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.

The Manship family, 1872. Call number: Z/1129.000 MDAH Collection

Charles Henry Manship and Adaline Daley were married on December 12, 1838.  The couple had fifteen children in twenty-five years; they lost their first two in infancy.  The first child to survive was Charles Henry Jr., born in 1843.  He was followed a year later by David, after whom there were twin girls who died in infancy.  Between 1849 and 1857, five more children were born.  It was at this time, twenty years after their marriage, with seven children under the age of fifteen, the Manships built their Gothic Revival style home on the outskirts of town.  Four more children would later be born, one of whom would die in infancy.  This composite photograph of the Manship family was taken in 1872 and includes all ten surviving children.  1. Charles Henry Manship, Sr.  2. Mrs. C. H. (Adaline Daley) Manship  3. Luther  4. Jessie  5. Addie  6. Jane D. (Jennie)  7. Florence  8. Minnie  9. Anna J.  10. David D. 11. Kate  12. Charles Henry Jr.

Work continues to bring the century-and-a-half-old house into level.  The side porch has been removed and placed on temporary supports, and the brick pavers behind the house have been removed and stacked for reinstallation.  To prepare the house for releveling, beams were installed underneath the house to provide additional support.   The structure has been placed on cribbing, and jacks have been set and are ready to begin lifting.  An extensive area underneath the house has been excavated to provide access for drilling equipment to drill holes for the drill pier support system.  The concrete pier supports will be set into more stable clay about thirty-five feet deep.

Side porch removed and the porch roof temporarily supported.

Brick pavers have been removed and stored for reuse.

Cribbing and jacks have been set to prepare the house for lifting.

Excavation to provide access for drilling equipment.

Glass, porcelain and other items unearthed during the foundation repair project.

A number of interesting objects have been discovered while work continues on the Manship House foundation.  Small pieces of porcelain and glass, a shell button, clay marble, beads, and a small porcelain doll head are only a few of the small artifacts recently discovered on the site.  These fragments of items the Manship family once owned and used, will help us learn more about life in the nineteenth century and this interesting family.  The white circular glass fragment in the upper left corner is a glass liner for a canning jar lid.  Glass liners were used to prevent foods from absorbing a metallic taste from the lid.

The six fireplaces in the Manship House were built back-to-back, forming three massive interior chimney stacks.  The chimneys, reconstructions from the earlier restoration, were not moving at the same rate as wooden portions of the house and were contributing to the foundation problems.  After the chimney stacks were removed from the roof down through the attic, work began on the demolition of the interior chimney stacks.  Great care was necessary to minimize damage to the wallpapers and baseboards during this phase of work.   All of the chimneys have now been removed to the floor level.  The chimney bases will be left in place until the house is leveled to add stability to the structure.

Manship House master bedroom prior to construction.

View through the master bedroom fireplace opening to the dining room.

The parlor/bedroom chimney in the process of demolition.

View from the bedroom into the parlor.

Charles Henry Manship (1812-1895).

2012 marks the 200th birthday of Charles Henry Manship, born July 31, 1812, in Talbot County, Maryland.  Trained in Baltimore as a decorative painter, Manship arrived in the young city of Jackson in 1836, only fifteen years after the new capital city had been laid out.  He soon found work as a skilled artisan on the state house, state penitentiary, and governor’s mansion.  Manship opened a shop where he advertised a full line of paints and fine wallpaper as well as his skills as a painter, marbler, grainer, and paperhanger.  In 1838, Charles Henry Manship married Adaline Daley, and over the next twenty-six years, the couple would have fifteen children, ten of whom lived to adulthood.  Twenty years after their marriage, with seven children under the age of fifteen, the Manships built their Gothic Revival style home on the outskirts of town.  For the next 118 years, four generations of the Manship family occupied the house until its acquisition by the state in 1975.  Late in life, Charles Henry Manship wrote several accounts to record the significant events of his life for his children.

C. H. Manship’s writings about his life.  Call number: Z/1129 MDAH Collection

The following is a transcription of another account written by Manship, dated December 8th, 1891:

Record of C. H. Manship, Sr.

     Was born July 31st in the year 1812 in Talbot County, State of Maryland.  My father died in my 10th year, leaving me senior male member of the family.  The older boys of the family being off at business, the chore of the farm dissolved on me and with my mother’s council managed for a year or two, when we moved to Baltimore where I went to school a few years and in my 14th year was apprenticed to a Mr. Needles with whom I learned the trade of ornamental painter, Hanover St. Baltimore, MD.

     After learning my trade I opened a shop and engaged in business as House & Sign Painter.  Continuing in business up to November 1835 when I broke up and sailed for New Orleans.  Remained there a short time in the employ of a Frenchman by the name of Rusiau, who kept his shop on Canal Street.

     While with him painted a sign on the Old Customs House, which stood about center-foot on Canal Street. 

     Leaving N. O. went to Natchez, Miss. spent Christmas over there and moved up to Vicksburg, where I worked with Burk & Crowder at my business till 1st of Feby. 1836. 

     Jackson offering some attraction made the trip on foot in company with a man by the name of Robinson reaching Jackson Feby. 9th at sunset.  Spent my first night with Mr. Selah Judd an old citizen living where Judge Brame now lives.  Prospected a day or two.  On the 2nd day Mr. Jas. Smith called on me and a life-long friendship resulted.  I mourn his death as a Brother.  Our relations of confidence and friendship never having been disturbed while he lived and the same may be said of our families.

     On the 12th of December, 1838 my wife and self were married.  15 children have been born to us.  Ten of whom are still living.  On the 12th of Dec. 1888 we celebrated our 50th anniversary, a golden wedding, having all our children with us, in addition to which were the 28 grandchildren, – none of whom is deformed in mind or person.

     Jan. 1st 1838 was elected alderman and for many years afterwards, followed by 3 years as city clerk.  Was elected by the Legislation, as one of the Trustees of the Insane Asylum and served as one of the building commissions to the completion of that magnificent building.

     I held commission as inspector of the Penitentiary for about 17 years and held a commission as Trustee of the Blind Institute for about 16 years being President of the Board and chairman of the Building Committee in the construction of that splendid structure.  Also, managed the paving and grading of the grounds of same.

     Was mayor of the city of Jackson for two terms – 1862-1863.

     Was appointed by President Jeff. Davis as Postmaster of Jackson, holding that position for 2 years and until driven out by Yankee Bayonets.

     Was made a Mason in Pearl Lodge No. 23 in 1837 and a contributing member for over 50 years.  Was made an Honorary member with a Life membership and Diploma.

     I am the last of grown men at date of my advent in Jackson.  I am the only living man of the organization of our Fire Department, am the only member of my family.  Father, Mother, Brothers and Sisters, all, I trust, in a happier clime.

     I have held commission for one or another Public Trust for City, State, or Confederate States, for about 50 years.  At least, from all Democratic Governors, from Governor McNutt down to this writing and have no knowledge of a charge against me for failure to discharge all duties requested under each and all.  And I hope I have not served in vain.

     If I have a regret it is that I have not done better, and that, when the Struggle of Life is over that I shall meet family and friends in a brighter & better clime.

Dec. 8th, 1891

C. H. Manship  (MDAH collection, Z1129)

The Manship House dining room.

The dining room was said to be Charles Henry Manship’s favorite room.  Manship covered the dining room walls with wallpaper, then grained them from floor to ceiling to create the appearance of a paneled oak room.  The mantel was marbled, a painting technique imitating a much more costly material.  All the mantels in the house have been removed and are stored off-site during the foundation repair work.  The chimneys and interior fireplaces will be demolished and reconstructed once the house has been leveled and placed on its new foundation.

The mantel has been removed, and the room is prepared for demolition of the fireplace.

Interior demolition of the dining room chimney and fireplace.

Looking into the attic from the dining room.

Built in 1857, the Manship House was probably inspired by a design in A. J. Downing’s book The Architecture of Country Houses, a popular pattern book first published in 1850.  Downing’s plan included tall decorative chimneys set diagonally on the base to add height to the overall design of the “Cottage Villa in the Rural Gothic Style.”

Figure 128. Cottage-Villa in the Rural Gothic Style.

The three Manship House chimneys, reproductions from the 1980 restoration, have contributed to the house being out of level, and are being completely removed during the foundation repair project.  Estimated to weigh about thirty tons each, the chimneys have not shifted at the same rate as the wooden elements of the house, resulting in large cracks in the plaster walls, doors and windows that do not fit properly, and gaps around chimneys.  Once the house has been leveled and placed on its new steel frame, the chimneys will be reconstructed using lighter materials.

Plywood protects the cedar roof during the chimney demolition.

Cast concrete elements are saved for re-use when the chimneys are reconstructed.

All three chimneys will be removed.

Phase one of the the Manship House foundation repair project is now underway!  This phase prepares the building for re-leveling.  So far the prep work has included removal of the front and side steps,  step buttresses, and their concrete foundations.  Next, the old HVAC units and all HVAC ductwork were removed, and a temporary HVAC system installed.  The sprinkler system piping and insulation have been removed, and the east end of the house will be placed on a temporary support, and the concrete footing will be removed.

Work begins with the removal of the front steps and all ductwork under the house.

Side porch, steps, and concrete footings are removed.

Temporary HVAC unit is installed. Interior ductwork for HVAC unit.

Interior ductwork for HVAC unit