by AUDREY CREEL / December 15, 2020
©Audrey Creel, 2020 (All rights reserved.)

Nance Maney was born in Tennessee in approximately 1818.[i] It is unknown where Nance was enslaved before the Civil War. Nance’s parents also were born in Tennessee, so it is probable that Nance was not born on a Maney plantation but brought to the Maney plantation via the slave trade.[ii] There was one forty-year-old woman enslaved by Lewis Maney in 1860, so it is probable that Nance was enslaved by Lewis Maney before emancipation.[iii] This also is likely where Nance met her husband, Nathan Maney, as they were both enslaved on the Maney plantation (current day Oaklands Mansion). It is unknown what Nance’s role on the Maney plantation was prior to emancipation.

Nance Maney married Nathan Maney on August 19, 1865 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee immediately following the Civil War.[iv] Nance and Nathan had one daughter before emancipation – Levinia Maney.[v] Lenna Maney lived in Nance’s household, but there is no documentation indicating that Lenna was Nance’s daughter.[vi] Nance worked “keeping house,” maintaining her own family for the first time.[vii] In 1880, Nance lived with her husband and continued to keep house in Murfreesboro.[viii] Nance died in Murfreesboro on July 8, 1882.[ix] It is unknown how Nance died or where she is buried.

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References

[i] United States Census, “Maney, Nancy,” 1870 United States Census, 1870, accessed November 19, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4275524_00055?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs320&_phstart=successSource&pId=10573817.

[ii] Death Record, “Maney, Nancy,” U.S. Deaths and Burials Index, Rutherford, TN: July 8, 1882, accessed November 19, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2546&h=25138&tid=&pid=&queryId=b682c1855eb325c3d258d4a0e91aa16e&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs2191&_phstart=successSource.

[iii] United States Census, “Maney, L.M.,” 1860 United States Census – Slave Schedule, 1860, accessed November 19, 2020 from familysearch.org database https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BSD-NTM?i=3&cc=3161105&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AWKT5-PF2M.

[iv] Marriage Record, Nathan Maney to Nance Maney, Rutherford, TN: August 19, 1985, accessed November 19, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=4125&h=30040&tid=&pid=&queryId=17b3bae197c7a186aa31a98a4c35ea6d&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs1951&_phstart=successSource.

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

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

[vii] United States Census, “Maney, Nancy,” 1870 United States Census.

[viii] United States Census, “Maney, Nancy,” 1880 United States Census, 1880, accessed November 19, 2020 from ancestry.com database https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4244656-00449?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=ca761ca109b4e4b1a12061ccfd116e88&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs1966&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=9980870.

[ix] Death Record, “Maney, Nancy.”