Chaney (also spelled Chany) was an enslaved worker at Tuckahoe during the Wight and Allen period. He was born sometime around 1841 to Mahala and Spy Boyd. His siblings were Henrietta, Armistead, Robert, Matilda, Thomas, and Margaret. Chaney worked with his father and some of his siblings as a field hand.
He lived with his family in the South Cabin which still stands today along Plantation Street, the working corridor of Tuckahoe.
After the Civil War, though it was clear that a number of the Boyds stayed in the area and likely continued to work at Tuckahoe for pay, it is unknown if Chaney was among them or if he left the area.