Ranson Vanover
Ranson Vanover (1834-1862) was a Union soldier murdered in Scott County during the Civil War.
Biography
Ranson Vanover (sometimes spelled “Ransom”) was born in 1834 in Pulaski County, Ky. He was the son of William Vanover (born 1806) and Sarah “Sally” Perry (1807-1851). He was one of at least 11 siblings. His brothers and sisters included Levi, Rena, Andy, Nancy, Darcus, Jane, George, Eliza, Samuel and Milley.
Details are difficult to piece together beyond that. Vanover’s mother, Sally, died in McCreary County in 1851. It’s not clear that Vanover moved to Scott County. However, military records show that he enlisted in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry in 1861. It would have been unusual for him to have enlisted in the 2nd Tennessee if he lived in Kentucky.
Vanover did not appear in the 1860 census. However, his father and many of his siblings were living in Whitley County, Ky. in 1860. His father had remarried by that time to a woman named Mary “Polly” Ridenour and had two more children: Hayworth and Biddy. William and Polly were married in Pulaski County, Ky. in 1855.
Ranson appears to have married Malinda Privett, and had two children: Mary and Merida.
These details are in question because another Malinda Privett (maiden name Rose) appears in later Kentucky records, and her two oldest children — born about 1868 and 1869, according to the 1880 census — were Mary and Merida. Malinda Rose married Hiram Privett in Scott County, Tenn. on Christmas Day in 1866. Hiram Privett was the son of James and Elizabeth Privett, who lived in Scott County in 1860 but moved to McCreary County thereafter.
Meanwhile, an old Kentucky book of births lists a “Mary” as being born on May 14, 1857, and lists her as the child of Ranson Vanover and Malinda Privitt. According to the handwritten entry, she was born in Scott County, Tenn.
Additionally, there was a Civil War pension application filed in 1880 listing Mary and Merida Vanover as the minor children of Ranson Vanover of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry.
On the other hand, a Melinda Rose appears in the 1860 census, still living with her parents, John and Abigail Rose, in Pulaski County, Ky.
The most likely scenario seems to be that Ranson Vanover married Malinda Rose and moved to Scott County, where they had two children, Mary and Merida. After his death in 1862, Malinda married Hiram Privett in 1866. However, it’s not clear why Mary and Merida would be listed with later birth dates when the 1880 census was taken. It’s also possible that Ranson Vanover had two children with Malinda Rose Privett but they were never married — though, again, that doesn’t explain the census discrepancies.
To further muddy the waters: There are records suggesting the Mary Privett, daughter of Malinda Rose Privett in the 1880 census, married William Davenport and died in 1927. Mary Vanover, listed in the book of Kentucky birth records as the daughter of Ranson Vanover and Malinda Privett, also died in 1927 — but, according to her death certificate, was married to Ben Stephens and was the daughter of Ranson Vanover.
As an aside: Hiram Privett was the sister of Sallie Privett, who married Champ Duncan in 1863. Duncan was the father-in-law of Oliver Duncan, who was also present when Vanover was murdered. He and Lark Cross were brothers-in-law.
Civil War and Death
Vanover was assigned to Co. 5 of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. According to Scott County historian H. Clay Smith, in Dusty Bits of the Forgotten Past, Vanover was home on furlough on Nov. 7, 1862 — another indication that he lived in Scott County.
A regiment of Confederate soldiers entered Scott County that day from Kentucky, raiding homes in eastern Scott County, and targeting the farms of men known to be loyal to the Union. They burned the home of Dennis Trammell on Jellico Creek, and stole a large amount of gold and horses from the home of Caswell Cross on Buffalo Creek.
As they rode towards Huntsville, the soldiers came across a trio of men walking the road. Vanover, who was on furlough, was wearing his Union uniform. He was with Larkin Cross and Oliver Duncan, who were not enlisted. Vanover and Cross were shot, and their bodies hanged in an apple orchard. Duncan managed to escape by hiding in a rail pile, then fleeing as the Rebels began to set fire to the rails.
Smith’s book describes how well thought of Cross was in Scott County, but does not mention anything about Vanover, perhaps an indication that he had only recently moved to the community — or that he didn’t live here at all.
Records uncovered by the Scott County Historical Society and its president, David Jeffers, indicate that a number of Confederates who were members of the Scott County Rangers were indicted for the murders of Vanover and Cross on Aug. 16, 1866. Among them: Calvin Smith, Perry Gibson, Pryor Gibson, Arch Keith, Jasper Keith, John Keith, Ramsey Keith, James Tye, Reddin Smith, Isaac Griffith, Nicholas Patterson, Ramsey Patterson, Ewell Smith, William Bruce, Frank Gibson, William McCoy and Joseph Smith. With the exception of Isaac Griffith, all of the men were members of the Gibson and Smith families.
Isaac Griffith was the son of War of 1812 veteran Fielding Griffith and the grandson of Revolutionary War veteran Joseph Griffith. The rest of his family were supporters of the Union. His nephew, Fielding Griffith, died at Camp Dick Robinson in Kentucky after being poisoned.
Most, if not all, of the accused men left Scott County prior to the grand jury indictment and none of them ever stood trial.
The Scott County Rangers had been formed by Ewell Smith and Henry Polk Gibson. Gibson’s father, James Gibson, would be posthumously indicted for treason by a Scott County grand jury in 1866. He had been killed on Feb. 7, 1862 near Jacksboro, Tenn.
When Congressman Horace Maynard read a newspaper account of the events of Nov. 7, 1862, he wrote to Maj. Gen. Henry Wager Halleck — commander of the Union forces at the time — and wrote, “From that small county have gone many soldiers, now in our service, leaving their homes to such devastation as is here described. Oh, Lord, how long?”
Article: ‘Oh, Lord, How Long?’
Aftermath
It is not known where Vanover was buried, or what became of his wife.
Mary Vanover, Ranson’s daughter, married Ben Stephens. She died in 1927 in Harlan, Ky. Her death certificate lists Ranson Vanover as her father.