Submitted by Descendants: Jetti Rae, Luke Quin, Rafael Quin, and Virginia Belle GODWIN; and Dena Elizabeth JOHNSTON
Manning Jiles Williams possessed a true “pioneer” spirit. At the fledgling age of fourteen (born June 21, 1823), the young Georgian answered the call to Florida and volunteered for the first of five military enlistments in the second Seminole War (1835-1842) joining the Mounted Militias as a Private led by the likes of Capt’s Bradley, Edwards, Langford, and Turner as well as Lieut. Wiggins. He settled in Madison, FL., upon arrival and on January 21, 1845, with his war days behind him, married fellow Georgian Cynthia Warren in Madison, going on to have seven children (four girls, three boys).
Manning voted in the first statewide election of 1845, voting in Madison County.
For the young Manning’s war efforts, he received 361 acres in land grants in the mid 1850’s with all of the land coming in Madison County where he stayed, worked as a farmer, raised his family and eventually died on January 30, 1880, due to Dropsy. He is buried right next to his wife Cynthia in Macedonia Baptist Church Cemetery in Madison County, a church he – along with Cynthia and six others – help found.
Manning Jiles Williams was first established as a Florida Pioneer in 2006