Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-09-11
HON. RICHARD |. MANNING
Some Facts About South CarOlina'S
Next Governor.
WORKED WAY UP AGAINST OBSTACLES
Family Record Long and Honorable
They Were Patriots in the Revolu-
ton, and Have Been Prominent IN
the Affairs of the State Through

the Affairs of the State Through
Several Generations.
The following sketch of Hon. Rlch-
ard l. Manning, governor-elect, is
from Men of Mark in South Caro-
lima"
Richard Irvine Manning, son OF
Richard Irvine Manning and his VIE,
Elizabeth Allen Sinkler, was born al
Honesty plantation, Sumter county,
South Carolina, August Is, 1859. The
father, a man of equable tempera-
ment and gentle and unobtrusive In
manner, was noted for his excellent
Judgment and scrupulous upright
ness in life. He impressed all as an
honorable and just man and MS
opinion, naturally, in matters OF mo-
ment, was often sought. He was a
successful planter and served accept
abIv in the state senate of South Car
olina.
His parental ancestor, Laurence
Manning, was born in Ireland and en-
igrated thence prior to the American
Revolution and settled in Craven,
subsequently Clarendon county, South
Carolina. He married a daughter OF
Richard Richardson, distinguished
patriot, born near jamestown, va,
l17O4, where he had been land sur
veyor.
| He removed to Craven county,
South Carolina, where he engaged IN
farming. During the Indian border
wars he commanded a regiment; was
a member Of the council Of safety OF
Charleston in 1875; and for his SER
vices in quelling a dangerous loyalist
revolt in the back country received
the thanks of the provincial congress
and was promoted to the rank OF
brigadier general. He was member
of the legislative council of 1776 and
in the provincial congress of South
Carolina assisted in forming the state
Constitution.
| Lord CORVALLIS made fruitless ef-
forts to gain him over to the royal
cause Made prisoner at the capture
of Charleston, he returned from the
prison at st. Augustine and died in
few days near Salisbury, n. c., in Sep
tember. 1881. His eldest son, Col.
Richard Richardson, commanded the
right wing of Gen. Francis Marion's
army at the battle of Eutaw and was
wounded. Another son, James b.
Richardson, was governor of South
Carolina, 1SO2-O4.
The same Laurence Manning,
great grandfather of the subject of
this sketch, was a Revolutionary SOL
dier and was distinguished for his
intrepid courage and inperturbability
of demeanor in moments Of great
peril, instances of which are narrated
in Gardens Anecdotes" He was the
first adjutant general Of the state of
South Carolina.
Grandfather a Governor.
| His son, Richard Irvine Manning,
was born in Sumter district, May l,
Il7S9; was graduated from South
| Carolina college in 1911; served in
the war of 1912; was member OF the
South Carolina legislature in 1922,
and governor of South Carolina, 1924
%; was state senator and was elected
a member of congress from South
Carolina in 1884 and died during his
term in Philadelphia, May l, 1886.
The early years of the subject Of
this sketch were passed on the plan
tation Of his father and he grew up a
healthy and active lad, fond of horse
back riding and fox hunting. His
father dying when he was only two
years of age, the responsible care OF
the plantation and of his mother and
sisters fell upon him when he was
mere lad. His training was of great
value to him. 1t necessitated daily
intercourse with his neighbors in va
ried matters of business and impress
ed him with the value of the golden
rule in all his transactions as well as
Iaccustoming himself to self-sacrifice.
| His mother was highly educated
and refined, a sincerely pious woman
of deep religious faith, in whom all
considerations of selfish comfort and
pleasure were always subservient to
her duty to God, to the cause Of hu-
manity and the good of her country.
The special lines of reading which
young Manning found most helpful
| in fitting him for his work in life
were, 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 II. A. Strobe in Amherst
county, Virginia, and later at the Uni
versity of Virginia, which he left in
lisa before completing the course of
study.
Began Life as Farmer.
He commenced the active work Of
his life in Sumter county as 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. Two brothers of Mrs.
Manning, Charles V. and Wyndham m
Robertson Meredith, of Richmond,
are prominent members of the Vir-
ginia bar. The first choice of young
| Manning was for the profession of
law, but his eyesight being threatened
he abandoned the study.
| He was elected a member of the
house of representatives of South
Carolina in 1892 and 1894. Although
he declined the nomination. he was