Chapter 6: 1876-1881, Marriage and loss

William David Vann had lost his father when he was sixteen years old, and his mother had struggled to raise him and his brothers and sisters by herself after that. They lived near New Hope in Madison County, Alabama, because that’s where the Lemley and Vann families had always lived.

2 He would turn twenty-three later that year, and he decided that he had done his part to help his mother. He asked a pretty little neighbor girl to marry him. Her name was Martha Burrow. She was two years younger than him, and she had begun life in Georgia. They were married on the seventeenth of March in 1876.

3 In July, most of the United States celebrated its Centennial (one hundred years as a nation). Even so, the memory of the war and the reality of Reconstruction served to dampen enthusiasm for celebrations across Alabama and the rest of the South.

4 That November, William voted for Samuel J. Tilden for president, and then waited along with the rest of the country for the votes to be counted. However, when the results were finally announced, it was apparent to everyone that the election would be contested. Tilden had won the popular vote, but there was no clear winner in the Electoral College and twenty votes remained to be awarded.

5 “They say that Congress is goin to give it to Rutherford Hayes,” William told his wife. “How can they do that?” she demanded. “Cause the Republicans don’t want to let go,” he explained. “They love to lord it over us!”

6 William, along with other Democrats in the South, however, eventually accepted Hayes as president. Their acquiescence was assured when the Republicans promised to end Reconstruction and restore “home rule” throughout the former Confederacy. Even so, for William and his young bride, the deals that were being crafted in Washington D.C. were of little concern.

7 “Did you know that I love you better than my horse?” he asked her one day. “Better than your horse – well ain’t I lucky!” she giggled. “The only thing missin is a baby,” he replied. “They’ll come in time,” she assured him.

8 A little over two years later, Martha knew that she was pregnant. “You remember how you said that the only thing that was missin was a baby?” she asked William. “Yeah, I remember – you said they’d come in time,” he replied. “Well, it will soon be time,” she told him without looking up.

9 “You mean we’re finally gonna have a baby?” “That’s exactly what I mean!” she said as she looked up to see her husband’s reaction. “Woo-hoo!” he hollered. “Now that’s the best news I’ve had in years,” he told her with a sincerity that warmed her heart and brought a smile to her face.

10 The little boy arrived late the following spring. “I want to name him Lonnie Lee,” Martha told her husband as she nursed the baby. “I don’t care what you call him – we have a son!” he shouted. “Yes, and you’re goin to get him cryin shoutin like that,” she said in a half-pretended reprimand.

11 That year was the happiest year in his life. William loved his wife and his new baby, and he resolved to work twice as hard in the fields to provide a good living for them.

12 Then, in late fall of the following year, Martha revealed to her husband that they were going to have yet another baby. “My mother had fourteen,” he reminded her. “I don’t think we’ll do that,” Martha chuckled. “I don’t think I’m up for that,” she told him.

13 Indeed, this time something was different. She just hadn’t felt as vibrant and healthy as she had with her first baby. “I feel so washed out,” she confided one day to her husband.

14 “Do you think we should call the doctor?” William asked. “No, maybe I should just slow down a little,” she replied.

15 Even so, William asked the doctor to look in on his now very pregnant wife. “I don’t like the swelling and the bleeding,” he told them. “I’m putting you on bed rest, young lady,” he ordered. “I’ll stop in to check on you next week.”

16 Little Mattie was born almost exactly two years after her brother had arrived, but the circumstances couldn’t have been more different. Her mother never left the bed in which she had given birth to her daughter.

17 William was inconsolable. He was going to have to bury the love of his life. He couldn’t even look at little Mattie (He had named her Martha Burrow in honor of her mother).

18 Within two months, William had surrendered his two young children to family members and had left for Tennessee. “I can’t stay here,” he told them. “There’s not enough room for me and all of these memories,” he explained.

19 Now these are the generations of Bryant Vann:

20 Bryant married Sarah Lemley, and they had a son named William.

21 William David Vann Married Martha Burrows, and they had children: Lonnie and Mattie.

22 Mattie Vann married Albert McAnally, and they had children together.