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

Matilda Maney was born in approximately 1840 in Tennessee.[i] It is unknown where Matilda was enslaved prior to emancipation. No member of the Maney family enslaved a woman exactly Matilda’s age in 1860. It is possible that Matilda had been sold off the Maney plantation (present day Oaklands Mansion) prior to the start of the Civil War. It is unknown where Matilda would have been sold in Murfreesboro or where she lived during the Civil War. There is a twenty-three year old woman enslaved on Lewis Maney’s plantation in 1860, so it is also possible that Matilda’s age was misrepresented, and she lived on Lewis’ plantation.[ii]

Following the Civil War, Matilda moved into a home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[iii] Matilda is living with three children: Sallie, Martha, and Jack Maney.[iv] Matilda is not listed with a husband, so it is unknown if Matilda had married prior to the Civil War and lost her husband before 1870. It is unknown if the children living with Matilda are her own children. Matilda found employment as a laundress following the Civil War.[v] There are no further known records about Matilda Maney or her family. It is unknown what happened to Matilda following 1870.

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References

[i] United States Census, “Maney, Matilda,” 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=10573926.

[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, Matilda,” 1870 United States Census.

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

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