BENJAMIN H. MANLY, son of Benjamin and Mary (Riley) Manly,
was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee, December 12, 1843. His father died in
1858, and his mother, at the old homestead, in 1870. He was reared on the old
homestead in his native county, living there till he volunteered in defense of
the union, in April, 1863, enlisting in Battery B, First Tennessee Light
Artillery. He served under General Burnside in the East Tennessee campaign in
the fall of 1863, taking part in the engagement at Blue Springs, in November,
1863. He was in garrison at Cumberland Gap the following fifteen months, serving
the rest of the time in that department. He received an honorable discharge at
Nashville, Tennessee, in July, 1865. He
was united in marriage January 1, 1868, to Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Vance, who was
born in Smith county, Virginia, March 9, 1843, a daughter of Samuel Philips. To
this union have been born eight children – Mary G., Nannie L., Sarah Nettie,
Samuel B., Robert J., Blanche A., Vesta J. and Marion W. By her first husband
Mrs. Manly had one son – Eli B. Vance, who died September 8, 1884, in his
twenty-second year. Mr. Manly came to
Iowa in the spring of 1876; and after living on rented land in Lee County for
three years, he bought and removed to his present farm on section 25, Liberty
Township, Clarke County, Iowa, locating on this farm in January, 1879. His farm
contains 100 acres of good land, eighty acres being under a high state of
cultivation, and is classed among the best farms in the township. In politics
Mr. Manly is a staunch Republican, having always affiliated with that party. He
is a member of Davenport Post, No. 385, G.A.R., of Woodburn, Iowa.
SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke
County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 362-3
