Manson
Lafayette Banks, M.D. was born on May 19, 1831 to Gerard Banks, Jr. and
Melinda Smith Banks. He
was a student at
Zion
Seminary
School
for some years between 1847 and 1859. The 1850
Simpson
County
,
Mississippi
Census, lists him as a 19 year old student apparently living alone. He attended
Washington
University
,
College
of
Medicine
,
St.
Louis
,
Missouri
and also studied for one year at the
University
of
Louisiana
Medical
.
He apprenticed with Dr. G.J.D. Funches of
Westville
,
MS
. Then
he returned to
Columbia
to practice and thus became one of the first – if not the
first – medical school graduate physician to practice there.
Manson
was rejected for military service in the Civil War, but served as a
civilian doctor at
Vicksburg
. He
first married Sophronia Bridges, who died of child bed fever following
the birth of their first child in 1860. In
1861, he married Emily Flora Fenn. They had a home on North Main Street
in Columbia and he maintained an office in a frame building on the
property.
When
it became necessary to cut down his practice, he moved his office into
a small building in the front yard of his home. Later when he had
ceased to practice he allowed a transient and his son to sleep in the
office one night and a charcoal heater caused the building to catch
fire. While the man and his son escaped without injury the building,
his books, all of his records and instruments were lost.
Manson
Lafayette Banks, M.D. died January 9, 1908. He
is buried in the
City
Cemetery
,
Columbia
,
Mississippi
.
Emily
Flora Fenn was born April 4, 1939 to
Levi & Elizabeth (Graham) Fenn. On
February
13, 1861
at age 21, Emily Flora Fenn married Manson Lafayette Banks, M.D.Emily
Fenn Banks died February 17,
1914. She is buried in the
City
Cemetery
,
Columbia
,
Mississippi
.The
following pictures were taken on Manson
& Emily Banks' wedding day.
