Annotation:Vance no more

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X:1 T:Vance no more I:from the playing of John Salyer (1882-1952, Salyersville, Magoffin County, eastern Ky.) M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Brisk" N:AEae tuning (fiddle) N:From home recordings 1941-1942 N:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/vance-no-more Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:Ador [EA]-[GA]-|[A2A2] AB cEGE|cBc2 [e4e4]|[de]-[c2e2][de]-[e2e2] [e2e2]|[M:5/4]dcA2[G4A4] [EA]-[GA]-| [M:C|][A2A2] AB cEGE|cBc2 [e4e4]|g2ed cde2|[M:5/4]e2 dc ABcE GE|[M:C|][A,6A6]|| eg|a2 ga ge2d-|c3d-e3d-|c3d- e3-d|c3-d e4|[M:5/4]dcA2[G4A4] [EA]-[GA]-| [M:C|][A2A2] AB cEGE|cBc2 [e4e4]|g2ed cde2|[M:5/4]e2 dc ABcA G2|[M:C|][A,6A6]||

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VANCE NO MORE. American, Air (cut time). A Dorian. AEae tunic (fiddle). AB. A briskly-played listening tune from Salyersville, Magoffin County, eastern Kentucky, fiddler John Salyer (1882-1952). His playing was recorded on home discs by his family in 1941-42 and form a remarkable trove of traditional regional fiddle tune, many sounding quite archaic (as "Vance no more" does). Salyer's piece is thought to be based on a murder ballad by Abner Vance (1759-1819) called “The Vance Song”, as collected from 85-year-old "Unck" Branch Higgins (who was like Salyer from Salyersville) and printed by the Lomaxes in their book Our Singing Country (1941, pp. 322-323). The story of the ballad goes:

Some hundred years ago, Abner Vance, a Baptist preacher, was hanged at Abingdon, Virginia, for the killing of Lewis Horton, who had abused Vance’s family in his absence. Horton tried to escape, jumped on his horse, and attempted to swim across a river near Vance’s house. Vance got his gun and shot him while he was fording the river. After conviction, Vance lay in prison for some time, during which he made a ballad about himself. From the prison window he looked out and saw them erect the scaffold and make the coffin upon which he stood on the day of his execution and preached his own funeral sermon. His son-in-law, Frank Browning, was present, and Vance asked him to turn his back when the trap should fall. A reprieve had been granted the doomed man, but the men who had him in charge hanged him a few minutes before it arrived.

The words to the ballad, as sung by Higgins and printed by the Lomaxes, go:

Bright shines the sun on Clinch's Hill.
So soft the west wind blows.
The valleys are lined with flowers gay,
Perfumed with the wild rose.

Green are the woods through which Sandy flows.
Peace dwells in the land.
The bear doth live in the laurel green.
The red buck roves the hills.

But Vance no more on Sandy behold
Nor drink its crystal waves.
The partial judge announced his doom.
The hunters found his grave.

There's Daniel, Bill, and Lewis,
A lie against me swore
In order to take my life away
That I may be no more.

But I and them shall meet again
When Immanuel's trumpet shall blow.
Perhaps I'll be wrapped in Abraham's bosom
When they roll in the gulf below.

My body it will be laid in the tomb.
My flesh it will decay,
But the blood that was shed on Calvary
Has washed my sins away.

Farewell, farewell, my old sweetheart,
Your face I'll see no more.
I'll meet you in the world above,
Where parting is no more.

Vance was a historical person. Born in Buncombe County, western North Carolina, Vance was said to have been an Indian scout during the American Revolution (no record of military service has been found), he was also a surveyor and a Baptist minister. He moved his family to Russell County, southwestern Virginia, around 1790. It was there, the tale goes, that his daughter Elizabeth eloped with a man named Daniel Horton, who was reputedly a doctor in Baltimore. Some short time later Daniel returned her to the Vance homestead, accompanied by his brother Lewis, whereupon Abner and Horton argued, as the story goes, about whether Horton would marry the girl. When Horton refused and made to ride off, Vance shot at the brothers hitting Lewis who was mortally wounded. Abner hid out for a couple of years in the Tug valley, but was persuaded to turn himself in when it appeared that local sentiment would absolve him of the crime due to 'understandable' circumstances. He retired to Russell County, was held without bail, and tried; however, the result was a hung jury. He was retried in Washington County, Va., and was found guilty and sentenced to death. The Lynchburg Virginia Press of July 27, 1819, printed the following:

On Friday the 16th instant, Abner Vance was executed at Abingdon, in pursuance of his sentence for the murder of Lewis Horton. He addressed about 4,000 for an hour and a half, with considerable ability; and died with the most perfect composure and heroic fortitude. He accused some persons of giving false evidence against him; and said that if he obtained a fair trial, and nothing but the truth had been sworn against him, he thought the penitentiary would have been the proper punishment for his offense.

Many versions of the story exist with added or altered details, but the above is the gist of the legend. Unfortunately, little about it can be substantiated. According to writer Ryan Hardesty and the researches of Barbara Vance Cherep, much of the core story, while evocative, are untrue. Abner Vance did shoot Lewis Horton in the back as he crossed the Clinch River, and Horton was mortally wounded, lingering for several days. Vance was immediately arrested for the crime and was held in jail without bail for some two years before his execution. He was found guilty at his original trail but appealed his verdict, claiming that he was insane at the time. He was granted a second trial, and in May, 1819, was again found guilty as ho witness could substantiate that he was insane at the time he shot Horton. The newspaper account quoted above makes no mention of his singing a song, but does attest to his oratorial skills, the size of the assembled crowd, and his stoicism at his impending death. Nor is there any evidence that a Horton was at all involved with a female member of the Vance family; daughter Elizabeth--'Betty'--already had, in 1817, two daughters (Nancy and Sarah) and may have been pregnant with a third child. Why did Abner shoot Lewis Vance? The reason is not clear, but Barbara Vance Cherep's researches indicate that he was involved in a Chancery suit with the Hortons (which often involved land disputes and other non-criminal offenses), There is no established link between this suit and Abner's actions, however, the Hortons had a reputation for trying to acquire land by dubious means and apparently had a history of disputing land claims hoping to have them settled in their favor c.f. Chancery Court, Tazwell County, Va., document Index No. 1813-003 Hardesty believes it is more likely that a land dispute rather than an elopement was the source of the trouble.

Group photograph of Hatfields. W.Va. State Archives.

Following Abner's death, his wife Susannah Vance (nee Howard) moved to the Guyandotte, Tug and Big Sandy river valleys. Elizabeth did not marry but did have children, at least two of whom figure in the famous Hatfiled/McCoy feud. "Bad" Jim Vance, her son, was said to have been a primary instigator of the feud and one of its most violent participants (Barbara Vance Cherep has found this may not be the case; however, the McCoy faction certainly ascribed him as a Hatfield partisan); her daughter Nancy married Ephraim Hatfield and herself was the mother of another principal in the feud, "Devil" Anse Hatfield.