by AUDREY CREEL / December 26, 2020
©Audrey Creel, 2020 (All rights reserved.)

Martha Maney was born in approximately 1859 in Tennessee.[i] It is unknown where Martha was enslaved prior to emancipation. No member of the Maney family enslaved a one-year-old female in 1860. Martha’s inferred mother, Matilda Maney, also was not definitively enslaved by the Maney family at the onset of the Civil War. Therefore, it is most likely that Matilda was not enslaved by the Maney family but took the last name of her family following the Civil War. Lewis Maney enslaved a two-year-old female in 1860, so it is also possible that Martha was enslaved on the Maney plantation (present day Oaklands Mansion) and her age was misrepresented in census records.[ii]

Following the Civil War, Martha lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[iii] Martha lived in the same household with Matilda, Sallie, and Jack Maney.[iv] It is inferred that this is Martha’s family; however, there are no records to support this. Martha was unemployed.[v] Martha attended school in 1870, though it is unknown where she attended school, and she could not yet write.[vi] There are no further known records for Martha Maney. It is unknown what happened to Martha after 1870.

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References

[i] United States Census, “Maney, Martha,” 1870 United States Census, 1870, accessed December 26, 2020 from ancestry.com database, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4275524_00066?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs371&_phstart=successSource&pId=14341195.

[ii] United States Census, “L.M. Manny,” 1860 United States Census – Slave Schedule, 1860, accessed December 26, 2020 from ancestry.com database, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7668/images/tnm653_1285-0120?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=iaY858&_phstart=successSource&pId=92225235.

[iii] United States Census, “Maney, Martha,” 1870 United States Census.

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

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

[vi] United States Census, “Maney, Martha,” 1870 United States Census.