LEONARDTOWN, Md. — Elizabeth “Beth” Saunders had a name, a missing man, and a mystery more than a century old. Her great-great-grandfather, Thomas Maness, vanished around the age of 26—leaving behind a pregnant wife, a reputation for being extraordinarily tall, and no explanation.
That was it. Just a few family whispers and a gnawing curiosity that turned into what Saunders calls a full-blown obsession. But it was all she needed to start chasing the truth.
Starting in the mid-1990s, Saunders was determined to solve the family mystery and spent many years unknowingly following Maness’s footsteps up and down the East Coast until she decided to pursue the few leads she had. Many years, dozens of interviews and hundreds of documents later, she finally found him. It turned out that Maness’s true story was even more outsized than her family’s generations-long imagination.
Saunders’ book, “The Search for Thomas Maness,” is about her journey to find out what happened to Thomas Maness and features their interwoven narratives. As Maness moves through his life, Saunders continues on her search, until they find each other in a cross-section of family and history that shows how stubborn our ties are with those whose stories and DNA we share.
Saunders was hesitant to share more of Maness’ story for fear of spoilers but said Maness had been imprisoned as a POW at Point Lookout — the famous prison she saw every day when she worked at Pax River.
She theorized that he lied about his age to join the Confederates and may have been as young as 11. After his original disappearance, he went on to have seven more wives and led a life so wild that she was still able to find living people who had stories about him.
Every family has tall tales, but in Saunders’ case, the tall tales were true — or paled in comparison to what really happened.
Genealogy research has become more popular in the last two decades with the advent of platforms like 23andMe and Ancestry.com. But Saunders says not to rely strictly on those resources — many of her leads were sparked by interviews or local records that set her on the correct path. And for families like hers that may not have surviving documents, brick walls should be expected. Saunders says not to get discouraged. If you want to know something, keep going. Finding people in history means navigating roadblocks and accepting that often, we may never know the whole truth.
“This was one of my life dreams,” Saunders said. She credits her success in part to her engineering experience. “There are a lot of engineers in family genealogy. It’s a lot of people who love solving puzzles, who are very analytical and precise. And obsessive,” she added with a laugh.
Through finding Maness, Saunders has also tracked down distant relatives who are delighted to hear the story. Some had never even heard of him, and Saunders isn’t sure why her family held onto his tale for so many generations.
“He probably wasn’t the nicest guy,” she said. “But at this point, no one in any of the families has memories of him. So everyone gets a piece of their history back and can enjoy knowing his story.”
Saunders will be at Fenwick Books in Leonardtown for a signing on Saturday, Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. She’s excited to connect with old friends and new.
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