Amos Chaney

Black male, about 60 years old at the time of his death on 4 February 1916 in Pensacola, Florida. The death certificate spells his name as “Amous.” He was born in Georgia, but the informant knew nothing of his father or mother, and there is no information on his marital status . The informant was Clement Largue, an undertaker with F.R. Pou. Amos died of Bright’s Disease; with the physician (William D. Nobles) giving no indication he had treated Amos for it before his death. Amos was buried by F.R. Pou at the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery.

Amos Chaney appears in the household of Giles Chaney in the 1870 census for Stewart County, Georgia. (The name is written so illegibly that the family is recognizable only by knowing their first names from the 1880 census, below.) Their post office was Florence. Giles was 50 years old, born in North Carolina. He had a personal estate worth $125. His (presumed) wife was Mariah, 45 years old. The children in the household were Amos, 17; Alfred, 15; and James, 12. All were identified as Black, their occupation “works on a farm.” Everyone but Giles was born in Georgia. None could read or write.

Giles appears in the Returns of Qualified Voters for Stewart County, Georgia (July 1867). According to those records, he had been in the state for 40 years, but had lived in the county for only 6 years.

Amos Chaney appears in the household of James Chaney in the 1880 census for Mineral Springs, Stewart County, Georgia. James was 20 years old; Amos was 25. Also in the household was Mariah Chaney, 50 years old, identified as James’ mother. (Amos is actually identified as “son,” but it appears that was a mistake by the census taker, who linked him to Mariah – ennumerated above him – rather than James.) All three were identified as Black; all three were born in Georgia and had “laborer” listed as their occupations. None could read or write.

An Amos Chaney appears in records for Macon, Bibb County, and Houston County, Georgia in the 1860s. This Amos Chaney was white and died circa 1870.

As far as I can tell, Amos Chaney does not appear in the 1885 Florida State Census.

Amos Cheney married Christinna Francis on 11 October 1883 at Union Missionary Baptist Church in Escambia County. In January of 1901, she filed for divorce; however, it appears they were living apart before then.

Amos Chaney appears in the 1890 Pensacola City Directory. He was identified as a person of color, lived on La Rua north of Alcaniz, and worked as a laborer. In the next extant Directory, 1898, he was living at 912 6th Ave., still working as a laborer. He does not appear in the next extant Directory (1903); however, Christina Francis appears, identified as a widow, working as a domestic and living at 1012 North Hayne St. (A divorced or separated woman identifying as a widow was not uncommon in the days when divorce was stigmatized, or a finalized legal divorce may have been too expensive to obtain, so this status cannot be taken as conclusive.)

Amos Chaney, Jr., appears in the Pensacola Death Records. He was 8 years, 11 months old when he died of pneumonia on 28 December 1898.  He was a single Black male who died in the City and had lived there all his life. His father was unnamed, but from Georgia; his mother was from Alabama. The physician on the record was M.S.G. Abbott, and the child was buried in Zion cemetery by W.H. Harvey.

SOURCES:

Florida Certificate of Death for Amous Chaney (No. 2650), Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.

Ancestry.com. Georgia, U.S., Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Georgia, Office of the Governor. Returns of qualified voters under the Reconstruction Act, 1867. Georgia State Archives, Morrow, Georgia.

Death record of Amos Chaney, Jr.

“New Suits Filed,” The Pensacola News [Pensacola, FL], 25 JAN 1901, p. 5.