My Genealogy Hound

M. J. Manning is a member of one of the leading law firms of the State of Arkansas, that of Roberts & Manning. He was born in De Soto County, Miss., in 1861, and is a son of Hon. T. P. and K. A. (Barbee) Manning, natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Tennessee, who were married in De Soto County, Miss., where the mother died in 1882. Mr. Manning was a very successful lawyer of that State for twenty years and made his home in the above-named county until 1884, since which time he has resided in Paris, Ark., and the reputation he has acquired as a lawyer has been gained through his own efforts and at the expense of diligent study and hard practical experience. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, and during the late Civil War commanded a company of men from Mississippi, Confederate States army, and on many occasions showed marked ability as a commander and achieved considerable distinction. In 1874 the people of De Soto County showed their appreciation of his ability, by electing him to the State legislature of Mississippi, and he served in that body with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. M. J. Manning, whose name heads this sketch, was the second of nine children and after acquiring an excellent education in the schools of his native county he entered the Law Department of the Mississippi University at Oxford and upon graduating, in 1883, came immediately to Clarendon, and in September of the same year was admitted to the Monroe County bar and has already risen to distinction in his profession, and notwithstanding the fact that he is young in years he has already attained prominence in his calling. He is a Democrat in his political views, an active member of the K. of P. and the K. of H., also the American Legion of Honor. In 1885, Miss Jessie, a daughter of Major William E. Winfield, of Tennessee, who was a soldier in the Confederate army, a farmer by occupation and who died in 1878, became his wife. She was born in Tennessee and by Mr. Manning is the mother of two daughters. She belongs to the Episcopal Church and he to the Baptist.