Harris W. Manning

HARRIS W. MANNING, M. D. The country along the banks of the Cottonwood River around Emporia has become a landmark in Kansas literature, largely due to the ability of William Allen White in investing those scenes with literary color and description. It was along the banks of the famous Cottonwood, four miles west of Emporia in Lyon County, that Dr. Harris W. Manning, a prominent physician and a specialist at Eureka, was born September 20, 1868.

His father, Patrick W. Manning, belonged to the colony of earliest settlers in Lyon County, having homesteaded a claim there about the middle of the decade of the '50s, when the first white settlements were being planted along the Cottonwood. Patrick W. Manning was a son of William and Catherine (White) Manning, both natives of Ireland. William Manning followed milling in Ireland near his birthplace at Waterford, but about 1846 immigrated to America and landed at Montreal, Canada, and from there went to Buffalo, New York. Both he and his wife died there soon afterward. Of their children who are still living, William is a resident of Buffalo, New York, and Kate is a resident of Norman, Oklahoma, the widow of Henry King, who was a furrier and later a farmer in Kansas.

Patrick W. Manning was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1834, and was about twelve years of age when his parents landed at Montreal, Canada. The death of his parents at Buffalo, New York, left him an orphan and he was then taken to the State of Michigan and bound out to a family by the name of Wattles. He lived with that family a number of years. About 1854, when he was twenty years of age, he came to Kansas. Kansas was then in the throes of the great conflict between the free state and the pro-slavery factions, but his chief purpose in coming to Kansas was to secure a claim. He took his claim of 160 acres, and soon afterward returned to Michigan. At the beginning of the Civil war he was given a position in the quartermaster's department, and remained in the service throughout the period of hostilities. After the war he returned to his claim in Lyon County and developed that as a farm, won the respect and esteem of that community of hardy and enterprising Kansas people, and remained on his homestead until his death in 1903. At the time of his death he owned 210 acres of fine land along the banks of the Cottonwood. On his farm he pursued diversified agriculture, and was also engaged in the raising of thoroughbred horses and short-horn cattle. Politically he was a republican. Patrick Manning married Laura S. Bentley, who was born in March, 1841, at Jamestown, New York, and is still living, at the age of seventy-five, on the old home place of Lyon County. Doctor Manning was the oldest of their several children. Kate, born in 1870, married C. S. Linck, who is manager of the Ball Mercantile Company at Emporia. Cassius, the youngest of the children, was born in 1873 and died in infancy.

Doctor Manning spent his early life on the old homestead in Lyon County. He attended the rural schools, and in 1891 was graduated from the Kansas State Normal at Emporia. For several years he was a successful teacher. For one year he taught in a ward school in Osage County, and for one year was principal of the high school of that county. Carrying out his plans for a professional career, he entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, where he graduated M. D. in May, 1897 Doctor Manning had exceptional opportunities and experience prior to beginning active practice. For two years he was employed as an interne and on other duties in St. Luke's Hospital, where he gained familiarity with the work of some of the finest surgeons of the country. He also spent nine months traveling abroad in England, Scotland and France.

Doctor Manning began practice at Eureka, Kansas, in 1900, and has built up a splendid clientage in general medicine and surgery. Since 1912, however, he has been specializing on internal medicine and diseases of the skin. For the purpose of perfecting himself in these special lines he has taken post-graduate work in Tulane University at New Orleans during the winters of 1913, 1915 and 1917.

Doctor Manning was county health officer of Greenwood County from 1901 to 1903, and is an active member of the Lyon County and the State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. His offices are in the Evans and Clark Building on Main Street in Eureka.

In 1906, the year he married, Doctor Manning erected his modern home at the corner of Fifth and Mulberry Streets. He is a republican in politics, is affiliated with Fidelity Lodge No. 106, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Eureka, is past high priest of Eureka Chapter No. 45, Royal Arch Masons, a member of Eureka Commandery No. 54, Knights Templar, of Wichita Consistory No. 2, of the Scottish Rite, and belongs to Wichita Council, Royal and Select Masters, and to Queen Bess Chapter No. 56, of the Order of Eastern Star at Eureka.

Doctor Manning was married at McPherson, Kansas, in 1906, to Miss Marian Anspach, daughter of W. G. and Mary (Davis) Anspach. Her mother lives at McPherson, and her father, now deceased, was for a number of years a banker at Wilson, Kansas.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME 1 & 2
BIOGRAPHIES — VOLUMES 3, 4, & 5
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z