Vance

VANCE, JAMES GEORGE WASHINGTON (18291883). James George Washington Vance, veteran of the Mexican War and Confederate officer, was born in Washington, Missouri, on March 5, 1829, to Thomas and Rebecca Vance. His father was a carpenter from Georgia born in 1785, and his mother was born in Massachusetts in 1794. The Vance family moved sometime in the mid-1840s to Collin County, Texas, where Thomas worked as a carpenter. In 1846 James volunteered for service in the Mexican War and served in Col. John C. "Jack" Hays 's Regiment of Texas Rangers . His time in Mexico was spent recovering from an illness and having both his carbine and Colt revolver stolen while he was at a hospital in Jalapa, Mexico.