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

Henrietta Jones Maney was enslaved by the Jones family in Murfreesboro, approximately eight miles away from the Maney plantation (current day Oaklands Mansion).[i] Henrietta started her family with Andrew Maney, who was enslaved by Dr. James Maney. It is uncertain how Henrietta met her husband, whether the two were separated by the slave trade or met on separate plantations. While Henrietta and Andrew only saw each other on the weekends, they had four children before the end of the Civil War, all of whom lived on the Jones plantation.[ii] On the Jones’ plantation, Henrietta worked as a field hand alongside a majority of the other men and women on the plantation.[iii] According to Henrietta’ son, John Wesley Maney, women enslaved on the Jones’ plantation were also required to spin four cuts of yarn before they were allowed to go to bed for the night.[iv] It is uncertain how Henrietta came to be enslaved by the Jones family and how long she lived on the Jones’ plantation.

Henrietta was about forty-years-old at the end of the Civil War.[v] There are very few post-Civil War records of Henrietta’s life. Henrietta Jones married Anthony Maney on August 20, 1865.[vi]  Henrietta and Andrew lived in Murfreesboro after the Civil War. Following emancipation, Henrietta worked at “keeping house” and maintaining her family, which had endured separation as a result of the slave trade.[vii] In 1870, there were eight children living with Henrietta and Andrew, though it is uncertain if Henrietta and Andrew were the biological parents of each child: Catherine, Joseph, John, Fred, Falid, Martha, Martha B., and Maty Maney.[viii] No known records indicate what happened to Henrietta after 1870.

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References

[i] Interview, Wesley Maney, October 15, 1932, Fisk University Archives, accessed October 17, 2020 from https://conservehistory.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/i-was-a-boy-slave.pdf, Nashville, TN, 2.

[ii] Interview, Wesley Maney, 6. 

[iii] Interview, Wesley Maney, 3. 

[iv] Interview, Wesley Maney, 3. 

[v] United States Census, “Maney, Henrietta,” 1870 United States Federal Census, 1870, accessed October 17, 2020 from https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4275524_00264?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=1aa91174d4f2671c42eee3ae0eecfa39&usePUB=true&_phsrc=hKK364&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.209464914.1307544560.1599706641-1251799660.1599066608&pId=14338651.

[vi] Marriage Record, “Anthony Maney to Henrietta Jones,” August 20, 1865, Tennessee County Marriages, accessed October 15, 2020 from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93F-4W1L?i=75&cc=1619127&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQKH3-WW7V.

[vii] United States Census, “Maney, Henrietta.”

[viii] United States Census, “Maney, Henrietta.”