James Manning (minister)
| James Manning | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 1st President of Brown University | |
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In office 1765–1791 |
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| Succeeded by | Jonathan Maxcy |
| Delegate to the Continental Congress for Rhode Island & Providence Plantations | |
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In office 1786–1786 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 22, 1738 Elizabethtown, New Jersey, British America |
| Died | July 29, 1791 (aged 52) Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Resting place | North Burial Ground Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Stites |
| Alma mater | The College of New Jersey |
| Profession |
University president Minister Politician |
| Religion | Baptist |
James Manning (October 22, 1738 – July 29, 1791) was an American Baptist minister, educator and legislator from Providence, Rhode Island best known for being the first president of Brown University and one of its most involved founders. He was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. At the age of 18, he attended the Hopewell Academy in Hopewell, New Jersey under the direction of Reverend Isaac Eaton in preparation for his religious studies. In 1762, he graduated from the College of New Jersey, which would later become Princeton University. At Princeton, Manning studied under president Samuel Finley who served under a board of trustees that declared, "Our idea is to send into the World good Scholars and useful members of Society." One of the 130 graduates Finley sent out during his five-year presidency was, notably, the Rev. James Manning. He married Margaret Stites in the year of his graduation from Princeton and a few weeks after the marriage he was publicly ordained by the Scotch Plains, New Jersey Baptist Church.
In 1764, Manning was sent by the Philadelphia Baptist Association to found a college in Rhode Island, the cradle of American Baptists. Along with former Chief Justice of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Ward, John Brown, Nicholas Brown, Sr., Moses Brown, the Reverend Isaac Backus, the Reverend Samuel Stillman, and the Reverend Hezekiah Smith, Manning was one of the founders of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (now Brown University) during the British colonial period. The university charter was first drafted by later Yale College president and pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Newport Ezra Stiles. Manning served as Brown's first president from 1765 to 1791. He first ran the university at his parsonage and the Baptist meeting house in Warren, Rhode Island. The University moved to Providence in 1770 and during his tenure built its first buildings on college hill, with the help of the Brown family.
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