Oct. 2, 2009- Dr. Thomas Jefferson Manning

I have revisisted the "Many Thomas Mannings" several times. I am still having a hard time settling on some issues about my great great grandfather, Dr. Thomas Jefferson Manning. Dr. Manning was born 24 Sept. 1832 in South Carolina to Thomas Manning and Jane Stewart.

One of the first things I would love to find is a really good photograph of him. The only image I have seen appears to be a photograph of a portrait. It's not very life-like and doesn't reveal much of anything about him. We have several studio photos of my great great grandmother, Matilda LeFlore Manning. Even better than a single image of him would be a studio portrait of he and his family. I will definitely keep looking for that.

I am very proud to say that Great Grandfather was a physician. I know that for sure by reviewing the Civil War Pension application completed by Matilda Manning in 1922. I have copies of letters written to various Civil War veterans who might have known Dr. Manning and have their response that they knew him. On the application it states that he served as a physician under Gen. Douglas Cooper. Knowing that he served as a physician in the Civil War, I am certain he was a very competent doctor. The part of his medical background that I can't quite pin down is when and where he completed his education. Being in the medical field myself, I am very interested in clarifying this point.

It has been reported that he attended the University of Nashville and graduated in 1855, but I have not found a source to verify that date or his attendance. I have learned some interesting things about medical education of that era. By visiting the Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland, I learned that the training in the 1850's was of a short duration. Students paid to attend lectures in which they gained specific medical knowledge. It was not at all like the current rigorous training that today's physicians adhere to. A very interesting source, specifically related to the University of Nashville Medical Department is entitled Peabody College: From a frontier academy to frontiers of teaching and learning which is authored by Paul Keith Conkin, published in 2002 by Vanderbilt University.

In this book, Mr. Conkin describes the medical education at the University of Nashville Medical Department beginnning in 1850 by stating that it was never enforced that students admitted to the Medical Department had to have completed High School. Students had to be literate, be 21 years of age by the time they graduated, must have studied with a physician for 3 years prior. Mr. Conkin stated that the age and the prior experience was many times relaxed. He goes on to say, "Any young man could pay $105.00 in fees for a 4 month series of lectures and limited lab and clinical experience. If they repeated the lectures a second time and passed an oral exam they received an MD". The University of Nashville Medical Department was at its height in enrollment about the time it has been said that Dr. Manning might have graduated.

I was very pleased when I came across some publications by the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society that listed the graduates of the Medical Department of the University of Nashville. The lists of graduates appeared in Vol. 12, # 1,2,3,4 in 1998 and 1999. They can be purchased from the Society. Before you purchase them, you can check a surname index for each issue. I checked each issue which lists the graduates of the Medical Department and found only one Manning and his name was Jack. I really thought I had come upon something. I know that indexes may not be complete, so I am going to order the issues to see for myself. I sure hope I see Thomas Jefferson Manning in one of the issues. If I don't, I'm not sure where to check next. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.