The Vann ancestry begins with Sir Henry Vane, an aristocrat and courtier of King Charles I. He married the daughter of a British diplomat who had married into a well-known Florentine family. One of his ancestors was a Papal counselor and tutor of Nicolo Machiavelli. Henry’s son served in the military during the Dutch wars, and his grandson migrated to the Virginia colony. In later generations the Vann family moved to North Carolina and later fought in the revolutionary war. Later Vanns removed to Tennessee and then on to Texas in the mid-1800s.
Follow this link to learn more about the early Virginia Vann immigrants
Henry Clay Vann, son of Elisha Vann and Mary was born about 1810 in Edgecomb, NorthCarolina. They relocated to Tennessee where their son Wilson Wade Vann (Texas immigrant) was born. Henry died about 1855. He married Mildred who was born about 1811 in North Carolina.
Wilson Wade Vann, son of Henry Clay Vann and Mildred was born on 22 Apr 1835 in HaywoodCounty, Tennessee. He died on 14 Sep 1906 in Austin, Texas. He married Margaret Laduska Bishop, daughter of Alfred Allen Bishop and Delila Norris Morgan on 21 Apr1858 in Plum Grove, Texas, near La Grange.
Margaret Laduska Bishop, daughter of Alfred Allen Bishop and Delila Norris Morgan was bornon 22 Dec 1839 in Ripley County, Missouri. She died on 27 Nov 1924 in Yoakum, Texas.
Wilson Wade Vann Biography: “The History of Kerr County, Texas 1856-1976” page 231
“Wilson W. Vann was a native of Tennessee, one of those sturdy pioneers whom Bob Taylor said, “Tennessee loaned Texas.” Like Sam Houston, he followed the eagle’s course westward. When a mere boy, he took passage on a merchant’s boat at New Orleans, La. and landed at Bagdad, Mexico, near the mouth of the Rio Grande River. He went to Fort Brown where he worked on small merchant boats between Fort Brown and the Rio Grande City for several months and from there to Indianola, Texas.
He left Indianola with C.H. Wellbourne, by whom he was employed, and went to Fayette County. Here he married Margaret Bishop, daughter of Alfred and Delila Bishop, pioneers from Illinois to Texas 1848 (1849). They immediately left again for the West settling in Gillespie County where he engaged in ranching until the Civil War.
He took his family to Cistern, Fayette County, Texas and volunteered to join the confederacy. He was in Green’s Brigade, under Major Joseph D. Sayer, serving three years and six months; was paroled from prison in Fort Monroe, Va. and returned to Fayette County where he lived until 1869. During this year he moved his family to Henry Tatu’s mill five miles south of Kerrville. In 1874 he bought a tract of land from H.M. Burney on Turtle Creek, where he reared his family of three boys and seven girls. In 1905, Mr. and Mrs. Vann moved to Austin, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until the time of his death.” Wilson and Margaret are both buried in Austin, Texas.
Margaret Bishop Vann’s Parents were Alfred Allen Bishop, son of Alfred A. Bishop and Ms. Greenstreet. He was born 01 Jan 1801 in Tennessee. He married Delila Norris Morgan, daughter of John Morgan and Rogers 14 Jun 1827 in Carter Co., Tennessee. Delilah was born 26 Dec 1804 in Wilkes, North Carolina. They married 14 June 1827 in Carter County, Tennessee. By the time of the 1830 Census the family was in Sagamon Co., Illinois.
The 1840 census shows that Alfred and Delila joined up in Missouri with a group of pioneers, some of whom had been in Illinois, and others who had migrated from Warren County, Kentucky, and St. Louis County, Missouri. One of the group, Rev. Jonathan Burleson, and the future father-in-law to one of Alfred’s daughters was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister.
By 1850 Alfred appears with a group of settlers from Missouri in Fayette County, Texas. We assume he arrived before April 19, 1849, because his daughter married on that date in Fayette County. In 1870 & 1880 Alfred and Delilah were in Kerr County, Texas where they remained until their deaths.
Delilah died 05 Feb 1885 in Center Point, Texas. Alfred died 06 Jan 1891 also in in Center Point. They are buried in Center Point Cemetery, Center Point Texas.
John William Vann, son of Wilson Wade Vann and Margaret Laduska Bishop was born on 19 Mar 1860 in Plum Grove, Texas. He married Julia Blanche Weston, daughter of Malachi M. Weston and Caroline Scott on 24 Mar 1880 in Kerrville, Texas.Julia wasborn 06 Aug 1863 in Kerr Co., Texas.
John W. Vann, at left in the photo, was an early sheriff and tax collector in Kerr County. Here he is shown in the late 1800s with his wife Julia (Weston), and the two oldest of their five children, William Walter (1881-1963), who was born between Mountain Home and Ingram, and Amy.
Excerpt from “The History of Kerr County, Texas 1856-1976 page 232”:
John Vann was the Sheriff of Kerr County from 1892 to 1902; then was a Customs officer in Brownsville Texas. After that he was a deputy U.S. Marshall until his retirement. He and Grandma Vann were divorced in the early 1900’s. He remarried, but Grandma Vann never did. He was born at Turtle Creek in a log cabin.
“John W. Vann is the eldest child of Margaret and W.W. Vann. He received his early education at Tatum’s schoolhouse in Center Point. He and Miss Blanche Weston were married before he was 21 years old.
In 1890 he was elected Commissioner of Precinct No. 4 in Kerr County and served as deputy sheriff under Capt. Frank Moore. In 1892 he was elected sheriff and Tax Collector of Kerr County resigning during his sixth term to accept the position of Deputy U.S. Marshall. While sheriff of Kerr County he was twice elected president of the Sheriff’s Association of Texas. He served as Deputy Marshall under Wm. H. Hanson at Houston and Eugene Nolte at San Antonio.
Mr. Vann was appointed Collector of Customs by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909 and stationed at Brownsville. Later he was transferred to the Department of Justice where he served as an investigator of peonage in Alabama, Florida and Texas and is still in government service there.
In the 1920 San Antonio, Bexar Co, TX Census Vann, John W. age 60 b. TX special agent-railroad and Vann, Maud A. (wife) age 33 b. England (second wife). By the 1930 Census John W. was living at the St. Anthony Hotel, San Antonio, Texas: Vann, John W. age 70 divorced b. TX deputy Marshall-govt service.
John died Jun. 21, 1943, San Antonio, Texas, and was buried at San Jose Burial Park, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. Julia died 07 Oct 1950 in San Antonio and is buried in the Vann family plot at the Glen rest Cemetery in Kerrville, Texas.
This is an excerpt from a 2006 Article in the West Kerr Current Newspaper “Hall and Vann family members still wear badges with pride”. It is Billie Vann Hall’s recollections of her Vann parents and grandparents:
“Billie Hall’s grandfather, John W. Vann, at left, was an early sheriff and tax collector in Kerr County. Here (above photo) he is shown in the late 1800s with his wife Blanche (Weston), and the two oldest of their five children, William Walter (1881-1963), who was born between Mountain Home and Ingram, and Amy. The Vann and Hall families have a long history of law enforcement.
Two families joined through marriage have histories of law enforcement and dispensation of justice going back to the roots of Kerr County’s founding. There’s no scarcity of those avocations in today’s descendants, either.
Perhaps the surnames Hall and Vann ring a bell. If not, this story may fill in the gaps, tracing the ancestry of West Kerr County residents, Thomas Dee “T. D.” and Billie Barbara (Vann) Hall….
Momentarily switching to the Vann side of the narrative for the purposes of tracking the generations, John William Vann, who served as sheriff and tax collector, is Billie’s grandfather.
His parents were Wilson Wade Vann of Tennessee (whose father came to America from Wales) and Margaret Laduska Bishop of Lavaca County, who settled at Turtle Creek. There is some uncertainty as to exactly why Wilson Wade came to Texas.
One of the family’s favorite relics is Wilson Wade’s Masonic watch-fob. Margaret’s parents, Alfred and Delilah (Norris) Bishop arrived in Texas from Illinois in 1848.
John William (1860-1945), one of 10 children, was born at Turtle Creek in a log cabin.
In 1880, now grown, John married Julia “Blanche” Weston (1863-1950), the daughter of Malachi Weston of Alabama and Caroline Scott New (this was Caroline’s second marriage).
Caroline’s father was Jonathan Scott, the first Chief Justice of Kerr County (from 1856-1861), who originated from Kentucky….
Life on Turtle Creek for the Vann family was busy, and between 1881 and 1896, John and Blanche had five children. The oldest was Billie’s father, William Walter (1881-1963); followed by Amy, Charlie, Stewart and Henry Slayton (who died as a baby).
John turned to public life, serving on the Kerr County Commissioners Court in 1888-1889, and then as Sheriff and Tax Collector in Kerr County from 1892-1902. The two positions were combined by state law from 1882-1930.
Later, he was a collector of customs in Brownsville, as well as a deputy U.S. marshal in Galveston and San Antonio.
The son, William Walter, married Agnes “Gabrielle” Tacquard (1886-1951), who was born in Galveston County.
Gabrielle’s parents were Jacques George Hippolyte Tacquard (1836-1894) and Faustine (Bouthery) (1856-1938?) and married in 1882. They lived in Galveston, but Jacques, a widower, and 20 years her senior, was born in France.
This Jacques had already had nine children from his first marriage, and then had another four with Faustine.
Billie said he drilled the first artesian well in Galveston County.
Jacques George’s father, also named Jacques, married Catherine Clauderz, whose parents were Nicholas Clauderz and Anne Eve (Meuret).
Tracing one more generation further back, the elder Jacques’ parents were Jean Jacques and Marie Anne (Badaire). Faustine Bouthery’s parents were Alexander Louis (of Lyons, France), and Mary Ann (Scharnberg). They both died in Hitchcock, Texas.
Billie’s father, William Walter, was born between Ingram and Mountain Home, and attended the White School (near Johnson Creek on Hwy. 27) for several years.
Billie said he used to joke about times when he would go swimming in the river, that he might get ganged up on by local boys from Ingram.
“He’d laugh and say, ‘I had the Hendersons on my side, so I knew we could handle it.”
He graduated from Tivy High School about 1900. From there, he attended UT, getting a degree in civil engineering, and played on the college baseball team.
He took one year off before he graduated, however, to help survey the Rio Grande Valley.
Professionally, William owned a contracting company which dealt in roads and bridges. He helped build the new road from Ingram to Mountain Home.
His interests kept him looking out for new “digs.” When the Panama Canal opened up, Billie said he took a trip down there.
“He drove a Model T. He’d gone down to see about working there, but decided there was too much political unrest,” she said.”
The Weston Family
Malachi M. Weston was born in 1832 in Alabama. He came to Kerr County in 1858 and was one of the original 32 original landowners when the county was formed in 1859. He married Caroline Scott, daughter of Jonathan Hampton Scott, Texas Ranger and the first Chief Justice of the county, and Nancy Maiden on 21 Jan 1859 in Kerr Co. Texas.
Caroline Scott, daughter of Jonathan Hampton Scott and Nancy Maiden was born on 15 Jul 1837 in Jackson Co., Texas. Her marriages were to George H. New: February 23, 1853, Gonzales Co., TX and to Malachi Weston: January 1, 1859, Kerr Co., TX. She died on 20 Feb 1924 in Center Point, Kerr Co., Texas and is buried in the Vann family plot at the Glen Rest Cemetery in Kerrville.
Caroline had one child with George New. Caroline and Malachi’s children were: Charles T. Weston (1859 – 1934), Julia Blanche Weston (1863 – 1950) (ancestor) who married John Vann, August G. Weston (1866 – 1953), Creed T. Weston (1869 -1917), and Malachi F. Weston (1872 – 1961).
Malachi came to Kerr County in 1858 from Alabama. He was one of the pioneers of the new county, settling in the area at the same time that the county was formed. He was a Confederate Soldier from Kerr County during the Civil War serving in Duff’s regiment. They were a frontier regiment assigned to guard the borders with Mexico and guard against Indian attack. They formed in San Antonio and were stationed in Brownsville and Victoria. There is a complete copy of the oath of allegiance that he took to the United States on September 9, 1867, recorded in the book “Kerr County History”, pages 131 and 132. By 1860 Malachi, Caroline, and the baby were living with Malachi’s brother John, also a Civil War veteran, in Karnes County. In the 1870s the family had moved back to Kerr County. The Kerrville Times newspaper records that he sold 50 head of cattle on March 8, 1872. He died on 20 Nov 1872 in Kerr. Co., Texas. He is buried at the Mountain View Cemetery, Kerrville, Texas.
Scott, and Maiden Families
Blanche Scott Weston’s Scott family ancestors descended from Scots Irish immigrants who originally came to Western Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. After they moved to Texas, Jonathan Hampton Scott married Nancy Maiden who came to Texas with her mother, brother, and stepfather Joseph San Pierre in 1826 as one of Steven F. Austin’s “old 300” families. Nancy and her mother Margaret are the earliest known Texas immigrants in the Townsend family. Her bother Isaac fought for Texas independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. Both of Jonathan’s grandfathers were Revolutionary War soldiers.
Link to Revolutionary War Soldiers
Link to Texas Pioneers to learn more about the Scott and Maiden families
William Walter Vann was the son of John William Vann and Julia Blanche Weston. He was born on 03 Apr 1881 in Kerrville, Texas and died on 06 Dec 1963 in Kerrville. He married Agnes Gabrielle Tacquard, daughter of Jacques George Hippolyte Tacquard and Faustine Bouthery on 06 Apr 1910 in Galveston, Texas. She was born on 10 Sep 1886 in Galveston and died on 03 Feb 1951 in Kerrville. They are both buried in the Glen Rest Cemetery in Kerrville, Texas.
The following account is from a newspaper interview with T.D. Hall and Billie Vann:
“Momentarily switching to the Vann side of the narrative for the purposes of tracking the generations, John William Vann, who served as sheriff and tax collector, is Billie’s grandfather.
His parents were Wilson Wade Vann of Tennessee (whose father came to America from Wales) and Margaret Laduska Bishop of Lavaca County, who settled at Turtle Creek. There is some uncertainty as to exactly why Wilson Wade came to Texas. One of the family’s favorite relics is Wilson Wade’s Masonic watch-fob.
Margaret’s parents, Alfred and Delilah (Norris) Bishop arrived in Texas from Illinois in 1848.
John William (1860-1945), one of 10 children, was born at Turtle Creek in a log cabin.
In 1880, now grown, John married Julia “Blanche” Weston (1863-1950), the daughter of Malachi Weston of Alabama and Caroline Scott New (this was Caroline’s second marriage).
Caroline’s father was Jonathan Scott, the first Chief Justice of Kerr County (from 1856-1861), who originated from Kentucky….
Life on Turtle Creek for the Vann family was busy, and between 1881 and 1896, John and Blanche had five children. The oldest was Billie’s father, William Walter (1881-1963); followed by Amy, Charlie, Stewart and Henry Slayton (who died as a baby).
John turned to public life, serving on the Kerr County Commissioners Court in 1888-1889, and then as Sheriff and Tax Collector in Kerr County from 1892-1902. The two positions were combined by state law from 1882-1930. Later, he was a collector of customs in Brownsville, as well as a deputy U.S. marshal in Galveston and San Antonio.
The son, William Walter, married Agnes “Gabrielle” Tacquard (1886-1951), who was born in Galveston County. Gabrielle’s parents were Jacques George Hippolyte Tacquard (1836-1894) and Faustine Bouthery (1856-1938?) married in 1882. They lived in Galveston, but Jacques, a widower and 20 years her senior, was born in France.
This Jacques had already had nine children from his first marriage, and then had another four with Faustine.
The following are from a conversation with Billie Vann Hall:
“Billie’s father, William Walter, was born between Ingram and Mountain Home, and attended the White School (near Johnson Creek on Hwy. 27) for several years. Billie said he used to joke about times when he would go swimming in the river, that he might get ganged up on by local boys from Ingram. “He’d laugh and say, ‘I had the Hendersons on my side, so I knew we could handle it.” He graduated from Tivy High School about 1900 (1900 in a class of 5 students). From there, he attended UT, getting a degree in civil engineering, and played on the college baseball team.
He took one year off before he graduated, however, to help survey the Rio Grande Valley.
Professionally, William owned a contracting company which dealt in roads and bridges. He helped build the new road from Ingram to Mountain Home.
His interests kept him looking out for new “digs.” When the Panama Canal opened up, Billie said he took a trip down there. “He drove a Model T. He’d gone down to see about working there, but decided there was too much political unrest,” she said.”
The Tacquard Family
Jacques T. Tacquard (1792-1848) from Vautheirmont, France in the Alsace region He married Catherine Clauderez (1803-1867). They had three sone while living in France (George, Henri, and Jacques (ancestor). In 1844 the family left France with a group of colonists led by a Frenchman named Henry Castro. They stopped in New York for a period of time before sailing on the Indianola, Texas in early 1845.
He died in 1846 in Galveston, Texas of yellow fever and was interred in the old wooden St. Mary’s Church that stood on the site of the present St. Mary’s Cathedral. Yellow fever, it would seem, raged in 1847; for within the space of three months we find recorded as many as seventeen deaths: Catherine O’Neil, Jacques Tacquard, Henrietta Jeannotot, Francis Betz, Leonard Schneider, Francis Jeannotot, Joseph Kirker, John Igonet, Nicholas Lodie, Catherine Fuchs, Mary Jane Menard (consort of Col. M. B. Menard), Max Joseph Moller, John Leinmiller, Lutgarda Mouer, Herman Moller and Johanna Stofehl.
Catherine died in the late 1860s and was buried in a cemetery along the banks of Highland Bayou.
The following can be found in the Genevieve Miller Hitchcock Public Library – in the Family History File Cabinet:
Excerpt from “Settlements on the Prairie” by Jean Hurt Thomas:
The Tacquard family history is long and complex, starting in France and Switzerland, thence Texas and now in several states of the U.S. This very brief account only introduces the subject. The historical information was supplied by members of the family and their: source was old church records in the U.S. and France, old Bibles, diaries, legal records and from conversations with members and old friends of the family.
In 1965 Jean, Will, and Janice Heinlorn visited Vauthiermont, France and found it had apparently not changed much during the years. It was a farming community of a dozen or so homes. Farmers were using horse drawn wagons and pitching hay with pitch forks. The small church had beautiful stained-glass windows and works of art like sculptures and paintings. In the church yard were stones matching the graves of several members of the Tacquard family.
In 1844 Henry Castro a Frenchman made the necessary arrangements with the President of the Republic of Texas to establish a colony on the banks of the Medina River about 25 miles West of San Antonio and named it Castroville.
Jacques, Catherine and their three sons were among the French families that joined Castro in his venture. They left France by sail boat and after a rough three weeks arrived in Indianola, then a very prominent sea port on the Gulf, but all that remains today is a state marker in a small park on highway 316 a few miles southeast of Port Lavaca.
In due time the Tacquards arrived in Castroville by wagon train, where they stayed for a while, but combined with the frontier hardship, Indian troubles, and several drouths they decided to move to Galveston where a number of French families had settled, some settling in Highland Bayou, but the Tacquards chose Galveston.
City life did not appeal to the three boys, and they began looking over the coast country and decided on some land on Halls and Cloud Bayou known as the Cloud and Estes surveys which they purchased in 1862. George and Henry married soon after and built their homes on this land, but Jacques looked further and liked the Highland Bayou area married and started his ranch.
…Jacques Tacquard after living along Highland Bayou for a few years built and fine new ranch home on a higher land site that is now a part of Hitchcock. The original home was later known as the “Reitmeyer Ranch” owned by Jacques’ oldest grandson William T. Reitmeyer in later years.
At the peak of the Tacquard ranch holdings, their land consisted of over 30,000 acres being about seventy-five percent of the land from the Bay Shore to where Arcadia is now, and from the Gulf Freeway to Halls Bayou. About 800 “Big Red Cows” as they were so well known all over the country grazed on his ranch with its headquarters on what is now known as the “Reitmeyer Ranch”. However, this is only a small part of the original ranch.
The modern entrance to the ranch in Hitchock, Texas
Where the town-site of Alta Loma was to be founded, The Taqcuard’s Big Red Cows roamed about freely and the Tacquard brothers dug a water well with a team of oxen to water their cattle. When Alta Loma was founded, the Main Street of the town was named Tacquard Avenue after the Tacquard brothers whose well was located on Main Street.
In 1875 The Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad began construction starting at Virginia Point and working to the north. As Jacques and Julia Tacquard were the only family living directly on the right-of-way through their ranch to donate more land for a town site, but they did not want a town in the middle of their ranch. However, they did agree for a loading platform to be built which was named Tacquard’s landing and became very popular during the construction of the railroad. The Chow House served coffee, biscuits, corn bread, and pies, and everybody was welcome. At mealtimes it was get a tray and help yourself. After the trains began running, it was a regular stop for all trains and for many years until a depot was built in Hitchcock.
In the mid-1880s Jacques Tacquard drilled the first deep water well in his ranch and the volume and quality of water greatly interested the Galveston Water Department and resulted in their establishing a water plant in Alta Loma. This original well is still producing….
Jacques George Hippolyte Tacquard, son of Jacques Tacquard and Catherine Clauderez wasborn in 1836 in Alsace, France. He died on 23 Sep 1894 in Hitchcock, Texas, and is buried in the Galveston Memorial Park, Hitchcock, Galveston County Texas. He first married Julia Jacot a Swiss native in 1866. Jacques and Julia had eight children. She passed away in 1881. In 1882 he married Faustine Bouthery, daughter of Alexander Louis Bouthery and Mary Ann Chembert on 16 Jan 1882 in Galveston County, Texas. She was born inMar 1862 in Galveston, Texas. She died on 18 Dec 1938 in Galveston.
Faustine’s parents also came over with the Tacquards as a part of Castro’s colony and joined the Tacquards in settling near Galveston instead. Her father was Alexander Louis Bouthery born on 11 Jul 1820 in Lyons, France and died 24 Aug 1905 inHitchcock, Texas. He married Mary Ann Chembert born in Sep 1834 in France and died on 21 Mar 1900 in Hitchcock,Texas.
Jacques had twelve children with two wives. The Vanns are descended from his daughter Agnes Gabrielle Tacquard (1886-1951). She was his 11th child by his second wife, born when Jacques was fifty years old.
They are all interred in Galveston Memorial Park Cemetery in Hitchcock:
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/3735/galveston-memorial-park
Agnes Gabrielle Tacquard, daughter of Jacques George Hippolyte Tacquard and Faustine Bouthery was born on 10 Sep 1886 in Galveston, Texas. She died on 03 Feb 1951 in Kerrville, Texas. She married William Walter Vann, son of John William Vann and Julia Blanche Weston on 06 Apr 1910 in Galveston, Texas. He was born on 03 Apr 1881 in Kerrville, Texas. He died on 06 Dec 1963 in Kerrville.
Estelle Blanche Vann, daughter of William Walter Vann and Agnes Gabrielle Tacquard was born23 Nov 1914 in Galveston, Galveston Co., Texas. She died 22 Sep 2003 in Round Rock, Williamson Co., Texas. She married George Herbert Callcott, son of Herbert Hardy Callcott and Nellie Minter McCracken on 28 Dec 1936 in Kerrville, Kerr Co., Texas. He was born on 15 Dec 1909 in Sabinal, Uvalde Co., Texas. He died on 29 Jun 1984 in Kerrville, Kerr Co., Texas.
