Lunenburg-Brunswick County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Manson, Richard Wilkins 1853 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 17, 2008, 3:45 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) RICHARD WILKINS MANSON THE Manson family name is one of that large number which does not seem to be fixed, as it appears under the forms of Manson, Monson and Munson. Since the first settlement of this family in America, all of its members acknowledge a common ancestor and recognize blood relationship between them. In England the name was found in the Counties of Devon and York, and, according to English authorities, is of Saxon origin. The first record of the family in America is of Richard Manson, who was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1663. His wife's given name was Esther; her maiden name is unknown. Richard Manson, or Monson as it is indifferently written, was married when his name first appears upon the records. He died in 1702, thirty-nine years after his first appearance in Portsmouth. He is said to have been a man of industry, thrift and business ability, highly esteemed in his community, and he accumulated a considerable property. He left four sons: John, who died at Kittery, Maine, in 1747, whose wife's name was Lydia; Samuel, who died in Portsmouth in 1761. whose wife's name was Rebecca; James, who appears to have been married twice; and Kichard, Jr., of whose marriage we have no notice. These sons of Richard went by the name of Manson. Mrs. Dennis Manson, a very old lady about the beginning of the present century, whose residence was in Maine, is authority for the statement that in 1850 the prevailing pronunciation in Maine was Monson, the majority, however, spelling the name Manson. William Manson, who was in the fifth generation from Richard, said that some of the Munsons where he formerly lived were called Mansons, but that he preferred the form, Munson, and used that. The present-day descendants of Richard, the immigrant in New Hampshire and Maine, usually spell and pronounce the name, Manson. Mr. G. M. Hobbs, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who is descended from this family, furnished some data about Peter Manson, who was born in August, 1697, and married Hannah Kerby, April 22, 1725. Peter was evidently a grandson of Richard, and seems to have been identified with Virginia. His children were: Mary, born November 3, 1726; John, born September 5, 1728; Frances, born May 18, 1735; Peter, Jr., born December 4, 1737; Hannah, Jr., born January 21, 1741; and Robert, born August 17, 1748. Peter Manson's wife Hannah died December 8, 1754, and, less than two months later, he also died, on February 1G, 1755. Peter, Jr., died December 8, 1751, being only twenty years old. John died at the age of ten. It is important to notice here that all of these children had as a middle name Patrick, which strengthens the belief that the Virginia Mansons had come from Ireland, or that Richard, the original immigrant, had come from Ireland, and that these were his descendants who had settled in the South. It is positive that some of them did come South, for Frederick Otis, who was in the fifth generation from Richard, married at Petersburg, Sarah Dews, and had a son Otis. There is no way to establish positively whether Peter was an immigrant from Ireland, or was the grandson of Richard, who was an immigrant from Ireland. This does not at all conflict with the English ancestry of the family, for many American families are descended from people who were originally English or Scotch, and who, by residence for several generations in Ireland, became known in this country as Irish or Scotch-Irish. A present-day member of the Manson family, a highly esteemed citizen of his county, is Richard Wilkins Mauson, of Olo, Lunenburg County. Mr. Manson's parents were John R. and Susan Hines Hawthorne Manson. Of this marriage the following children were born: Elizabeth Ann Blackwell, John Sidney, Sarah Maria, Martha Flornoy Dance, Thomas F. Fletcher Sommerfield and Lavania Susan. Mr. Manson's father combined the occupations of farmer and merchant. His immediate family has been identified with Southside, Virginia, since 1760, when his grandfather settled near Ordsburg, Brunswick County. One brother, Peter Manson, moved to Ohio about the year 1820. Mr. Manson, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the J. Q. Gee Academy at Forksville, Virginia. On the outbreak of the Civil War he became a Confederate soldier, and was detailed as a courier for General G. W. C. Lee, in which capacity he served through the War up to the battle of Sailors' Creek, April 6, 1865. Finding that General G. W. C. Lee had been captured by the Federals, Mr. Manson reported for duty at General Robert E. Lee's headquarters, and was surrendered with the army at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. Returning home Mr. Manson took up his occupation as a farmer, which he has continued. He has achieved a substantial measure of success in his chosen work, has shown himself a man of excellent business capacity, and is now President of the Bank of Lunenburg. He belongs to that strong class which, in the last fifty years, has rebuilt the South. These men were good soldiers in war, and have been better soldiers in peace. It took more courage to face the desperate conditions of 1865 than it did to face the Federal cannon. Undismayed and refusing to give up to despair, they grappled with as hard conditions as ever faced any body of men, and have built by their own determination, for they had practically no resources, a country which is to-day richer in material things than it was before the great fratricidal struggle. If the people of the South fail to hold the memory of these men in all honor for all time, they will lack appreciation of as worthy and heroic effort as was ever rendered by mankind. Mr. Manson is a Democrat in his political views, a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and is identified with the Southern Methodist Church. He was married at Hollydale, Virginia, on July 12, 1876, to Lizzie T. Blackwell, daughter of William T. and Sallie Orgain Penn Blackwell. The only child of this marriage, Sallie Sidney Manson, was educated in Danville Institute and Randolph Macon Women's College at Lynchburg, Virginia. She married Austin Seay Bridgforth, and they have six children: Richard Baskerville, Austin Seay, Jr., George Blackwell, Susan Baldwin, Dorothy Louise, and William Lee Bridgforth. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/lunenburg/photos/bios/manson31gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/lunenburg/bios/manson31gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 7.4 Kb