Balkum. Whit, Sr., and Lizzie lived on the north side of East Church Street in Headland next door to Dr. R.F. Blackshear, a Headland dentist who was married to Lizzie’s sister “Mockie”.  Whit, Sr., and Lizzie became parents of three children, (1) Mildred Balkum Armstrong who married Tom Aust, they lived in Headland and had no issue and are buried in the Abbeville City Cemetery; (2) Bill Armstrong was the second child, he married Frances Radford, they were parents of a son and daughter.  Bill was born at Balkum and was very fond of Balkum where he was a large land owner; he and his wife are buried in the Balkum Cemetery.  Bill was an attorney and later became  an Enterprise, AL banker, and his son Thomas “Whit” Armstrong III, is now an Enterprise banker. Bill’s daughter, Mary E. Armstrong Weatherford lives in Enterprise, AL where her husband is an attorney, she and brother Whit III now own the large Armstrong land holdings near Balkum Baptist Church; (3) Thomas Whitfield “Whit” Armstrong, Jr. was the third child of Whit, Sr., and Lizzie; he who died in 1950 at age 33 of a sudden heart attack and was buried in the Abbeville Cemetery.

     Lizzie Vann Armstrong was among the first women who registered to vote in the 1920 county wide elections, in which this election marked the first time that women had the right to vote.  No woman had ever voted in Henry County or held public office prior to 1920. Lizzie was a determined woman and was an ardent homemaker, and was devoted to her family, the Baptist Church, school activities, and her pleasures which included watching movies and playing bridge games, and was active in whatever public issues that came up in Headland and the county.  Lizzie also operated a boarding house and enjoyed cooking. Having a strong constitution, Lizzie announced in October of 1920 to be the first woman to run for a public office in Henry County. Lizzie ran for the office of Constable in Beat One which was the Headland area Beat.  Lizzie won the election and became the first woman to ever be elected to public office in Henry County.  A number of other Beat Constables were also elected across the county in the 1920 election; however, they all were men. Lizzie’s Constable duties included assisting in patrolling the streets when needed, watching over various public events, serving legal papers and warrants, having arresting powers, attending circuit court when called upon, execute summons and return all court papers, pay all monies collected pertaining to the office, and perform all other duties that might be required by law. Constables date back to at least 1850 in Alabama, however, only a few cities and counties use constables today.  Henry County has no constables today as such.

     Lizzie was spending the weekend in Montgomery along with her very close sister, Ruth Maddox, Mrs. George Nichols, Miss Miriam Jean Nichols, and W.L. Solomon all of Abbeville; when on Feb. 10, 1940, she was stricken with a heart attack while momentarily alone in a department store and gave the address of her nephew, Cranford Blackshear, to the attending ambulance drivers; however, she died at age 61 before reaching the hospital in Montgomery.  Headland was shocked to hear the news!  She was looking forward to seeing the movie Gone with the Wind. Her funeral was held in her Headland home with burial in the Vann family plot in the Abbeville City Cemetery.  Lizzie Vann Armstrong was a pioneer in women’s rights in Henry County.  More Anon!

To read more about the Vanns, including more about Lizzie's siblings, click here for my Vann archive.  And be sure, when you scroll down to the bottom of each page, click older posts to keep going.  There's a lot there.

and more photos of Lizzie Vann from cousin Jim Vann's collection

Lizzie is # 19.  Granddaddy Vann is # 17.  For more on Granddaddy Vann, click here.