Benjamin F. McManaman
Mr. and Mrs. B. F. McManaman
The McManaman homestead on Section Fifteen of Green Township is a pleasant, comfortable place, a grateful retreat for the declining years of life, and there among the trees and meadows, and fertile fields, B. F. McManaman and his good wife are enjoying the quiet and contentment which are the best fruits of long and worthy spent years.
Benjamin F. McManaman is a native of Indiana, born in Harrison Township of Dearborn County, September 4, 1841, a son of William and Isabelle (Lynn) McManaman. The father was born in Pennsylvania, in 1808, and was of Scotch descent. His wife was a native of Franklin County, Indiana. William McManaman moved from Pennsylvania to Franklin County, Indiana, where he was married and he and his wife later went to Dearborn County, which was their home until death. They were the parents of eight children, five of whom are living in 1913, namely:
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James, of Dearborn County.
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George W., a farmer of Green Township.
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Benjamin F.,
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John F., of Dearborn County
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Martha J., wife of William J. Waltz of Harrison, Ohio.
On a farm in Dearborn County, Benjamin F. McManaman passed his boyhood and youth, and when not employed in the work of the home attended the local schools until he was eighteen years old. He then took up farming as a regular occupation, and continued to live at home until he was past twenty-nine years of age. On December 1, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Frances A. Scofield, who was born in Franklin County, Indiana, January 16, 1848, a daughter of William and Mary Ann (Marshall) Scofield. Her father was born in England, and came to the United States when eight years old. The mother was born near Fairfax Courthouse in Virginia. There were eight children, six girls and two boys, in the Scofield family, and Mrs. McManaman is now the only one living. They were named Juliette, William, Margaret, Henriette, Edward (who was a soldier during the Rebellion and was killed in the last battle Sherman's men fought), Nancy, Frances A., and Mary J. Mrs. McManaman was reared in Franklin County, Indiana, and attended the public schools, and was well equipped for a useful part in life. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McManaman lived in Dearborn County, later in Franklin County, for one year, and in 1881 moved to Grant county, locating in Green Township on the farm which is still their home. Their first shelter and residence in that township was a little log cabin that stood on the land which has long since been replaced by a comfortable and modern residence. Their farm is four and a half miles south of Swayzee, on the Grindle extension pike. Mr. and Mrs. McManaman have one son, Eddie, born September 13, 1871. He attended the common schools and for his first wife married Mettie Nicholson, of Liberty Township. After her death he married Lizzie Smart, of Adams County, Ohio. There is one son by this second marriage, Marshall, aged thirteen, he having recently completed his course in the common schools of Green Township. Mr. and Mrs. McManaman also raised a girl, Nellie Helms, who resided with them from the time she was five years of age until her marriage. She is now the wife of Roscoe Bryant and they have three daughters, Zelma, Wilma and Olive. Mr. Thrailkill, a neighboring farmer, lived with Mr. and Mrs. McManaman for twenty years, and Clinton Barfin, a nephew of Mrs. McManaman has lived with them for the last eight years. Many young men have lived a year or two with them and been married from their home.
Mr. McManaman is a Democrat in politics, but has never been active in party affairs. At his homestead he and his wife own three hundred and twenty-two acres of fine land, and have all the comforts and facilities of a modern Indiana farmer. He has now retired from the heavy work of agriculture and lives at ease, allowing others to bear the burden which he carried for so many years.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914, page 1122-23.