WILL OF DR. A. L. MANNING
In the name of God, amen, I Anthony
Lafayette Manning MD of Dorchester County in the Sate of
Maryland, being weak in body, but of sound; and disposing mind,
memory, and understanding: considering the certainty of death,
and the uncertainty of the time thereof, and being desirous to
settle my worldly affairs, and thereby be the better prepared to
leave this world whenever it shall please God to call me hence,
do therefore make and publish this my last will and testament,
in manner and form following: that is to say.
First and principally, I commit my soul
into the hands of Almighty God hoping that He will receive it
with mercy through the merits of His Son Jesus Christ; and my
body to the earth to be decently buried: in lot No. 2, front
tier of lots, and the third lot to the left of the main avenue
on entrance in East New Market Cemetery, in Dorchester County,
and State of Maryland, that I have purchased and have a receipt
for; my coffin to be bricked in with two good courses of hard
red, or arch bricks, and double arched, laid in cement not mixed
with sand; and plastered all over on the out side with a coating
of cement; and to have placed at my head a monument of polished
scotch granite of a reddish hue, in fosur, four feet square all
the way up; and to rise five feet from the square gray granite
base, that is to be four feet and a half square, three feet in
the ground, and two feet above ground, securely fastened on this
base, and on the polished scotch granite, have carved in deep,
plain letters, my name, birth 19th of December 1831, and date of
my death, on one side, and these lines following of my very own
composition, on one, or more sides of the polished scotch
granite.
A human beings last
remains lie here
Who has tried this world, and found it all a tear,
While friendship, love, and hate have passed away,
As things that were, amid the world's decay;
With heart unknown, and
its affections spurned,
Condemned and blighted, while it madly yearned
For some true heart, on which it should rely,
Ere all was past, and it had come to die.
Alone he struggled
upward for the right,
Amid fiercest foes, who tried his soul to blight,
Amid temptations, trials, dangers dire,
Misunderstood by souls of lesser fire:
And all condemned,
because he could not show,
His finer nature, neath the treacherous blow,
But now his God has lain him down to rest:
It matters not, He knew his nature best,
Then oh vain world,
deceitful world, adieu,
For God alone is just, alone is true,
Nor care I what your estimate may be,
When He alone the heart can read and see,
Alone can estimate its
every worth,
While here the form returns to mother earth,
Then drop no tears, since I desire no flow,
From loving hearts, and scorn each melting foe."
By A. L. Manning
MD
Formerly Surgeon U. S. Army
Expressly for his own epitaph
The entire lot to be fenced in with
stout granite posts and stout wrought iron railing and strong
wrought iron gate, and well painted, leaving room for my very
much beloved sister Mrs. Eugenia S. Thomas, to be buried by my
side should she not desire otherwise to be buried when it shall
please God to take her also."
Secondly, after my debts and funeral
expenses are paid I desire that my poems and my prose life shall
be published together, and suitably illustrated in book form,
one copy to be made a present to each of the following
libraries: the Peabody, the Mercantile, the Maryland Institute,
and the Maryland University school of Medicine libraries; all of
Baltimore City, Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institute library
of Washington, D.C. and the remaining copies to be sold as
deemed best, and the proceeds if any therefrom the five thousand
copies, to go to my sister Mrs. Eugenia S. Thomas; and to the
furtherance of this purpose, and to the completion of my grave,
monument, and lot, and to the paying of all my indebtedness, I
will that my property situated at the South East corner of North
Charles Street and North or Boundary Avenue in Baltimore City,
and state of Maryland, consisting of a lot fronting twenty-five
feet on North or Boundary Avenue and running full width all the
way back, and binding on N. Charles Street one hundred and
seventy five feet to a twenty feet alley, together with all the
improvements thereunto belonging, shall be sold to the best
advantage, and the proceeds to be immediately, or as soon as
possible, applied as stated above, and should the proceeds from
the sale of this property be more than sufficient to defray the
expenses of the objects above named, the residue is to be
invested in good permanent, irredeemable ground rents in
Baltimore City, Md, and a sufficient part of the income
therefrom applied yearly to keeping my grave, monument, and lot
in first rate order forever, and in case this sale is sufficient
for these expenses, the Framed dwelling and lot next herein
after mentioned shall not be sold, but be inherited by my sister
Mrs. Eugenia S, Thomas and her heirs in the same manner as she
is to inherit the other property willed to her by me: but should
the sale of the Baltimore City property not be sufficient to pay
my debts, funeral expenses and for the publication of my life
and poems, then I will that the frame dwelling and lot with all
the improvements thereunto belonging built by me, and adjoining
my hotel property in East New Market, Dorchester County and
state of Maryland, shall also be sold to the best advantage, and
the proceeds immediately appropriated to the completion of my
monument, burial lot, my funeral expenses, my indebtedness, and
to the publishing of my life and poems in book form both
together; and if any should be left, to be invested in good
permanent irredeemable ground rents in Baltimore City, Md, and a
sufficient part of it appropriated yearly toward keeping in
complete repair my monument, grave, and burial lot forever, and
the residue, if any, shall go to my sister Mrs. Eugenia S.
Thomas.
Thirdly, I give and devise to my dearly
loved and only own sister, and nearest relative living, Mrs.
Eugenia S. Thomas, my farm that was willed to me by my father,
Major Anthony Manning lying in Dorchester County and State of
Maryland, formerly the home farm of my father, containing four
hundred and twenty one acres, more or less, together with all
the improvements, and timbered land, and timber thereunto
belonging to her and her heirs forever: Also unto her my large
Brick House, and lots, and garden, and all that outhouses and
improvements usually belonging to and going with said house and
lots, situated in East New Market Dorchester County State of
Maryland where my father died, and is now occupied as a hotel,
also my large Brick store house and improvements and the ground
on and over which it is built, also my small framed store house
and improvements and the ground on and over which it is built,
situated in East New Market Dorchester County and state of
Maryland. All of these to my sister Mrs. Eugenia S. Thomas, and
her natural heirs forever.
Also I bequeath to her all of my
personal effects of whatever kind, jewelry, instruments, books,
trunks, & furniture, and everything else, because she has been
my very best and most unwavering friend since the death of my
kind and loved father, and because she is my only own sister and
nearest relative, pure, true, and good, to whom I have gladly
willed it. And not from any fear or distrust of my brother in
law Dr. James H. Thomas, whom I believe to be honorable in every
way, but from the uncertainty of business affairs and
misfortunes in this life, and lest they might sometime in from
unforeseen circumstances find themselves without a home & hereby
will that the property that I have willed to my sister Mrs.
Eugenia S. Thomas shall be in her sole control without the
interference of anyone whatever, and that is shall not under any
circumstances whatever be mortgaged or sold so long as she shall
live, and that at her death it shall go to her child or children
if she has any, but if dying without any shall then go to my
natural relatives at law, except William Thomas Manning and his
children by his second wife, these shall be excluded, and those
who inherit my property shall see that my grave, monument, and
burial lot shall be kept in a thorough state of repair all the
time, as stated above from a part of the proceeds arising from
said property that I have willed to my sister Eugenia S. Thomas,
and that they have heired through her, and I hereby constitute
and appoint my dearly beloved sister Mrs. Eugenia S. Thomas my
sole executress of this my last will and testament, and intrust
the revising and corrections of my poems to my brother-in-law
Dr. James H. Thomas who is my sister's husband, and my respected
old school mate, before they go to the press for publication.
In testimony whereof & hereunto set my
hand and affixed my seal this 25 day of January in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy eight (1878)
Signed, sealed, published and declared
by the above Testator, Anthony L. Manning, as and for his last
will and testament, in the presence of us, who at his request,
in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have
subscribed our names, and written thereto:
Witness H. F. Willis
Witness Elizabeth S. Goslin
Witness Walter R. Charles
State of Maryland. Dorchester County to wit:
On the 4th day of April Anna Domini
1878, personally appeared Mrs. Eugenia S. Thomas, (wife of Dr.
James H. Thomas) the within named Executrix, and made oath on
the Holy Evangely of Almighty God that this paper or instrument
of writing, purporting to be the last will and testament of Dr.
Anthony L. Manning, late of the said County, deceased, was
deposited in her hands for safe keeping by the said Testator,
and that, to the best of her knowledge, it is the true and whole
last will and testament of the said deceased, and that she knows
of no others of a younger date.
And at the same time, personally
appeared Dr. Henry F. Willis, Miss Elizabeth S. Goslin and
Walter R. Charles, the subscribing witnesses to the aforegoing
(and annexed) last will and testament of Dr. Anthony L. Manning
late of the said County, deceased, and made oath on the Holy
Evangely of Almighty God that they each of them, did see the
said Testator sign and seal the said will, that they heard him
publish, pronounce and declare the same to be his last will and
testament; that at the time of so doing the said Testator was,
to the best of their apprehensions, of sound and disposing mind,
memory and understanding, and that they respectively subscribed
their names as witnesses to the said will in the presence and at
the request of the said Testator and in the presence of each
other.
Certified by E. W. LeCompte
Register of Wills for Dorchester County
State of Maryland, Dorchester County, to wit:
I hereby certify that the aforegoing is
truly copied from Liber E.W.L. No. 2, Wills folio 241, 242,
243,244 and 245, one of the record books for the said county now
in my office-
In
testimony I herewith
subscribe my name and
affix the seal of my
office, this nineteenth
day of January in the
year of our Lord
eighteen hundred and
eighty three-
E. W. LeCompte
Register of Wills for Dorchester County
For Mrs Eugenia Thomas