Place:Manningham, Butler, Alabama, United States

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Manningham was Quite a City when Butler Co. was Young

Three Big Stores Served the People of Prosperous Farming Community in '80

The community of Manningham is now widely scattered without a single business establishment in what was once a large and prosperous community. There is a store in a nearby community but the center of the Manningham community today is the small house built by the county and used on election days as a polling place.

Manningham has lost residents but those who remain are prosperous farmers and cattlemen. There is no longer a need for a school, as children are transported by bus to large school plants; and paved roads make it easy for the people of the community to do their shopping either in Greenville or at stores nearer the community.

Manningham was once one of the larger communities of Butler. It was founded in 1816 by Elijah Manning, who brought his slaves from Georgia that year, pitched his tent and started building a home. The next year, he went back to Georgia and brought his family. In 1820, his brother, Benjamin Manning came and built the first store and had a post office established. He was first postmaster, and the office was named for him. Grey Thigpen, Sr. settled about a quarter of a mile west, and played an important part in the early life of the community before moving to Cedar Creek.

Mrs. Charles (Mittie Brown) Simmons [address omitted] writes:

About the year 1881, nine miles west of Greenville there was the flourishing little community of Manningham that many people remember with kind affections as I do. There were some 20 or 30 white families that used Manningham as their mailing address at that time.

To name a few of the members of these families: Euriah Heaton, Dr. W. C. Simmons, Dr. H. E. Scott, Dr. Stallings, Dr. Holley, Dr. Herbert, Cooledge Brown, Fate Brown, Jim Brown, Jack Brown, Berry Taylor, Jim Simmons, Fed Crenshaw, Lewis Womack, Fate Ashcraft, Dr. Job Thigpen, Levy Waters, Gid Peagler, Pink Cunningham, Dock Brown, John Brown, Henry Watts, Ancil Ferguson, Walter Watts, John Abbott, Dock Shell and Frank Coleman.

Located near the center of Manningham proper, at that time, was the big two-story building that housed the business of J. B. Simpson & Co. It seems that Mr. Simpson was looking for greener pastures, so he sold his business in Manningham and went into business in Greenville. The J. B. Simpson & Co. store was bought by Frank Heaton and Jesse Coleman and was operated under the name of Coleman & Heaton.

I was looking through some things that belonged to my mother, Margaret Coleman Brown, and came across a receipt issued to her and bearing the name of J. B. Simpson & Co. I also found a circular advertising Coleman & Heaton. At this time there were three stores operating in Manningham, also a shoe shop and school. The church was at Mt. Zion and not in Manningham proper. A church was built there some years later.

"This has been many years ago and I wonder if anyone reading this remembers old Manningham as it was then," Mrs. Simmons asks.

(The above is a transcription of a newspaper article written about Manningham. The newspaper and author are not identified. The article was written before 05 January 1991 and was probably published in a Greenville newspaper. The article was written by some of the Coleman kin but not sure which cousin wrote this article.)--Beth 11:56, 31 May 2008 (EDT)

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