Snapshots of History

By Editor | March 26, 2025 |

Photo from an 1896 newspaper.

By Mike Avitt
Brothers Randolph and Walter Beall issued a special edition of their newspaper, Twice-A-Week News, on June 12, 1896. That special edition highlighted the growth and people of Rinngold County and the issue was loaded with pictures.
This week’s picture is one of those photos.

A house belonging to Mrs. W. C. Manson is featured in this picture, but the address is not given. Since I didn’t know the address and I was unfamiliar with the Manson name, I put this topic on the back burner.
That was fifteen years ago. Still, it had to be an important house because it was included in this special issue.
One day I was looking at a 1913 photo taken in front of the Mount Ayr Methodist Church, scanning the background for any tidbits and I saw it.
I saw the cupola on the southeast corner of the house. The 1896 photo shows the south side of the house and the 1913 photo shows the east side of the house. Both photos show the cupola, a rare feature on any house.
So now I had the location: 304 W. Madison, Mount Ayr.
Although the house has been greatly modified, it is the same house that stands on that lot today. I’ll get back to the house in a minute, but let’s look at Mrs. W. C. Manson right now.
Her name turned out to be Sarah Elizabeth (Johnson) Manson and her father moved to Mount Ayr in 1871. Because Manson is not a common name in Ringgold County history, I was able to track some of her movements in the digitized newspapers.
Sarah was married to William C. Manson in Ohio on September 1, 1868. They had a daughter, Alice Gertrude Manson, but Sarah was widowed in 1878.
I first see Sarah in Mount Ayr in 1891 as she and her daughter were visiting Sarah’s father, Henry V. Johnson. Gertie was born in 1872 so she was 19 years old. Sarah and Gertie lived in Mt. Gilead, Ohio at this time. It appears Sarah or her father bought this house in late 1891.
I found Mr. Johnson’s obituary, but I failed to find mention of him being wealthy or having achieved any level of social status.
In March 1892, Mrs. Manson was having her one-story house repaired and painted. That’s right, one-story.
In May of 1892. Sarah Manson hosted a gala at her house with many affluent and highly-respected locals included. Mount Ayr’s wealthy and elite citizens were there and among them, one Clyde Dunning. Now we are getting our questions answered.
Clyde was the son of Day Dunning, owner of Citizens Bank in Mount Ayr, and the grandson of Barton and Laura Dunning, Mount Ayr’s founders.
Clyde had just been recently promoted to Cashier of his father’s bank. And he was single. So was Gertie Manson, but not for long. Clyde and Gertie were married on November 9, 1892.
Sarah must have had some money or influence to begin with, but now she had a wealthy son-in-law.
In February of 1895, Sarah hired Sig Warner to add a second story to her house along with other improvements. So, that’s how a photo of this house made it into the June 12, 1896 special edition.
The house was now like new and was part of a famous and wealthy family.
The caption with the photo in 1896 says as beautiful as the house was on the outside, the interior is where the real beauty was, much of it being trimmed in white oak.
I did not yet find out when the cupola and other features were removed from the house.
Sarah died in 1921. I found that in 1917 she was living with her daughter and son-in-law in Bedford. Clyde’s uncle Frank was a very successful banker in Bedford and Hopkins, Missouri most of his adult life, so I assume the Dunnings were in Bedford because of Frank.
Clyde’s maternal grandfather was Isaac Keller, for whom the town of Kellerton is named.
I’m pretty good at memorizing photos and I really enjoy finding things in the background of photos. This was one of those lucky strikes.