by AUDREY CREEL / November 14, 2020
©Audrey Creel, 2020 (All rights reserved.)

Ferdy Maney was born in Tennessee in approximately 1856.[i] It is uncertain where Ferdy Maney was enslaved prior to the Civil War. In 1860, David D. Maney owned several individuals who were the same age as Ferdy, her parents, and her siblings, so it is possible that Ferdy was enslaved on David Maney’s plantation.[ii] Lewis Maney also enslaved individuals who were the same age as Ferdy and her family, so it is also possible that Ferdy was enslaved at the Maney plantation (present day Oaklands Mansion).[iii] As a very young child at the start of the Civil War, it is uncertain what Ferdy’s role would have been on a plantation.

After the Civil War, Ferdy moved into a home in Murfreesboro with her parents, John and Matilda Maney, and her siblings.[iv] Despite being only fourteen, Ferdy worked as a domestic servant to help support her family.[v] It is uncertain where Ferdy was employed after the Civil War. It appears that at the age of sixteen, Ferdy married Daniel Lyon on November 11, 1872.[vi] The name is misspelled either in the census records or in the marriage records, as the marriage records list her name as “Fereby Maney.”[vii] Ferdy and Daniel had one son in 1873 – John Lyon.[viii] It is uncertain what happened to Ferdy and Daniel, but they likely both died before 1880.

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Child of Ferdy (Maney) and Daniel Lyon

John Lyon

John Lyon was the son of Ferdy (Maney) and Daniel Lyon. He was born in Tennessee around 1873.[ix] The 1880 census reveals that nine-year-old John Lyon lived with his grandmother, Matilda, in 1880 and is not listed alongside his parents.[x] There are no further records for John Lyon.

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References

[i] United States Census, “Maney, Ferdy,” 1870 United States Census, 1870, accessed November 9, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4275524_00055?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs1773&_phstart=successSource&pId=10573816.

[ii] United States Census, “Many, D.D.,” 1860 United States Census – Slave Schedule, 1860, accessed November 7, 2020 from familysearch.org database https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BSD-FR2?cc=3161105&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AWKT5-VW6Z.

[iii] United States Census, “Manney, L.M.,” 1860 United States Census – Slave Schedule, 1860, accessed November 9, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7668/images/tnm653_1285-0120?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=394ad12e8a2edd8f49f8e0147ce5aea3&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs1776&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.149282613.267679452.1604965211-1700215809.1599080803&pId=92225235.

[iv] United States Census, “Maney, Ferdy,” 1870 United States Census.

[v] United States Census, “Maney, Ferdy,” 1870 United States Census.

[vi] Marriage Record, “Lyon, David, to Fereby Maney col.,” Tennessee Marriage Records, 1780-2002, Rutherford County, Tennessee: November 11, 1872, accessed November 9, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1169/images/VRMUSATN1780_074741-00288?pId=7031668.

[vii] Marriage Record, “Lyon, David, to Fereby Maney col.”

[viii] United States Census, “Lyon, John,” 1880 United States Census, 1880, accessed November 14, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4244656-00431?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs1782&_phstart=successSource&pId=16588861.

[ix] United States Census, “Lyon, John,” 1880 United States Census.

[x] United States Census, “Lyon, John,” 1880 United States Census.