Stephen Price Manwaring was born in Staplehurst, Kent County, England on the 20th of December, 1820. His parents were John Joseph and Ann Elizabeth (Kennett) Manwaring. They were married on the 28th of June, 1813 in Saints Church, Maidstone, Kent County, England. John Joseph was born on the 19th of June, 1792 in Staplehurst, Kent County, New York and died on the 5th of January, 1862 in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Ann Elizabeth was born in Chatham, Kent County, England on the 25th of June, 1795 and died on the 11th of December 1861 in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Stephen Price Manwaring was naturalized in Marine Court in New York on the 21st of March,1848 and was one of nine children.

 

In 1858, Stephen joined a wagon train going to California from his brother's home in Illinois. This brother was John Joseph Manwaring, Jr. Family lore states that Stephen walked most of the way and carried a nine pound muzzle loaded musket for the entire trip. John Joseph Manwaring, Jr. settled in Oregon. Stephen however, had not fulfilled is wanderlust. He next sailed around the tip of South America and paid his fair up the Mississippi River by chopping wood for the steam boat in which he traveled. He returned to his parent's home in Jamaica, New York in 1860 and married Miss Ellisabeth Jane Hansell on the 22nd of September of that year. Ellisabeth Jane was born on the 4th of December, 1837 in Waltham, Massachusetts.

 

Stephen and Ellisabeth (Hansell) Manwaring were blessed with nine children: Ernest Walter, 1861; Stephen Albert, 1863; Leonard Grant, 1864; Maude Margaret, 1866; Estella Marie, 1869; Robert Kennett, 1872; Grace Adelaide, 1874; Raymond Dudley, 1880; and William Barton, 1883. Stephen died on the 28th of February, 1913. Ellisabeth died on the 11th of October, 1906. They are both buried on the family farm in the Manwaring Cemetery located east of the town of Pulaski in Pulaski County, Illinois. They purchased this farm in 1865. The cemetery contains no stones, but the burial grounds are fenced and the plots noticeable by their natural depressions. A complete list of burials may be found on this site.

Submitted by:  Scott Manwaring