Daughter of William Hasty & Rachel Walden Hasty.

Wife of E. B. Haney

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Nancy Elvira Hasty Haney

Nancy is a paternal 3rd Great Grandmother of mine.

Nancy was born on July 28, 1850 in Union County, North Carolina, to William Riley Hasty and Rachel Walden Hasty. As far as I have found, Nancy was the 5th of 7 children in all. Her siblings were Wilbur Fiske (1840), Mary Euelina (1843), William (1845), Sarah Jane (1847), Elizabeth (1853), and George (1855).

A cousin of mine, who goes by the name "A. Zimmer-Keeler" on findagrave.com has been researching our Hasty family for the past 25 years. Before her, her grandmother spent 30 years researching and passed down her findings to A. Zimmer-Keeler before her death. Being a native of South Carolina, she has easier access to more local documentation than what I would be able to get my hands on.

In her words, "Nancy's paternal lineage is a vast one. This particular Hasty bloodline can be traced back to their settlement in Antrim County, Ireland. The origins of the family lie, however, in the lowlands of Scotland from which they were deported during the reign of King James VI. The first Hasty immigrants of this family to the New World was James Alexander Hasty in 1713. James would be a great-great grandfather of Nancy. He came to America alone as an indentured servant, and later married into a family that had settled in Virginia several generations before. James and his wife Elizabeth were the progenitors of virtually all of the Hasty families of the Southern United States. Their descendants are scattered all over the country now."

According to my own research, Nancy's family came to Union County of North Carolina around the mid to late 1830s.

In the 1850 census of Union County, North Carolina, Nancy (age 3 months) is shown living with her father and mother (ages 33 and 28), as well as her four older siblings, Wilbur, Mary, William, and Sarah (ages 10, 8, 5, and 3).

Given the fact that Nancy's brother George was born in 1855, the time frame of her father's death is between that year and 1859, since he doesn't appear in the 1860 census. According to his age in the 1850 census (9 years prior), he would've been around 37 to 42 years old upon his death. Nancy would've been around 4 to 9 years old.

In the 1860 census, Nancy (age 9), is living in Monroe, Union County, North Carolina with her mother (age 39), and her siblings Wilbur, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, and George (ages 19, 17, 11, 7, and 5). A little girl is also living with them during this time. Her name was Melvina Hasty. Upon a first look, it seems like she would be a sibling of Nancy's, however, upon further investigation, Melvina was a 1st cousin to Nancy on her father's side. On this particular census, Nancy's mother (Rachel), is listed as 'spinster' in the occupation section. That part struck me odd. Usually, a spinster is a woman who has exceeded the "appropriate age of marriage", or, in other words, is older than the traditional marrying age and has never married. Another reason a woman is usually listed as a spinster is when she has a child out of wedlock, but has never been married. Both of these reasons weren't the case for Rachel, since she was actually a widow. However, according to genesreunited.co.uk, "Sometimes if a lady was widowed she might not want a new potential husband to know that she had been married before, and would therefore say she was a spinster, sometimes even using her married name as her maiden name." SCANDALOUS, RACHEL! I wonder if that was the actual reasoning she gave the census taker, or if the person just assumed that was her title in society. I hope it was her idea, because that'd be funny. I feel like it would be kind of hard to justify the lie of never being married, especially being a package deal of her and 6 kids. In Victorian Society, that would raise a few eyebrows. In the same census of 1860, Nancy's two oldest siblings also had occupations. Her brother Wilbur was a farm hand on their family farm, and her sister Mary was listed as a weaver. Mary would've basically been a seamstress, weaving fabrics into clothing. The family's value of their land and personal belongings combined was $545. In today's time, that would have the value of roughly $19,000. Not too bad!

In 1872, Nancy's mother passed away. She's estimated to be about 50 when she died. In her last Will and Testament, Nancy's mother leaves everything to her and her older sister Mary. I'd love to know why the other kids got nothing at all. But, hey, at least my side of the family made it in the will.

Two years later, on September 10, 1874, Nancy married my 3rd Great Grandfather, Ebenezer B. Haney, in Union County, North Carolina. Together they would have six children: James Adam (1877), Blanche Pearl (1880 - my 2nd great grandmother), William Leard (1882), Ophelia (1885), Albert Felix (1887), and Rella Jane (1889).

In the 1880 census of Lane Creek, Union County, North Carolina, Nancy was living with her husband and their first two children James and Blanche.

By 1889, Nancy and her family migrated to Union County, Arkansas. Her last child, Rella Jane Haney, was the only child born in Arkansas. Rella was born in Union County, Arkansas on December 2, 1889. The rest of Nancy's children were all born in Union County, North Carolina.

In 1900, Nancy is living in El Dorado, Union County, Arkansas, with her husband and five of their children: James, William, Ophelia, Albert, and Rella (ages 22, 16, 15, 12, and 10). On this year's census, it shows Nancy as a housekeeper while her husband is a farmer. What I find interesting is that every single child has the occupation "farm laborer" listed by their names. That tells me that Nancy and her husband were probably stern and tough parents. All the children were expected to pull their weight for the good of the whole family. The farm itself was free of mortgage, so Nancy and her husband owned their property outright. The census also shows that everyone in Nancy's household, including herself, could read and write.

A decade later, before she could be listed on the 1910 census, Nancy passed away on January 11, 1910 in Union County, Arkansas. So she began and ended in Union County, just two different states. ;) She was 59 years old. I'm unsure of how she died. I haven't found a death certificate or obituary for her yet.

She left behind her husband, 3 daughters, 3 sons, and 4 grandchildren. She was buried in Rehobeth Cemetery in Norphlet, Arkansas (right outside of El Dorado in Union County).

(Information given by Nancy & Ebenezer's 3rd Great Grandson, Bradley Haden Ainsworth Reynolds. Haden is the 2nd great grandson of Blanche Pearl Haney Murphy & Jesse Baldwin Murphy, the great grandson of Felix Elton Murphy & Sallie Marguerite Harrell Murphy, the grandson of Melba Jean Murphy Ainsworth & John Edward Ainsworth, and the son of Stephen Wayne Ainsworth & Michelle Renne Jones Swilling) March 23, 2024