November 26, 1879, marked a special occasion for the Manship family.  On this day, daughters Jessie and Jennie Manship were married in a double wedding ceremony held in the central hall of the Manship House.  The festive occasion was described in an article in the Jackson newspaper The Comet, Saturday, November 29, 1879:

The Duplex Wedding

    The most enjoyable event of the day has been the wedding yesternight, given by Mr. and Mrs. Manship to their two daughters – Miss Jessie, and Miss Jennie – giving them both away on the same occasion – the first to Mr. Charlie Brougher, the latter to Mr. Jeff Davis Gordon – all of the old and best families of Hinds County.

     At sunset the beautiful suburban cottage of the Manship Family – a Garden of Eden itself – seemed an illumination from the splendors of the retiring suns.  “A city set on a Hill” – to which all eyes were turned, and where the guests on this occasion began to assemble – a living concourse of Hopes and Joys – passing into this evergreen ground and decorated Bridal Home, until 8 o’clock – all animated with the Holy Spirit of the occasion, and banishing the busy world for a glance of Heaven.

     “In my father’s house are many mansions,” was fully illustrated there, and in those hospitable rooms were numerous happy coteries, mingling in joys common to them all – an unalloyed delight.

     At 8 o’clock the highly decorated Bridal panorama, enfiladed with illuminated floral bowers – was unveiled at the eastern end of the family Hall, presenting the Duplex couples of Brides and Grooms, like lovely statuary in pantomime, but soon resolving into living, loving animations, attesting the glorious truth, that -

     “Things of beauty are joys forever.”

     The Right Rev. Doctor Watkins officiated, administering the “Gordian Knots” – or rather weaving.  “The silken ties that bind two willing hearts.”

     This solemn ceremony concluded the affectionate salutations, and loving caresses of a numerous family connection, assembling from the Northern city of St. Paul to the Southern Homestead of the Manships in Mississippi – were showered on the modest but lovely and beautifully attired Brides – as the dews of Hermon upon the Mount of Olivets – electrifying all hearts with live coals from the altars of affection.

     The twains now made one, their connections – comprising many families – seemed married also, – “the substance of things hoped for, the essence of things not seen!” – these accumulated loves, and joys, and hopes exalted, became epidemic throughout the charmed assembly, leaping like the live thunder from Alp to Alp, and filling all souls to satiety.

     Then came the feast, to which the miraculous Parable of the five loaves and two fishes bears no comparison.  In addition to those two Jewish dishes, were banks of oysters – stall fed – from the Bay of Biloxi – Red fish and Flounder from Pascagoula – Hams odorous from St. Louis and Chicago, salads from the Grouse of Minnesota – salmon chowder from Oregon and Alaska, oranges and bananas from Havana De Cuba, coffee from Java, teas from China – and last but not least cakes and candies from the Martz at Jackson – the Bridal cake with its magic ring and crystal floral crown the magnetic Queen of the repast.

     From these several fountains of nourishment – each a cornucopia in itself – the thronging guests partook in the abundance of a generous hospitality – heartily received – ate and drank -

     “Drank, deeply drank -

     Drank draughts that common millions might have quenched -”  as Pollock of Byron said, but not like the latter “to die at last because there was no more to drink” – the fountains continued full flowing until the joyous feasters became exhausted receivers, and post prandial satiety succeeded submerged digestion.

     However with “a courage not of earth” the conquered revellers soon rallied to a “Feast of reason and flow of soul.”

     All faces were now wreathed in smiles and sallies of wit, with compliments and congratulations to the ladies – always so well deserved – were followed by peals of laughter, in all

     “Won’t meray [merry] as a Marriage Bell”

     Finally, at “noon of night” with -

     “One long, last lingering look,”

adieus were taken and farewells exchanged in those homely but sincere and heart searching words “Good bye – Good bye – Good bye.”

                                  Dwight. Nov. 27, 1879

     With the above notice written by an admiring friend, came a variety of delicious cakes, which brought gladness to the hearts of the attaches of this office.  The Comet tenders its congratulations to the happy couples, and hopes that their cup of bliss will always be as full as it is to-day.

Japanese persimmons.

The persimmons are ripening at the Manship House.  This variety is a Japanese Persimmon, a medium size fruit tree grown for ornamental use that originated in Asia.  It is similar to the common persimmon, a tree that grows wild in the south.  The common persimmon is one of the ornamental trees recommended for use in landscape gardening by A. J. Downing, in his book Landscape Gardening and Rural Architecture, published in 1856.  Downing, a landscape architect whose work inspired the building of the Manship House, was a proponent of the Picturesque Movement, in which the architecture fits comfortably into its landscape setting.  Over the years, the Manships may have selected and planted trees recommended by Downing in their own landscape.  Downing describes the Persimmon tree in Landscape Gardening and Rural Architecture:

“The Persimmon bears a small, round, dull red fruit, about an inch in diameter, containing six or seven stones; it is insufferably austere and bitter, until the autumnal frosts have mellowed it and lessened its harshness, when it becomes quite palatable…. A strong brandy has been distilled from them; and in the south they are said to enter into the composition of the country beer.  For the latter purpose they are pounded up with bran, dried, and kept for use till wanted.

   …The Persimmon has no importance as a tree to recommend it; but it may be admitted in all good collections for its pleasing shining foliage, and the variety which its singular fruit adds to the productions of a complete country residence….”

The Manship House originally contained six fireplaces, built back to back, that formed three massive chimney stacks.  Estimated to weight about thirty tons each, the chimneys were not shifting at the same rate as the wooden sections of the house.  All of the chimneys, reconstructions from the earlier restoration, were completely demolished earlier in the project to facilitate re-leveling of the structure.  All six fireplaces will be completely reconstructed to their original appearance, but will not be functional.

Now that the majority of the work on the structural steel frame underneath the house has been completed, the steel frames for the chimneys can be constructed using that steel frame as a base.  This will insure that if any further shifting from the Yazoo clay occurs, there will be no differential movement between the chimneys and the house.  Once the construction of the steel chimney frames has been completed, the visible sections will be rebuilt using the frame as a base.

Constructing the steel chimney tower.

Master bedroom chimney tower.

The Manship House was originally built on a brick pier foundation that had shifted substantially from the effects of the unstable Yazoo clay beneath it.  Over the years, the house had shifted over thirteen inches out of level and the foundation was no longer providing adequate support for the structure.  To bring the house into level, the brick piers will be replaced with thirty-six concrete piers set into the more stable clay about thirty-five feet deep.  Steel beams will be attached to the piers  and will support the entire house, including porches and chimneys.  Jacks were positioned underneath the house and used to carefully raise the lower sections of the house to the highest corner.

The house has been brought back into level, and the construction of drilled piers and grade beams around the perimeter of the house has been completed.  The re-leveled Manship House has been resting on temporary cribbing while work continues.  A series of structural steel beams will be installed underneath the house, attached to the concrete grade beams that will form a steel platform on which the house will rest.  This steel platform will distribute the weight of the house evenly and stabilize the house for continued preservation and restoration efforts.

Positioning a steel beam under the Manship House.

Constructing the structural steel frame.

Charles Henry Manship, Jr. Call Number Z/1129.000 MDAH Collection

Charles Henry Manship, Jr. left Mississippi after the Civil War and settled in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Charles, his wife Mary Etta, and their seven children lived comfortably in St. Paul, occasionally making the long journey home to visit family in Mississippi.  The early fall was the time to make all the necessary preparations for the coming winter months.  Coal had to be purchased to heat homes, and a variety of vegetables put away for use throughout the winter.  In a letter home to his brother Luther in 1879, Charles writes of his concern for the recent outbreak of Yellow Fever, or “Yellow Jack,” in Mississippi, and of his preparations for putting up food for the winter.

“…I am glad to see that in all probability you will not be troubled with the fever this year.  Your fear that it would break up your business and blast your bright prospects – I am happy to see, and believe, will not be realized.  New Orleans has fortunately escaped – so far – and as a consequence those towns dealing largely with her will also be free from fever.  It is always the case that N. O. infects the towns north of it on the N. O. J. & NRR.

If you were certain of frost, as you are, on or about the 15th or 20th of Sept – Yellow Jack would not inspire the fear it does.  We had frost 8 or 10 days ago and it looks and feels very much like snow today though I have never seen snow in Sept.

     This is a trying month on Minnesota households.  Coal has to be put in for the winter with some wood then the vegetables for winter use, such as potatoes, cabbage, parsnips, beets, onions, turnips, celery & squash, have all to be in the cellar before hard freezing weather comes – I will put in for our crowd for use this winter about 40 bushels potatoes, 100 head of cabbage, 2 bushels parsnips, 2 of beets & turnips, 1 of onions, 100 stalks of celery & 1 doz squash, – this will carry us through to first of next July – when we will begin getting the new vegetables – so you can see it costs a little something to get through September in good shape…”

Construction of the perimeter grade beams along the south side of the Manship House.

The process of jacking and leveling the Manship House has been successfully completed, and the house is level once again.  While the house was carefully brought into level, work continued on the construction of a series of drilled reinforced concrete piers, set into the more stable clay about thirty-five feet deep.  The piers will support grade beams around the perimeter of the house.

A special massive rig named “Hercules” arrived at the Manship House to pour concrete in areas that were not accessible to heavy equipment.  This enabled a huge boom to reach over the Visitors Center to the Manship House and deposit concrete in carefully prepared trenches along the east and south sides of the house.

Pouring concrete at the Manship House.

Hercules concrete equipment reaches over the Visitors Center.

James Smith, ca. 1860.  Call number Z/1129.000 MDAH Collection

James Smith arrived in Jackson from Glasgow, Scotland, by way of New York City around the same time that Manship came from Baltimore, Maryland.  Smith soon established a hardware business in Jackson making and selling stoves.  During the early years of the new capital city, Smith and Manship, along with other civic-minded pioneers, worked to establish this area’s municipal, social, educational, religious, and cultural foundations.

Several years later, Mrs. Smith’s poor health prompted the family to return to Glasgow, where Smith established “Smith and Wellstood,” a lucrative manufacturing foundry producing American-style iron stoves.  In 1854, on one of his many transatlantic journeys, James Smith survived the infamous sinking of the U. S. mail steamer Arctic.  More than 300 people were killed.  Smith survived three days in a tin-lined wicker basket on a small raft he built from debris.  His account was widely publicized, and Currier and Ives produced a popular print of the sinking vessel based on a sketch done by Smith.

During the Civil War, Smith was an ardent supporter of the Confederate cause.  He was deeply affected by his twenty-six-year-old brother’s death, Col. Robert A. Smith, who was killed at the Battle of Munfordville in 1862.  Smith Park in downtown Jackson was later named in his honor.

The Manship and Smith families maintained close ties for many years.  In a memoir written late in his life, Charles Henry Manship wrote of his visit to Smith’s home, “In January of 1874 I received a very cordial invitation from Mr. James Smith with my wife to visit him and his family at Glasgow Scotland and after a lengthy discussion on the subject decided to accept and in May of that year, about the 20th, accompanied by our daughter Kate set sail from New York…My wife and self were given the room a short time before occupied by Ex-President Jefferson Davis.”

Charles Henry Manship, Jr., 1869.  Call number Z/1129.000 MDAH Collection

Born in 1843, Charles Henry, Jr. was the third child born to Charles Henry and Adaline Manship, and the first to survive.  In his youth,  “Charley” as he was often called, attended school and trained as an apprentice machinist.  In 1861, at the age of 18, Charles enlisted in the tenth Mississippi Rifles where he served as a private in the Confederate forces for the next four years.  After the war, with limited prospects for jobs in the south, Charles went as far north as the river would carry him, settling in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He got a job working for the St. Paul Gas and Light Company, and in 1870 married Mary Etta Friend.  Charles and Mary Etta had seven children and lived comfortably in St. Paul, spending time during the summers at their cottage on Bald Eagle Lake.  Their youngest child, Paul Howard Manship, became a very well known sculptor.  One of Paul Manship’s most recognizable works is the Prometheus sculpture in Rockefeller Center, New York City.

Charles’ obituary stated that he occasionally visited Jackson, the last trip home about 1909.  He was said to be a genial, lovable and companionable man, a devoted husband, kind and indulgent father.  He died in 1911, and was preceded in death by his wife a few years earlier.

Probably taken shortly after the Civil War, the four oldest Manship children and relatives from the Daley family are pictured in this photograph.  From the top left are Charley and Dave Manship, Mollie Daley, Goldina Coates, Addie Manship (center), Kate Manship, and Jessie Irish.  In 1865, the Manship family included ten children ranging in age from one to twenty-two.  Charley and Dave both served in the Confederate Army and returned home after the war.  A few years later, Charley moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he married Mary Etta Friend.  Dave found employment as an engineer on the Illinois Central Railway in McComb City, and married Lucretia Martin in 1874.  Addie and Kate never married and both lived their entire lives in the Manship house.

Manship’s four eldest children and friends, ca. 1865. Call Number Z/1129.000 MDAH Collection

Over the course of the next several weeks, the Manship House will be lifted 13.5 inches to match the highest point of the house.  Jacks have been arranged under the house to carefully raise the lowest portions to the level of the highest corner of the house.  The maximum lift will be no more than 5/8 inch per day to minimize damage to the plaster walls.  The existing brick piers will be replaced with thirty-six concrete piers set into the more stable clay about thirty-five feet deep.  Steel beams will be attached to the piers to support the entire house, including the chimneys and porches.

Jacks are carefully adjusted to bring the house into level.

Construction of drilled piers underneath the Manship House.