Col. Manion, my great grandfather, son of Ambrose Manion Jr. and Pheriba Austin, (daughter of Charles Austin), was first recorded in Texas in the poll list for 1846 in Lamar County. By 1859 he had moved to Cooke County where he purchased, in March 1860, a 500 acre farm from his father-in-law Col. James G. Bourland.

Bourland and Manion both settled in Delaware Bend near Dexter which was on the direct route between the east Texas markets and Ft. Arbuckle about 50 miles north. They became partners in the merchantile business and sold to the soldiers at Ft. Arbuckle and to the Indians from the north side of Red River. They carried a large stock of merchandise and raised corn and hogs which they sold principally to the government.

Fort Arbuckle was abandoned about 1871 when Fort Sill was established near what is now Lawton, Oklahoma. With this change in government posts they lost much of their merchantile business but continued to live in Delaware Bend. In 1876 Manion served in the fifteenth Texas State Legislature, House of Representatives from Cooke County.

Col. Manion was married four times, never divorced always widowed. He married Hannah Ann Bourland 20 May, 1841, Malinda Barnett 10 Apr, 1861, and Esther Howard, 15 Feb, 1869. Esther died in childbirth and Malinda was killed by lightning in 1866 while horseback riding.

His final marriage was to my great grandmother Sarah Lewis Neilson, the widow of Richard Manson Jones who was killed in the Civil War. Col. Manion and Sarah were married 19 Jun 1873 in Ladonia, Fannin County TX. They had one child, Anne Austin Manion, my grandmother who married James Walter Brown.


A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL March 24, 1841
How might a young man of the 1840s write a letter proposing marriage? ......My great grandfather writes to his first love, Hannah Ann;

"To my dear Miss Ann Bourland
Dear Miss
Permit me for the first time in my life to make known my love to you. Having come to the conclusion to marry soon, I have selected you out of a large number of my aquaintance for my intended bride. To you Miss I promise that I have never loved before, but I can say so no longer. To you Miss Ann I offer my hand and my heart with the hope that I shall have yours in return.

"My writing thus to you may somewhat surprise you, but rest assured I am in earnest. It may be the least of your thoughts of receiving such a document as this from me, but Miss be not surprised. I will acknowledge that I have acted rather strangely for a lover, but unfortunatley I was not intended to be a ladies man.

"Should I be so fortunate as to win your consent to a holy alliance, I can not promise you at what time we would be united in a holy state of matrimony, but Miss, if you like another, or think another man is more worthy of your affections, I am in hopes you will tell me so. Believing in your good judgement and that you will deal with me honestly, I leave the subject with you for your consideration. I will call upon you next Sunday for a positive answer, and at that time, if an opportunity affords itself, to hear from those little lips of yours my future happiness.

Yours in haste, Manion"

They were married 2 months later. He was 23, Ann was 16.


GAINESVILLE DAILY REGISTER
March 18, 1903

COL. MANION PASSES AWAY
Was One of the Early Pioneers of Cooke County and Died at 6 o'Clock This Morning

After a lingering illness, Col. A. B. Manion, one of the early pioneers of Cooke county, died at his residence at Delaware Bend at 6 o'clock this morning.

The deceased was 85 years of age and located in this county about 54 years ago, when the country was a howling wilderness. Although he might be regarded as a frontiersman and took an active part in paving the way for the settlement of Cooke and adjoining counties, he was a gentleman of refinement and much more than ordinary intelligence.

Owing to his strict integrity and unblemished moral character, he was always regarded as a safe leader and commander by the people of his community, who, when in trouble always appealed to him for advice, which was freely given.

Col. Manion in private life was a Christian gentleman, and as a reresentative of the citizens of Cooke county in the legislative halls of Texas, was always true to his constituency and his record as a public official was without spot or blemish.

The deceased had been married four times, his first wife being the daughter of Col. James Bourland, one among the most prominent figures of the early settlement of North Texas and the late civil war.

The writer well remembers meeting the deceased as far back as 1856, when he and his father-in-law, Col. Bourland, were doing a general merchandising business in Bourland Bend, their principle trade coming from the Indians of the Chickasaw Nation. At that time he and Col. Bourland were large planters on Red River, each of them owning many slaves.

One of the principal characteristics of Col. Manion was to do good and aid those in distress, consequently he was universally popular with the people.

He was a great and good man who will be missed by the people of his section. He left a widow to mourn his death besides a number of children and grand children. Among those of his children now living is the wife of Dr. Geo. L Scott of Dexter, Mrs. Rueben Bourland of Montague, the wife of Judge Conner of Fort Worth, Mrs. Walter Brown of this city, all of whom were notified of his death.

The REGISTER has not ascertained the time and place of the interment of his body, but it will doubtless be laid to rest in the family cemetery in the community where he had spent the greater part of his life.