Isabella Atkins Rector (1808-1899)

Isabella Atkins Rector quietly passed away on December 30, 1899 at the home of her son-in-law Les Talkington in McKinney, Texas.  She was born near Crab Orchard, Kentucky on September 10, 1808.  When she was approximately four years old, she moved with her parents to Missouri, where she grew to womanhood and married Charles Rector.  Charles was a miller in Boonsville when they married, on October 11, 1828.  This union was a most happy one which lasted fifty two years, or until the death of Mr. Rector, Dec. 21, 1880. 

 

In the fall of 1855, the family emigrated to Texas and settled on what is now known as the old Fields farm, nine miles west of McKinney, removing in about 1864 to near Little Elm, Denton County.  Uncle Charles Rector, as he was known, was a cattleman, a leading citizen and an Odd Fellow, being largely instrumental in putting the McKinney lodge of that order on its present successful footing.

 

At the time of her death,  she was a member of Cottonwood Rebekah Lodge No. 59 and had been a faithful member of the Methodist church for 75 years.  She was a loving wife, devoted mother and a good and kind neighbor.  Many are the charitable deeds and kindly acts recorded of her during her long and busy life.  Until the last she retained both her mental and physical faculties to a remarkable degree for one of her advanced age, though in recent years her mind lived wholly in the past.

Seven children and a large number of grand children and great-grandchildren survive her.  The children are William H. Rector of Hartfield, California; Mrs. Mary Woods of Bunceton, Missouri; Ed Rector of Arlington, Texas, Doc. Rector of Veal's Station, Texas,  Mrs. Lee Talkington of McKinney, Texas, and Mrs. Lou Fields of Rockhill, Texas.  Nat Rector, a wealthy cattleman, died in Jack county, in 1884.

Funeral services were conducted at the residence Saturday at noon by Rev. E. H. Casey, after which the corpse was conveyed by loving hands to Uncle Kellis Quisenberry's near Lebanon that evening and next day to the family  burying ground at Bethel Cemetery, where the interment was made in the presence of a large concourse of people.  Rev. Wm. Allen of Eurida, assisted  by Rev. Clifton of the Bethel circuit, conducted brief services at the grave.

 

+++ Based on an obituary in the Houston Daily Post, 1 Jan 1900.  Transcriber is not a relative and has no further information regarding this family.

 

 

Jacob Warren Manning (1826-1904)

Jacob Warren Manning died on September 16, 1904 at his home in Reading, Massachusetts.  He was born at Bedford, New Hampshire on February 21, 1826, and came of old New England ancestry, being of the eighth generation in descent from William Manning, born in England in 1620, who was an early settler in Cambridge, Mass.  Mr. Manning remained on his parents' farm, engaging in agricultural pursuits and lumbering until he reached the age of twenty-one years.

In March, 1847, at twenty-one years of age, Mr. Manning went to Chelmsford, where he was employed by Amos Carleton in farm, fruit, and nursery work, remaining with him until January, 1848. his wages being fifteen dollars per month. He then came to Reading, remaining until the following spring, when he returned to the farm of Mr. Carleton.

In 1849, he became superintendent of the Winnesemitt Nursery at Chelsea, the proprietor of which was S. W. Cole, the editor of the Boston Cultivator and author of "The American Fruit Book," one of the most valuable works of its kind.  It was in the Cole place that he was connected with the Concord grape.

In subsequent years, he became gardener for John J. May, of Dorchester, Dr. Nathaniel Frothingham of Burlington, and Levi A. Dowley, of Brattleboro, Vermont.  He settled in Reading in 1854, and established his Reading Nursery.  He achieved a wide reputation as importer, raiser, and introducer of large and small fruits and ornamental shrubs and trees, including evergreen trees in variety, prominent among them being the Rocky Mountain blue spruce (I'icea pungens), as early as 1872, his Rocky Mountain evergreens numbering ten different varieties.

The Cutter seedling strawberry was named and introduced by Mr. Manning in the spring of 1850. and caused increased activity among gardeners in the production and improvement of that fruit, as well as an increase in the demand for it. This variety was named after Mr. B. F. Cutter, of Telham, N.H., who gave the stock to Mr. Manning.

Outside of the line for his chosen profession the late Jacob Manning was a thorough going New Englander and took the liveliest interest in the absorbing associations of his location at Reading in the headwaters of the Mystic River—so full of names and people famous in the history of the country. He took us back to the very men who made the history.

Mr. Manning was a staunch believer in associated effort and steadily supported a number of organizations of horticultural interest, being a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, The American Pomological Society, the American Florists and the American Association of Nurserymen, and he conscientiously attended the several meetings of these bodies. In this way he became known to a wide circle of friends.

Mr. Manning married Lydia B. Chandler, of Concord, N. H., in 1858. She survives him, as do five sons, Warren H., J. Woodward, A. Chandler and Benjamin F., of Reading, and William S., of Newark, N. J. 
Mr. Manning's name is closely identified with the introduction of very many plants that have been landmarks in horticultural progress, among them Clethra alnifolia in 1857; the Celtis in 1859; the John Sweet Apple in 1800; Yucca fllamentosa in 1862; and the Granite Beauty apple in 1806

The catalogues of the Reading nursery are interesting to look over at this date, they show what was done so long ago, and are invaluable as indices of the passing events.