Amy
Biography
Amy was the daughter of Chaney, a slave of Elizabeth Hancock Redd and her husband John Hardison Redd. It is likely that Redd fathered Amy, who was born around 1836 in Onslow County, North Carolina. Amy is listed in the 1850 Utah census as “Anna,” although other records refer to her as Amy. [1] Surviving records do not list a last name for Amy. Instead they refer to her as "Amy, daughter of Chaney." There is no indication that she adopted Redd as her last name before her death and so we refer to her here as Amy.
Alongside Marinda Redd, who was likely Amy’s sister, the 1850 census listed Amy's race as “yellow,” a term sometimes used to designate people of mixed racial heritage. Amy was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 13, 1852. Her baptism is noted in the records of the Spanish Fork LDS ward. [2] She died in November of 1854, and her death is mentioned in the ward records. [3] John Hardison Redd also noted the date of her death in his personal notebook. [4] Amy was buried in a pioneer cemetery in Spanish Fork. Floods washed out the cemetery’s grave markers and some graves were relocated during the cleanup so Amy’s exact burial location is unknown, but recent markers list her among those buried in the cemetery. [5]
By Kaitlyn Benoit and Tonya Reiter
Primary Sources
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Spanish Fork Ward, 1852-1891, CR 375 8, box 6609, folder 1, image 6 and 30. Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Redd, John Hardison, “Notebook,” c. 1850s. Held in private hands, by Amasa Mason Redd, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Reproduced in The Utah Redds and Their Progenitors.)
United States Census, 1840, Rutherford, Tennessee, s.v. Jno Redd.
United States, Census, 1850, Utah County, Utah Territory.
Utah Territorial census, 1851: Census Returns (Original). Great Salt Lake County, schedules 2-6. MS 2672, box 1, folder 6, image 3. Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Secondary Sources
Baadsgaard, Janene. Blog July 29, 2009. “Burials in the Spanish Fork Pioneer Cemetery.”
Hatch, Nelle Spilsbury, Mother Jane’s Story. Wasco: Shafer, 1964.
Redd, Lura, The Utah Redds and Their Progenitors, edited by Amasa Jay Redd. Salt Lake City: privately published, 1973.
Reiter, Tonya. “Redd Slave Histories: Family, Race, and Sex in Pioneer Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly, 85 (Spring 2017).
Warner, Elisha. History of Spanish Fork. Spanish Fork: The Press, 1930.
[1] United States, Census, 1850, Utah County, Utah Territory; Tonya Reiter, “Redd Slave Histories: Family, Race, and Sex in Pioneer Utah,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 85 (Spring 2017), 111-112.
[2] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Spanish Fork Ward, 1852-1891, CR 375 8, box 6609, folder 1, image 6, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
[3] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Spanish Fork Ward, 1852-1891, CR 375 8,box 6609, folder 1, image 30, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
[4] John H. Redd, “Notebook,” held in private hands. Redd kept track of the births and deaths of his legitimate family members, but also the birth dates of his wife’s family’s slaves.
[5] Janene Baadsgaard, Blog, July 29, 2009. “Burials in the Spanish Fork Pioneer Cemetery.”
Documents
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