ARCHDALE
When Beth Saunders started investigating the mysterious disappearance of Thomas Maness, her great-great-grandfather, she had no concept the place the search would possibly lead her.
If anyplace.
Some three many years later, the Archdale genealogist and former journalist has a narrative for the ages, having lastly uncovered the outstanding reality of what actually occurred to Maness practically 150 years in the past. She unravels the unlikely story in her new e book, “The Seek for Thomas Maness.”
“This man deserves a e book,” Saunders remembers considering. “Who else goes to inform this story?”
Saunders, an Archdale native and former author for the Archdale-Trinity Information, inherited this thriller again within the Nineties, when she was discussing the household lineage together with her grandparents. After they talked about her great-great-grandfather, Thomas Maness, had gone in search of work round 1875 and by no means got here dwelling, she was understandably intrigued — and, as a genealogist, duly challenged.
“I believed it’d be good if I might remedy this thriller, however I used to be the fourth era,” Saunders says.
“When … (Thomas’) son was 20, he went to Virginia in search of him — that’s the place he’d gone to discover a job — however no one knew something. After which … (Thomas’ grandson), my grandfather, carried round an image of him, and each time he bumped into the identify Maness, he would present them the image, however he by no means discovered something. In the event that they hadn’t discovered something, was I actually going to search out something?”
The story was that Thomas, a talented lumberjack who apparently moved from city to city, hiring himself out as guide labor, discovered himself in a group close to the Randolph and Guilford county line round 1874. He met a younger woman, 14-year-old Pandora Wall, and married her that June. Inside a yr, Pandora was pregnant, however earlier than she even gave start, the father-to-be left city.
“Work was scarce, so a whole lot of males have been going to work on the railroads and within the mines,” Saunders explains. “Thomas stated he was going to work on the Bertha Zinc Mine in Virginia, however he by no means got here dwelling. They by no means heard from him once more.”
For generations, descendants have puzzled over the younger man’s disappearance: Had he died in some kind of accident, mining or in any other case? Had he met with foul play? Or had he merely determined to start out a brand new life in a brand new place?
Saunders joined the succession of searchers within the early Nineties, however with little luck early on. It was if Thomas, although he was clearly lifeless by then, was teasing his great-great-granddaughter in a genealogical recreation of hide-and-seek.
“I saved wanting on and off as I used to be in search of different household strains,” Saunders says. “I might look and get actually pissed off.”
Lastly, an archival clue — a classic marriage document — led her to Moore County, the place an aged genealogist and historian informed her some bodacious tales about his cousin, Swain Maness, a colourful character who was rumored to have 5 wives scattered throughout North Carolina.
Saunders started to suspect Swain Maness and Thomas Maness may be the identical particular person. There have been different clues, however two particularly caught her consideration — Swain Maness was reportedly a tall man and, in accordance with the cousin, was “the perfect lumberjack round,” attributes that matched Thomas.
With out gifting away an excessive amount of of Saunders’ story, we’ll merely inform you that Saunders conclusively proved Swain and Thomas have been one and the identical in 2012, due to some genealogical detective work and a definitive DNA take a look at. The excellent news got here in an e mail from FamilyTreeDNA.
“I used to be all on my own (when the e-mail arrived), however I needed to do a dance and whoop whoop,” Saunders says with a chuckle. “I’d lastly discovered him and solved the thriller.”
Not every thing Saunders had heard about Thomas/Swain proved to be true, nevertheless. For instance, he didn’t actually have 5 wives.
He had seven.
“They have been all residing on the identical time, however none of them knew about one another,” Saunders says. “They usually have been generations aside — he saved marrying youthful ladies and shifting round.”
The wives lived in Archdale, Moore County (two lived right here), Chatham County, Anson County, Virginia and Alabama.
It wasn’t till a yr or two after confirming Thomas and Swain have been the identical man that Saunders determined to chronicle his compelling story — and her equally compelling seek for him — in a e book.
“I needed to inform his story,” she says. “I simply knew I needed to inform it.”
Wish to go? Creator Beth Saunders will signal copies of her e book, “The Seek for Thomas Maness,” on Might 1 at 6 p.m. at Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. {related_content_uuid}b9ddf53c-be0d-45f0-a2db-ce0513f6354c{/related_content_uuid}
