The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-09-16


years of age, the responsible care o
the plantation and of his mother am
sisters fell upon him when he was
mere lad. His training was of grea
value to him. It necessitated. dali!
intercourse with his neigkbors in va
! ried matters of business and impress
ed him with the value of the COLDER
| rule in all his transactions as well a!
| accustoming himself to self-sacrificc.
His mother was highly educated
and refined, a sincerely pious woman
of deep religious faith, in whom al
considerations of selfish comfort ant
| pleasure were always subservient &c
her duty to God, to the cause of hui
mainly and the coed Of her country
The special lines of reading which
Young Manning found most helpful
in fitting him for his work in life
we're, primarily, the Bible, with the
biographies of men famous in the
worlds progress. After attending the
primary schools in the vicinity of his
birth, he was for two years a student
at the Kenmore university high school
Of the late H. A. Strobe in Amherst
county, Virginia, and later al the Uni
versity of Virginia, which he left in
1879 before completing the course OF
study. .....
Began Life rs a Farmer.
He commenced the active work OF
his life in Sumter county as a farmer
in 1880.
On February 10, 1881, he married
at Richmond, Leila Bernard Mere
dith, daughter of John A. Meredith
and Sarah Anne Bernard, his wife
Judge Meredith was a descendant OF
Col. Elisha Meredith of the American
Revolution. -.
The first choice of young Manning
vas for the profession of law, but his
eyesight being threatened, he aband-
oned the study. wig
He was elected a member OF the
house Of representatives of South Car
olina in 1892 and in 1894. Although
he declined the nomination, he waT
elected to the house. In 1898 he was
elected a member of the State senate
of South Carolina, was reelected in
1902. and Served as president pro
Kenmore of that body in 1905. lie
was also chairman o fthe finance COM
mittee, a member of the sinking fund
commission of the senate and a mem
her Of the Wade Hampton Monu-
ment commission. He was a n
date for the Democratic nomination
for governor of South Carolina at the
Democratic primary in 1905, but failed
Of success, after a holly contested
campaign, in spite of his confessedly
greater popularity than that enjoyed
by his winning competitor.
Public S pirited Sitizen.
Besides developing his planting in
terests, Mr.. Manning has proved him.
self in many ways a progressive n
public-spirited citizen and has been
;nfuentially connected with various
business and other enterprises. Among
his trusts have been president and
treasurer of the Masonic Temple as
ISOLATION, president of the Sumter
Compress company, president of the
Home Building G Loan association,
director in the Bank of Sumter, in
the Sumter Telephone Manufacturing
company, Sumter Machinery company,
Sumter & Wateree Railroad company,
He has also been connected with 9TH
err enterprises tending to the improve
ment and development of his com
munity and State.
In his party a%filiation he has been
a consistent Democrat and has always
aided in every effort to purify cleo
tions-"the ballot being the founda-
ton stone of republican institutions.'
He believes that effort should be made
TO rid elections of fraud; that they
should be protected from the exercise
of undue influence, so as to. arrive
at a free and untrammeled expression
of the popular will" He introduced
in the house of representatives in
1894 a rigid Australian ballot bill, but
it was defeated.
He has always taken an active part
in all legislation touching the assess
;nent and taxation of property and in
everything promoting the education
al interests of South Carolina, He
has actively worked for the develop
ment of the common school system as