Mills County, Iowa
Family History Stories

Manly Webb Green

Manley Webb Greene was born in Wilton, Maine on May 2, 1824, the 6th and youngest child of Guy Green and Hannah (Gould) Green. The Greens and Goulds descend from old New England families, having emigrated from England in the mid-1600’s. They resided in eastern Massachusetts for around 160 years before removing to Maine in 1792. Maine was still part of Massachusetts at that time, not becoming a state until 1820. The family name was traditionally spelled Green but became Greene sometime in the 1800's. It is not known exactly when or why the spelling was changed but the extra 'e' first appears in Iowa in the 1840's. Also, the name Manley appears as Manly on earlier documents.

It is believed that our subject was named for a brother of Hannah, Manly Gould, that died in infancy in 1804. Webb was the maiden name of Hannah’s mother Mary. Hannah was the oldest of 11 children born to Noah Gould and Mary (Webb) Gould. She was born in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts on April 12, 1785 and died July 23, 1854 in Mills County, Iowa. Guy was born on August 23, 1778 in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts and died in late September or early October 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Guy and Hannah had 6 children: Adeline (1812-1852), Abigail (1814-1878), Guy, Jr. (1816-??), Noah Gould (1819-1871), Silas Marchant Hillman (1821-1858), and Manley Webb (1824-1860).

Guy Green and some of his sons, including Manley, went west around 1840, possibly as part of the continuing Mormon migration. In the 1840 US Census he is found in Delaware County, Ohio with his wife and 2 sons ages 15-20, presumably Manley and Silas. Guy's two daughters, already married by then, stayed in Maine and remained there for the rest of their lives. There is no record of any involvement by Guy or Hannah with the LDS church in Illinois or Iowa. Manley, himself, may have eventually dropped out of the LDS church, since there are no records indicating further involvement with either the LDS or RLDS churches once he was in Iowa.

Manley tarried a few years with the LDS group in Illinois in the early 1840's. He was baptized into the LDS church, Macedonia Stake, on November 2, 1844. In an autobiographical reminiscence appearing in a January 1895 issue of The Millenial Star, the LDS church newsletter, John Lyman Smith states that "During the winter [of 1842-43] I attended school taught by Manley W. Green and seldom missed a word or lesson". This was in Ramus (later known as Macedonia), Illinois, about 22 miles east of Nauvoo. Manley's name appears on the "Seventy Quorum Membership 1835-1846," Seventy being a priesthood office. Manley married his first wife Eliza Canfield in Hancock County on November 6, 1845. A few weeks earlier his brother Noah had married Sarah Gaylord in the same county. Manley and his wife left Macedonia, Illinois on May 8, 1846 with a party of LDS members from 11 families, 33 persons in all. They crossed Iowa and eventually settled at the Perkins Macedonia encampment on the banks of the West Nishnabotna River in Pottawatamie County, just a few months before Iowa became a state. This information is from "A Legacy of Blessings" by William C. Perkins, Pioneer and Patriarch. Manley's brothers Noah and Silas also ended up in southwest Iowa. It is not known what happened to Guy Jr. Apparently Eliza Canfield Green died shortly after her marriage to Manley. There is no record of any children born to this union. Little is known about Eliza or her family. She was listed on the membership roll of the Nauvoo Relief Society, having joined on June 9, 1842. There were other Canfields living in Nauvoo and Hancock County at that time, but it is not known if they are related. She was with Manley when they left Nauvoo for Iowa in May 1846 and that is the last record of her.

On April 25, 1853 in Linden, Atchison County, Missouri, Manley married Maria West, daughter of Nathan A. West, a Mormon pioneer and early settler in southwest Iowa, and Mary (Hulet) West. They had three children:

(1) Albert W. Greene was born in Glenwood, Iowa on July 31, 1855, and died on October 21, 1857 aged two.

(2) Charles Marion Greene was born on May 3, 1858 in Glenwood, Iowa and died in September 1929 in Omaha, Nebraska after a long career with Standard Oil in an unknown capacity. He never married.

(3) Katherine Mary Greene was born on October 7, 1860 in Glenwood, Iowa. Sadly, Manley had died on June 18 of that year and so did not have the privilege of knowing his only daughter. Katherine, known as "Katie," grew up in Glenwood and married Hardin H. Wilkins there in 1879. She divorced him in Omaha in 1901, then married Judge Hanlin Biggs Williams in 1904 in Bellingham, Washington. He died in 1907; she died on January 3, 1911 in Seattle, Washington. Manley and his new bride moved to Glenwood, Mills County, Iowa in April 1853, the same month in which they were married, where he got a job as a clerk in the store of a Mr. Nuckolls. They occupied a “shed room” at the rear of the store as a dwelling. Manley eventually went into partnership with Thomas E. Tootle, purveyors of General Merchandise. According to their logo, Tootle, Greene & Co. were "Dealers in Dry Goods, Groceries, Boots, Shoes, Hats Caps, Clothing &c." The store was located on the west side of the public square in Glenwood. The store also had a branch in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, just a few miles away across the Missouri River. In fact, Manley was one of the organizers of the Town of Plattsmouth in 1854, along with 5 other men, including Nuckolls. In November 1854, this company proceeded to lay out and plat the city. This was long before Nebraska was even a state; it was a territory at the time. Manley was a Mason and was Secretary of the Glenwood Lodge in 1855-56. He also was an officer in 1856-57, having been elected as either Secretary or Treasurer.

Apparently Manley was an early-day land speculator, buying up large chunks of land and then parcelling them out in smaller transactions to new residents of the young town (many land transactions in his name are recorded in the old Deed Books at the Mills County Courthouse). In addition to land dealings and his main occupation as a merchant, he had a part interest in a ferry operation that made daily crossings of the Missouri River. There were no bridges yet in those early years. Two of his brothers, Silas and Noah, also lived in southwest Iowa. Silas operated a stage in the area and Noah also operated a stage station for a while, later taking up farming in Fremont County, just south of Mills County.

Manley W. Greene died at his home in Glenwood on June 18, 1860 at the age of 36, four months before the birth of his daughter Katherine. The cause of death was heart disease. Apparently he knew the end was near, since just one month prior to his death he had made out his last Will and Testament. He was buried with the honors of the Masonic Fraternity. His obituary says the following about him: "He was one of the most popular and successful merchants in the West, and at one time almost monopolized the trade of this county". He is buried in Lot 5 at Glenwood Cemetery, near his brother Silas who died in 1858 at the age of 37.

Maria married again on June 15, 1862 to William Kempton, a prominent Glenwood lawyer and land agent who had been a friend and business associate of Manley Greene. Maria had three children by this marriage: Shelby, Jerome, and Bertha Kempton. William Kempton died in 1899 in Glenwood; Maria died in April 1917 in Omaha, Nebraska, at the age of 84 after an interesting life that included traveling with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan West, as part of the great Mormon movement, and later as the wife of Manley W. Greene, and seeing western Iowa grow from pioneer beginnings through the last half of the 19th Century.

Source: Biography submitted by John Wilkins