by AUDREY CREEL / December 30, 2020
©Audrey Creel, 2020 (All rights reserved.)

There are very few records known for Jack Maney. Information known about Jack Maney comes from oral histories and court records. It is unknown where Jack was enslaved prior to emancipation. In 1872, Jack Maney stated that he was 82 years old.[i] In an interview given by Wesley Maney, Wesley recounted that Jack Maney was owned by Dr. James Maney (“Newt Maney’s grandfather”).[ii] This claim is not supported by the 1860 census records, so it is difficult to determine when Jack Maney was enslaved by Dr. James.[iii]

Wesley also stated that Jack Maney was the first African American minister that he knew in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[iv] Jack was a Methodist preacher but was not allowed to baptize his congregants while he was enslaved.[v] Following the Civil War, Jack proclaimed his profession as being “a minister of the Gospel.”[vi] It is unknown where Jack preached following the Civil War or where he lived upon emancipation. There are no further known records for Jack Maney.

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References

[i] U.S. Southern Claims Commission, “Petition of Madison Turner,” Disallowed and Barred Claims, Murfreesboro, TN: October 22, 1872, accessed November 19, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1218/images/rhusa1871_102839__0010-00389?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs331&_phstart=successSource&pId=58455.

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

[iii] United States Census, “James Manney,” 1860 United States Census – Slave Schedule, 1860, accessed December 30, 2020 from ancestry.com database, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7668/images/tnm653_1285-0152?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=iaY1132&_phstart=successSource&pId=92227684.

[iv] Interview, Wesley Maney, 2.

[v] Interview, Wesley Maney, 2.

[vi] U.S. Southern Claims Commission, “Petition of Madison Turner.”