Benjamin Franklin Manley (1858 - 1944)

Born Mar 1858 in Linn County, Iowa, USA

Ancestors

Died 1 Aug 1944 at age 86 in Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA

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Biography

Benjamin was born in 1858, in Linn County, Iowa. He was the son of John Manley and Susannah Kirkpatrick. He never married, and had no offspring.

I believe that he went by B F Manley. He had some college education, and family members believe that he worked for a newspaper for awhile. My guess is that was while he was younger, and living in Iowa, but I haven't found documentation of that career.

Around the time his father died he moved back to his parents' home, in Bedford, Taylor County, Iowa, to take care of his mother. He continued living there until sometime between 1905 and 1920, when he moved to Sylvania, Scott County, Missouri. In 1920 he was a farm laborer. By 1930 he had moved to Jackson Parish, Louisiana, where he was a night watchman at a Lumber mill.

During the Great Depression, his nephew (my grandfather), Oran Belding Manley, was having a hard time finding work, so Benjamin Manley offered to help him get a job in Ansley. where he lived. This was around 1926/27. They lived in a "tin pan ally" shack there, for several months. Two of their sons got sick, and Grandma was pregnant and she didn't trust the local doctor there, so she insisted that they head back home to Oregon. On the way they stopped in Emporia, Kansas, where their fourth son was born, then continued the rest of the way to Oregon.

By 1940 Benjamin apparently had retired, and was living in rural Ansley, Jackson Parish, Louisiana. He passed away on 1 Aug. 1944 in Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, and was buried in Ansley, Jackson Parish, Louisiana.

Sources

• U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1700s-Current, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142549541

• 1860 United States Federal Census, Year: 1860; Census Place: College, Linn, Iowa; Roll: M653_332; Page: 390; Image: 390; Family History Library Film: 803332, Ancestry.com, 2009.

• 1870 United States Federal Census, Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 47 Range 30, Jackson, Missouri; Roll: M593_781; Page: 119B; Image: 242; Family History Library Film: 552280, Ancestry.com, 2009.

• 1880 United States Federal Census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Elmendaro, Lyon, Kansas; Roll: T9_387; Family History Film: 1254387; Page: 330.1000; Enumeration District: 113; Image: 0423, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2005.

• Iowa, State Census, 1895, Ancestry.com, 2003.

• 1900 United States Federal Census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Bedford, Taylor, Iowa; Roll: 461; Page: 20A; Enumeration District: 0115; FHL microfilm: 1240461, Ancestry.com, 2004.

• Iowa State Census, 1905, Ancestry.com, 2014.

• Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925, (1905) Ancestry.com, 2007.

• 1920 United States Federal Census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Sylvania, Scott, Missouri; Roll: T625_962; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 198; Image: 1076, Ancestry.com, 2010.

• 1930 United States Federal Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Police Jury Ward 3, Jackson, Louisiana; Roll: 795; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 8; Image: 691.0; FHL microfilm: 2340530, Ancestry.com, 2002.

• 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Jackson, Louisiana; Roll: T627_1405; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 25-9, Ancestry.com, 2012.

• Louisiana, Statewide Death Index, 1819-1964, Ancestry.com, 2002.