John Mannering, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of John Mannering
JOHN MANNERING.
In the early settlement of the State of Indiana, especially in the settlement of Porter County, Mr. Mannering has been closely identified with its material affairs and associated with its progress and development. He comes of Welsh and English stock, and inherits the thrift and simplicity of the former as well as the dogged perseverance and determination of the latter class of people, attributes which have gone far to make him successful. Prior to the American Revolution, the paternal grandfather, then a young man, came to America, and in this country he was married and reared a family of four children: John, William, Priscilla and Maria, all of whom are now dead. The family located in Delaware, and there lived for many years. William, the father of the present representative of the family, left Delaware in company with his brother, John, when he was but twenty one years old and came to South Bend, Indiana, the most of the journey thither being made on foot, a fact which speaks eloquently for his determination, pluck and endurance. From South Bend he went to Cass County, Michigan, where he established a wagon shop, having learned the trade of wagon making in Delaware, and for some time carried on his trade at Edwardsburg. While there he was married to Elizabeth W. Smith, daughter of Cameron and Lottie Smith, one of their ten children: John, George, Elizabeth, Lydia, Emeline, Wesley, Kitty, Henry, Mary and Cannon, of whom the following are living: Emeline, wife of Nathan Griffith, of Michigan, by whom she has two sons and two daughters: Lydia, who resides in Michigan; Wesley, married to Almeda Dunning, by whom he has five children; John, married to Clara Beardsley, lives in Indiana, and has six children; Cannon, married to Sarah Dunning, lives in Cass County, Michigan, and has three living children, and Elizabeth W. (Mrs. Mannering). Mr. Mannering remained in Michigan until 1868, then with his family came to Porter County, Indiana, to the farm now occupied by the family on which he lived until his death in 1876, at the age of sixty-eight years, his widow dying October 20,1884, at seventy-one years of age. The latter part of Mr. Mannering's years were devoted to farming, and after his arrival in Porter County, he bought 160 acres of land, and later forty acres more. There was a house on the land when he bought it, but no other buildings, but this was soon remedied, and many improvements made until the place would hardly be recognized for what it was. To Mr. and Mrs. Mannering six children were born: John; James, who married Adaline Shafer and has three children, Louis, Melvin and Charles, resides in Texas; William, bachelor; Mary, wife of Alexander Jarnel, lives in Delaware; Cassius, married Catherine Sarver, resides on the old place and has one son, Dick I., and Edgar. The Mannering homestead is finely located on choice land, its appointments are excellent and there is a general air of thrift about the place that betokens the farmer who understands his business. The brothers are living together contentedly and a more jovial or whole-souled set of men it would be hard to find. They have enough of this world's goods to make them comfortable and are taking the world easy. Though educational advantages were not good in their youthful days, their natural mother wit and much reading have placed them among the intelligent and well informed men of their section. The family, root and branch, is Republican, but William Mannering cast his first and last Democratic vote for General Jackson. The brothers have not connected themselves with any religious denomination, but Mrs. Cassius Mannering is a consistent member of the Christian Church. William Mannering enlisted in the Union Army in 1861, and served in the Army of the Cumberland. At Boonville, Mississippi, he was four times wounded and was taken prisoner, but was left on the field by the enemy who supposed he could not live. He afterward reached his comrades and in the course of time recovered sufficiently to return home. He carries three buckshot in his body now as a reminder of the great struggle between the North and the South. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1862 on account of disability, and returned to his home.
Source: Goodspeed Brothers. 1894. Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Goodspeed Brothers. 569 p.
Page(s) in Source: 363-365
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook