Richard MANSON, CAPT

Sources:

Old Kittery and Her Families - Everett Stackpole, 1903 (archive.org)
New.familysearch.org, Apr 2010
Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume 4: By Henry Burrage, 1909 (Google Books), p.2276
Ancestral File - v4.19
Ancestry World Tree
Pedigree Resource File

Notes:

                   NAME:
    MONSON / MANSON / MUNSON

RESEARCH NOTE:
    Historical information on this family are in the notes.  Some assume an Irish ancestry, but most old sources suggest a Scotch ancestry.  Richard supposedly claimed descent from a titled Scotch family, and was a ship captain before settling near Portsmouth.  He is first found in the records around 1663, and is assumed to have come to Portsmouth about 1661.


From: http://files.usgwarchives.org/va/lunenburg/bios/manson31gbs.txt
RICHARD WILKINS MANSON

THE Manson family name is one of that large number which does not seem to be
fixed, as it appears under the forms of Manson, Monson and Munson. Since the
first settlement of this family in America, all of its members acknowledge a
common ancestor and recognize blood relationship between them. In England the
name was found in the Counties of Devon and York, and, according to English
authorities, is of Saxon origin. The first record of the family in America is of
Richard Manson, who was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1663. His wife's given
name was Esther; her maiden name is unknown.

      Richard Manson, or Monson as it is indifferently written, was married when
his name first appears upon the records. He died in 1702, thirty-nine years
after his first appearance in Portsmouth. He is said to have been a man of
industry, thrift and business ability, highly esteemed in his community, and he
accumulated a considerable property. He left four sons: John, who died at
Kittery, Maine, in 1747, whose wife's name was Lydia; Samuel, who died in
Portsmouth in 1761. whose wife's name was Rebecca; James, who appears to have
been married twice; and Kichard, Jr., of whose marriage we have no notice. These
sons of Richard went by the name of Manson.

      Mrs. Dennis Manson, a very old lady about the beginning of the present
century, whose residence was in Maine, is authority for the statement that in
1850 the prevailing pronunciation in Maine was Monson, the majority, however,
spelling the name Manson. William Manson, who was in the fifth generation from
Richard, said that some of the Munsons where he formerly lived were called
Mansons, but that he preferred the form, Munson, and used that. The present-day
descendants of Richard, the immigrant in New Hampshire and Maine, usually spell
and pronounce the name, Manson.

      Mr. G. M. Hobbs, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who is descended from this family,
furnished some data about Peter Manson, who was born in August, 1697, and
married Hannah Kerby, April 22, 1725. Peter was evidently a grandson of Richard,
and seems to have been identified with Virginia. His children were: Mary, born
November 3, 1726; John, born September 5, 1728; Frances, born May 18, 1735;
Peter, Jr., born December 4, 1737; Hannah, Jr., born January 21, 1741; and
Robert, born August 17, 1748. Peter Manson's wife Hannah died December 8, 1754,
and, less than two months later, he also died, on February 1G, 1755. Peter, Jr.,
died December 8, 1751, being only twenty years old. John died at the age of ten.

      It is important to notice here that all of these children had as a middle
name Patrick, which strengthens the belief that the Virginia Mansons had come
from Ireland, or that Richard, the original immigrant, had come from Ireland,
and that these were his descendants who had settled in the South. It is positive
that some of them did come South, for Frederick Otis, who was in the fifth
generation from Richard, married at Petersburg, Sarah Dews, and had a son Otis.
There is no way to establish positively whether Peter was an immigrant from
Ireland, or was the grandson of Richard, who was an immigrant from Ireland. This
does not at all conflict with the English ancestry of the family, for many
American families are descended from people who were originally English or
Scotch, and who, by residence for several generations in Ireland, became known
in this country as Irish or Scotch-Irish.

      A present-day member of the Manson family, a highly esteemed citizen of his
county, is Richard Wilkins Mauson, of Olo, Lunenburg County. Mr. Manson's
parents were John R. and Susan Hines Hawthorne Manson. Of this marriage the
following children were born: Elizabeth Ann Blackwell, John Sidney, Sarah Maria,
Martha Flornoy Dance, Thomas F. Fletcher Sommerfield and Lavania Susan. Mr.
Manson's father combined the occupations of farmer and merchant. His immediate
family has been identified with Southside, Virginia, since 1760, when his
grandfather settled near Ordsburg, Brunswick County. One brother, Peter Manson,
moved to Ohio about the year 1820.

      Mr. Manson, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the J. Q. Gee
Academy at Forksville, Virginia. On the outbreak of the Civil War he became a
Confederate soldier, and was detailed as a courier for General G. W. C. Lee, in
which capacity he served through the War up to the battle of Sailors' Creek,
April 6, 1865. Finding that General G. W. C. Lee had been captured by the
Federals, Mr. Manson reported for duty at General Robert E. Lee's headquarters,
and was surrendered with the army at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. Returning home
Mr. Manson took up his occupation as a farmer, which he has continued. He has
achieved a substantial measure of success in his chosen work, has shown himself
a man of excellent business capacity, and is now President of the Bank of
Lunenburg. He belongs to that strong class which, in the last fifty years, has
rebuilt the South. These men were good soldiers in war, and have been better
soldiers in peace. It took more courage to face the desperate conditions of 1865
than it did to face the Federal cannon. Undismayed and refusing to give up to
despair, they grappled with as hard conditions as ever faced any body of men,
and have built by their own determination, for they had practically no
resources, a country which is to-day richer in material things than it was
before the great fratricidal struggle. If the people of the South fail to hold
the memory of these men in all honor for all time, they will lack appreciation
of as worthy and heroic effort as was ever rendered by mankind.

      Mr. Manson is a Democrat in his political views, a member of the Masonic
Fraternity, and is identified with the Southern Methodist Church. He was married
at Hollydale, Virginia, on July 12, 1876, to Lizzie T. Blackwell, daughter of
William T. and Sallie Orgain Penn Blackwell. The only child of this marriage,
Sallie Sidney Manson, was educated in Danville Institute and Randolph Macon
Women's College at Lynchburg, Virginia. She married Austin Seay Bridgforth, and
they have six children: Richard Baskerville, Austin Seay, Jr., George Blackwell,
Susan Baldwin, Dorothy Louise, and William Lee Bridgforth.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MAKERS OF AMERICA
BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION

THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE

VOLUME II

By
LEONARD WILSON,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS
Illustrated with many full page engravings
B. F. JOHNSON, INC.
CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A.
1916

Copyright, 1916
by
B. F. Johnson, Inc.

----------------------------------------

Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume 4: By Henry Sweetser Burrage, 1909

MUNSON

The name is apparently a corruption of the Scotch Manson, and was introduced in New England by Captain Richard Manson, a Scotch sea captain, who claimed descent from a titled Scotch family. We are able to learn that this Scotch ship-master first appeared in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, about 1661, and settled at this seaport, married, and had children. We therefore place him in the first generation of the family, which in the fourth generation adopted the spelling of the name, "Munson."

(II) John, son of Captain Richard Manson, was probably born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after 1661.

(III) John (2), probably eldest son of John (1) Manson, was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, about 1700. He married and had a family of children, naming one Richard in honor of the progenitor of the family in America.

(IV) Richard, son of John (2) Manson, was probably born in Portsmouth, about 1730. He adopted the calling of his Scottish progenitor, and became a master mariner, sailing from Portsmouth. He changed the spelling of the family name to Munson.

(V) Joseph, apparently son of Captain Richard Munson, was a seafarer. He removed early in life to Machias, Maine, with which port he had acquaintance in his professional life as captain of a coaster. He married Sarah Morse and had four sons: 1. Stephen, married Sarah Foster, and had ten children. 2. Joseph, married Ann Woodruff, eight children. 3. John (q. v.). 4. Robert, married Ruth Elliot; seven children.

(VI) John, third son of Joseph and Sarah (Morse) Munson, was born in Machias, Maine, where he married Sally Niles. Children: 1. Sally, married Isaac Huntly. 2. Susan. 3. Jeremiah. 4. Daniel. 5. Betsey. 6. Jonathan. 7. Salome. 8. Emma, married John M. Foster. 9. Jotham S. (q. v.). 10. Hannah.

(VII) Jotham S., fourth son and ninth child of John and Sally (Niles) Munson, was born in Machias, Maine. He was a seafaring man, sailing from Machias, and with his brother Jonathan removed to Wesley, Washington county, Maine, a town about twenty miles northwest of Machias. They were among the early settlers of the town, which was incorporated January 24, 1833. Here Jotham married Mary and became the father of sixteen children. Of this large family we have a record only of Charles E., Henry, Frederick, Edwin Longfellow and Releif; but have no information as to the dates of their birth except as to Edwin Longfellow (q. v.), and none of the order of their births.

(VIII) Edwin Longfellow, son of Jotham S. and Mary Munson, was born in Wesley, Maine, January 21, 1857. He married Olive Orissa, daughter of Israel and Jane Andrews. Her mother was a native of Cooper, Maine, and had besides Olive fifteen other children, among whom were: Minnie, Clara, Thomas, Israel, Augustus and Charles. Israel Andrews was a seafaring man, and was stationed at Eastport, Maine, in the service of the United States navy during the civil war. He was a war Democrat, and a man of excellent repute. Edwin Longfellow Munson was a farmer and lumberman. He was a Republican, and a member of the Methodist church.

(IX) Daniel Gilbert, only child of Edwin Longfellow and Olive Orissa (Andrews) Munson, was born in Wesley, Washington county, Maine, August 8, 1870. He attended the public grammar and high school of Calais, Maine, graduating from the latter in 1888. and from Colby University A. B. 1892; he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity, Psi Chapter, and was initiated in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, through Knox Lodge, No. 29. He was a member of the Maine Society of New York, and of the Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church of Brooklyn, New York. He taught school in Brooklyn, Maine, 1893; Rockland, Maine, 1893-95; Medfield, Massachusetts, 1895-97; and in the Boys' High School, Brooklyn, New York, since 1898. He was married, December 27, 1899, in Portland, Maine, to Cornelia Emma, daughter of Cornelius and Alice (Haskell) Doherty, of Rockland, Maine, born February 11, 1877. Her father was a lime manufacturer, and they had children besides Cornelia: Mary and Cornelius F. Doherty. The children of Daniel Gilbert and Cornelia (Doherty) Munson are: Ruth Elizabeth, born in Brooklyn, New York, March 1, 1903; Alice Haskell, September 25, 1906; Olive Orissa, born April 10, 1908. Their home is at 1052 Lincoln Place, Brooklvn, New York.