History of Piscataway, (Middlesex County) New Jersey United States of America

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James Manning, educator, was born in Piscataway, N.J., Oct. 22, 1738; son of James and Grace (Fitz-Randolph) Manning, and grandson of James and Christiana (Lang) Manning and of Joseph and Rebecca (Drake) Fitz-Randolph. His great-grandfather, Jeffrey Manning, was one of the earliest settlers in Piscataway township. James attended the Hopewell academy, 1756-58, and was graduated with second honors from the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1762, A.M., 1765. He was married March 29, 1763, to Margaret, daughter of John Stites, for several years mayor of Elizabethtown, N.J. He was ordained as an evangelist, April 19, 1763, and travelled through the colonies. In July, 1763. while at Newport, R.I., he suggested the establishment of a college to be conducted by the Baptists, and in accordance with the suggestion of Col. John Gardner, the deputy governor, he drew a sketch of the plan and a rough charter was laid before the next general assembly, Aug. 1, 1763, but it was not until February, 1764, that it finally passed the assembly after a warm debate, and largely through the personal influence of Mr. Manning. He was called to Warren, R.I., where he organized a church of fifty-eight members, of which he was pastor, 1764-70, and opened a Latin school which was later removed to Providence, R.I., and became the University Grammar school. The first meeting of the corporation for founding and endowing a college or university within the province of Rhode Island was held at Newport in September, 1764, and at the second meeting in September, 1765, Mr. Manning was chosen president and professor of languages. He matriculated his first college student, William Rogers , a lad of fourteen, from Newport, Sept. 3, 1765. In 1767 he organized the Warren association, the first Baptist association established in New England. The first commencement of the college was held in the meeting-house, Sept. 7, 1769, and the discussion of American Independence constituted the principal feature of the exercises. The college was removed to Providence, R.I., in May, 1770, and Manning gave up his church in Warren, and at the solicitation of the trustees of the college he removed to Providence and continued his duties as president. The first commencement in Providence was held in the meeting-house of the society on Sept. 8, 1770. Manning was pastor of the first Baptist church in Providence, founded by Roger Williams, and regarded as the oldest Baptist church in America, 1771-91. A new meeting-house was erected in 1775. During the Revolutionary War the college doors were closed, the students prosecuting their studies at home, and university hall was used by the American and French troops as a barracks and hospital. The college exercises were resumed, May 27, 1789. President Manning was a delegate to the Continental congress, 1785-86, and it was largely through his endeavors that Rhode Island adopted the constitution. The University of Pennsylvania conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D. in 1785. He was a firm upholder of public education and was the author of: A Report in Favor of the Establishment of Free Public Schools in the Town of Providence. See "Life, Times and Correspondence of James Manning and the Early History of Brown University," by R. A. Guild (1864), and "History of Brown University. 1856-1895," ibid. (1895). While at family prayers he died of apoplexy in Providence. R.I., July 29, 1791.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Piscataway, (Middlesex County) New Jersey

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