Click here for Becky Cardon Smith's article about Jane that appeared in Meridian Magazine.
A free-born servant, Jane Elizabeth Manning was born in Wilton, Connecticut, to Isaac and Eliza Manning in the late 1810s or early 1820s, and grew up in Connecticut. While a young girl she lived as a servant—but not a slave—in a prosperous white farmer’s home. A member of the Presbyterian church, her adherence to Christian principles helped prepare her for the message of two Mormon missionaries who traveled in the area where she lived. When Charles Wandell preached the message of the restored gospel in Connecticut, Jane embraced it and acquainted her relatives with it. Along with other members of her family, she was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Connecticut. As preparations were made for the Saints in the area to immigrate to Nauvoo in 1843, Jane and eight members of her family joined the larger group.
The nine members of the Manning family got separated from the larger group in Buffalo, New York, when they were refused passage on a steamboat because they were black. After Jane loaded her trunk of clothes onto the boat, the captain would not let her board—nor would he return her trunk to her. The Mannings set out on foot and, after experiencing illness, threatened imprisonment, and extreme cold, they finally arrived at Nauvoo. In her life history—which she dictated to be read at her funeral—she detailed her 800-mile shoeless journey:
"We walked until our shoes were worn out, and our feet became sore and cracked open and bled until you could see the whole print of our feet with blood on the ground. We stopped and united in prayer to the Lord; we asked God the Eternal Father to heal our feet. Our prayers were answered and our feet were healed forthwith."Upon reaching Peoria, Illinois, the Mannings were puzzled when local authorities threatened to place them in jail because they could not produce their “free papers.” Finally able to convince the men that they had never been slaves and did not need “free papers,” they were allowed to go.
Frightened at the threat of imprisonment, they were anxious to move on but were slowed by a river. Seeing no bridge, they forded the river by walking into the stream until the cold water swirled around their necks. Afterward—wet, cold, frightened, and hungry—they pressed on their way, sleeping sometimes in the shelter of a log cabin, other times in the open, even when the snow fell. Jane remembered the faith that sustained them when she said, “We went on our way rejoicing, singing hymns, and thanking God for his infinite goodness and mercy to us, in blessing us—protecting us—and healing our feet.” As they approached La Harpe, Illinois, they prayed for a sick baby and it was healed. It was an exhilarating experience that gave them new hope as they entered the city of Nauvoo.
Unfortunately, the Mannings were greeted less enthusiastically by the Mormons in Nauvoo than they had expected. Jane's history indicates that her family of recent black converts, who arrived in worn-out clothing, was rebuffed by some members.
But Church founder Joseph Smith had the opposite reaction. Jane wrote that he welcomed them into his home with a warm smile:
"We had now arrived to our destined haven of rest: The beautiful Nauvoo. Brother Joseph took a chair and sat down by me and said, 'You have been the head of this little band, haven't you?' I answered, 'Yes sir.' He then said, 'God bless you.' "Joseph assured the Mannings that they were among friends and would be protected, and they were invited to stay at the Mansion House until other homes could be found for them. Within a week all but Jane were settled and had secured work. On the morning Jane’s family left the Smiths for their new jobs, the Prophet Joseph came in to say his usual good morning to her. He found her weeping and asked why she was upset. “The folks have all gone and got themselves homes, and I have got none.”
“Yes, you have,” he said, “you have a home right here if you want it. You mustn’t cry, we dry up all tears here.” He left the room and returned shortly with Emma. “Sister Emma,” he said, “here is a girl that says she has no home, haven’t you a home for her?”
Emma offered Jane the same warm hospitality she had given scores of others in similar need. Satisfied that the tears were over, the Prophet left Emma and Jane to arrange the details. Jane was a willing worker and told Emma of her skills. She could wash and iron clothes and was a good cook and housekeeper. “When you are rested,” Emma said, “you may do the washing, if you would just as soon do that.” Jane began the following morning.
Jane remained part of the Smith household for several months. While there, she enjoyed the association of Joseph and Emma’s family and visited often with the Prophet’s mother, Lucy. Eventually Jane became friends with other members of the household, including Sarah and Maria Lawrence and Eliza and Emily Partridge.
After the Mormon prophet's martyrdom, she lived in Brigham Young's home. She was living there when she met and married another black Church member, Isaac James; a native of New Jersey, Isaac had converted to Mormonism in 1839 at the age of nineteen and had immigrated to Nauvoo. Following their marriage, they left for the Utah territory. In Winter Quarters, Nebraska, Jane gave birth to her second son in 1846.
Isaac and Jane Manning James and their sons Sylvester and Silas were the first free blacks to settle in Utah. They immigrated with the Ira Eldredge company, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on September 19, 1847. In the spring of 1848, Isaac and Jane became the parents of Mary Ann, the first black child born in Utah.
The James family managed through the first years, when even the necessities of life were not available. Jane later commented, “Oh how I suffered of cold and hunger and keenest of all was to hear my little ones crying for bread, and I had none to give them.” She shared what little she did have with her neighbors.
Jane’s friend, Eliza Partridge Lyman, wrote in her journal that her husband, Amasa, had left on a mission to California, leaving them (Eliza and two of her sisters) no flour “nor any way to get some.” Several days later, Eliza’s journal records, “Jane James, the colored woman, gave me two pounds of flour, it being about half she had.”
The James family’s hard work, thrift, and perseverance helped them acquire a home and farm animals. Jane spun and wove the cloth for the family’s clothing. But the sought-after prosperity became an elusive thing. Just as it seemed possible to rejoice in their bounty, “the grasshoppers and crickets came along carrying destruction wherever they went, laying our crops to the ground—bringing poverty and desolation throughout this beautiful valley.”
Historian Ronald G. Coleman noted:
Like many early pioneers, the James family experienced difficult times and sought assistance from more fortunate neighbors, a consideration they returned by sharing their later good fortune. Slowly the family's financial status improved, and by 1865, they were doing relatively well. In addition to a land claim and a home, they owned household items and a small number of livestock. Isaac listed farming as his occupation, but between 1849 and 1851 he also worked as a coachman for Brigham Young. Sylvester James was listed in 1861 [he was then about age 16] as a member of the Nauvoo Legion and was in possession of his ten pounds of ammunition and musket.Jane and Isaac James worked for Brigham Young and had five more children before Isaac left Jane and the children in 1869, selling his property to Jane. There are few records about the divorce, and nobody really knows why Isaac left—or why he came back approximately twenty-one years later, just before he passed away. When he died in 1891, Jane held his funeral in her home.
"Black issues broke apart churches and communities all over the country," Margaret Young points out. "Utah was no different. Some people just had to get away."
During the twenty-year separation, Jane managed her home and raised her family. She always had food from her garden. Her spinning, sewing, and soap-making provided them with the other necessities. A meager cash income came from her work as a laundress, and she and her family moved into a two-story frame house with a white picket fence.
Jane was a member of the Relief Society and donated to the St. George, Manti, and Logan temple funds, and her contributions were added to the funds supporting the Lamanite Mission. She repeatedly petitioned the First Presidency to be endowed and to have her children sealed to her. During the time that Isaac was gone, Jane asked to be sealed to Walker Lewis who, like Elijah Abel, had been ordained during Joseph Smith's lifetime. All of these requests were denied.
Jane Manning James became the matriarch of Utah's black community; poised and dignified, she was widely admired. Throughout her life, Jane maintained her identification as both a black and a Mormon and retained her sense of personal worth and dignity. The difficulties of life never changed her open commitments to the gospel. Toward the end of her life, though almost blind and crippled by a fall, she said:
"My faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is as strong today, nay, it is if possible stronger than it was the day I was first baptized. I pay my tithes and offerings, keep the word of wisdom, I go to bed early and rise early, I try in my feeble way to set a good example to all."Jane outlived six of her children before she died in 1908 at the age of eighty-six. LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith spoke at her funeral.
Sources:
"Excerpts from the Weekly Council Meetings of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, Dealing with the Rights of Negroes in the Church, 1849-1940," George Albert Smith Papers, University of Utah, quoted in Henry J. Wolfinger, "A Test of Faith: Jane Manning James and the Origins of the Utah Black Community," 18, Manuscript Collection, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Wolfinger's study was also published in Social Accommodations in Utah (Salt Lake City: American West Center occasional papers, University of Utah, 1975).
Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, "Jane Manning James," Ensign, August 1979, pp. 26-29.
Jessie L. Embry, Black Saints in a White Church, p.40.
Ronald G. Coleman, "A History of Blacks in Utah, 1825-1910" (Ph.D. diss., University of Utah, 1980).
Leonard J. Arrington, "Black Pioneer Was Union Fort Settler," The Pioneer (SUP), September-October 1981.
Jill Fellow, "Jane Manning James—Black Pioneer," Provo Daily Herald, February 16, 2005