Edward Rogers Manning Colfax County, New Mexico

Edward Rogers Manning, who lives on a ranch near Maxwell City, New Mexico, was born in Newark, Knox County, Missouri, January 30, 1854, son of Washington T. and Eliza (Smith) Manning, and was reared on a farm in Lynn County, Kansas, and spent two years in the State Normal School at Emporia, preparing himself for a teacher. He taught, however, only a short time. In 1876 he went to Colorado. There for two months he was a member of the guard that protected the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad employees at the Royal Gorge, and afterward for a short time worked for the D. & R. G. Then for five years he was conductor on a Pullman car running from Kansas City to Deming, New Mexico, and other points out of Kansas City.

He started out in life without any financial assistance, and at the end of his five years of railroading he had saved $2,500, which he lost in the subscription book business in Topeka, Kansas. But he was not to be discouraged. Again he set out for Denver, where he landed with forty dollars in his pocket. From Denver he came to Springer, New Mexico, to enter the employ of the Maxwell Land Grant Co., and went to work with the engineer corps on the grant survey and the building of the ditch. On June 1st of that year he was placed in charge of the ditch system, which he managed until 1899, since which time he has been manager of the Maxwell farm, an experimental farm covering six sections of land, one thousand acres of which are now under cultivation. This place is located six miles northwest of Maxwell City.

Since becoming a resident of New Mexico. Mr. Manning has by energy and good management replaced his losses. Among the investments he has made are 7,000 acres of land, thirty-five miles west of Maxwell City, devoted to stock purposes, and he is interested in coal mining. While he has never sought or filled office, he has always been a stanch supporter of the Republican Party. He is a member of the Masonic order, the lodge, chapter and commandery at Raton and the Mystic Shrine at Albuquerque.

Mr. Manning has been twice married. His first wife, whose maiden name was Fannie R. Denison, and who was a native of Manhattan, Kansas, died, leaving a son, Edward Denison Manning, now a student in the University of Nebraska. By his second wife, nee Minnie McGregor, he has a daughter, Arline Frances.

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Source: History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.

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