I was born on the 22nd day of November, 1891 at Benjamin, Utah County, Utah,
to James Albert Manwill and Lucy Ann Taylor.  I have one brother, Loran Albert
Manwill.  He is 3 years 7 months 10 days older than I. We were the only two children in
the family.  As a small child I was a natural born alto singer.  As soon as I could carry a
tune, I could sing alto to it.  I started singing in public at two years of age and was called
on to sing in public very much until I left home to go off to work at 17 years of age. 
When I was three years old I remember taking a trip out into White River Country
beyond Soldier Summit, up Spanish Fork Canyon.  I remember this trip well.  We went to
visit Edward and Addie Cloward and son Roy.  In my early childhood I loved to visit
with my grandparents on both. sides.  I also loved to visit my Aunt Addie Cloward.  Her
son Roy was about five years older than I and all through the years he has been very dear
to me.  I wore dresses until I was three years old and I was 14 years old before I wore
long pants.  Before that we wore short knee pants.  We had a family picture taken when I
was three years old.  I remember where it was taken just as plain today as when it was
taken, It was in Payson, Utah in a tent studio.  The photographer was a man by the name
of Daniels.  As a small boy before I started to school I played a lot around the Benjamin
Slough south of town and there I learned to fish.  The stream was full of catfish, carp,
chub, perch, and bass.  There were also lots of frogs.  We used to roast their hind legs
over a rabbit-brush fire. (They were good. ) I started to school 2 months before I was 6
years old.  My first teacher was Nora Steward.  She had to stop me from catching and
kissing all the little girls.  I also liked to play in the water, so my hands were always
chapped and looked like toads backs.  Miss Steward held my hands up and let all the
other children look at them, so that night when I went home I told Mother that the
teacher held my hands up and bragged on them.  Some of the other teachers were Miss
Jones, Miss Huff, Miss Palmer, Willard Done and Leslie Hickman. (The last of my
schooling was under Leslie Hickman in the 7th and 8th grades. ) I was baptized 5 May
1901 and confirmed the same day by my Uncle Issac Hansen in the canal across the road
north from his house, at Benjamin, Utah.  I was ordained a deacon 7 December 1903 by
Hyrum Hand.  I graduated from school in 1906.  I was ordained a priest 27 December
1908 by B. M. Davis.  I was active in the deacons quorum and at one time I was in the
presidency of the quorum.  For some reason or other I missed the teachers quorum.  I
always loved to ice skate and was very good at it.  We had lots of good ice skating where
we lived.  I also learned to roller skate but not so well.  A lot of my past time was riding
horses as we always had a pony at home and in the winter time we went sleigh riding a
lot.  In the summer we did a lot of swimming.  I spent all my childhood days at
Benjamin, Utah.  In 1909 I left home to work.  Spent two years at Tintic, Utah where I
worked at the smelter and in the mines and in 1911 came home because Mother was very
sick.  The previous year father had sold his home at Benjamin, Utah and the folks were
now living in Spanish Fork.  Mother having improved much, I left in August, 1911 for
Mill City, Nevada to work on railroad construction work.  I spent the Christmas holidays
back in Spanish Fork and then went to Vale, Oregon where I continued to work until
April 1912, then I went to Richfield, Idaho and spent a day with my sweetheart, Mary E.
Flavel. (I had been going with her most of the time since 1911. ) After I saw her at
Richfield, I went to Twin Falls, Idaho where I went to work on a large ranch at Hollister -
just south of Twin Falls.  In 1912, August, I went back to Spanish Fork and shortly
after, in company of Joe Losser and wife, Orla Stewart and Jennie Hansen, I took Mary
Flavel and we spent two weeks in Strawberry Valley.  This was at the time the
Strawberry Reservoir was being built.  A couple of weeks later I went to Leamington,
Utah to work on construction work.  I worked for my Uncle Issac Hansen (The man who
baptized and confirmed me. ) After about one month I worked for a man named Wright,
then a little later I went to work for a man by the name of August Neilson on a ranch.  I
met his daughter Barta who I thought was very nice.  While there I contracted typhoid
fever and went home where I was sick for about 6 weeks and was in bed on my 21st
birthday.  My faithful sweetheart Mary Flavel came to see me often while I was sick and
I had visions of some day having her for my wife.  I had Christmas dinner with her the
first day I was out away from home after being sick.  In February 1913 I went to Castilla
up Spanish Fork Canyon to work on the railroad again.  Stayed there until April 1st when
I went home and through a girl friend, Dorothy Stoddard, I met a woman, Mrs.
Zuckworth, whose husband was a mill foreman at Garfield Mill (Arthur Plant).  She said
she would see that I got a job, so I went back with her and we met her husband in Salt
Lake.  I went out to Garfield and went to work that night.  It was a pretty good job so on
September 15, 1913, with $100 in my pocket, Mary and I were married in Provo, Utah.  I
had been out of the church so long I would not ask my Bishop for a recommend to go to
the Temple, so we were married in the Court House by an Elder of the church, Clarence
J. Wood.  Before marriage I had met many girls of whom I dated from time to time. 
Among these were Josephine Sheppard, Ruby Cahoon, Nell Matley, Pearl Evens, Ethel
Thomas, Pearl Simmons, Pricilla Ludlow, Carey Steward, Vera Cahoon, Lois Mace,
Pearl Ludlow, Ruby Nelson, Eve Wilkins, Minnie Creer, Fern Nesbit, and many others. 
After Mary and I were married, I still worked at Garfield, until March 1915 at which time
we left our job and went to Naf, Idaho where I purchased a 160 - acre ranch from Roy
Badger who lived at Stanrod, Utah, just across the Utahline.  Because of the fact we were
expecting a baby in July, I left my wife in Spanish, Fork and batched in Naf until July,
and as we had no water and my crops were a failure, I went back to Spanish Fork where I
went to work on the Orem Railroad who were building a line from Salt Lake to Payson,
Utah.  Our baby came on July 20, 1915 -- a lovely baby boy, whom we named Don
Flavel.  My father had given me a team -- old Pet and old Billy, so I bought a work horse
to go with Pet and had Billy for a buggy and riding horse.  I left them for a man to winter
for me while I was in Utah.  I worked on the railroad at Payson until the spring of 1916. 
Mary continued to stay with her folks at Spanish Fork so April 1st again I left and went
back to the ranch in Idaho and batched until May when father, who had just bought a new
Ford car, brought Mary and our son Don to live with me, That spring before Mary came
out, I had started singing with my brother Loran and two Bowen Boys.  We were a male
quartette and were practicing to contest in a male quartet in the Raft River Stake to see
who would contest against the winners of Cassia, Twin Falls, Boise Stakes.  We won
after contesting with a quartet from Malta and Almo.  This gave us a chance to contest at
Oakley against Oakley boys.  We won there which gave us the opportunity to go to Salt
Lake in June to contest Church-Wide.  In Salt Lake we contested against Salt Lake,
Provo, Ogden, Logan, and one from the Big Horn Stake.  In the tryouts we won a place
against Provo, for the finals.  We went to professor J. T. Hand, a young man born at
Benjamin, Utah, and a fellow who my brother and I had gone to school with.  He was a
real musician and gave our quartet some very good instructions.  Among the advice he
gave us was -- "Make a good start boys.  If you do, you can fall down a lot before a judge
will start marking you down.  " The morning of the finals, our quartet knelt down in
prayer and asked our Heavenly Father to help us to do our best.  We did not ask to win,
because the others were God's children also.  Well -- our 2nd tenor that morning had
developed a cold and could hardly speak above a whisper, but after a silent prayer we
started on the contest song.  His voice came back to him and by a narrow margin we won
the contest, Church-Wide male quartet.  This was a very fine testimony for me and
caused me to think and take more interest in the church.  A water shortage caused us to
have almost a crop failure again,. so in October 1916 we left for Richfield to spend the
winter.  We found out there was work and plenty of feed for our stock there.  We arrived
October 7th, I was employed by the Idaho Irrigation Company, -- also put two teams to
work.  We had planned to go back to Naf when spring came, but due to heavy snows we
were unable to get out in time to put in a crop at Naf, so I left Richfield April 1st for Naf
by train and bus and made arrangements with my brother Lo to put in my crop and I
would bring my outfit back and take care of the farm, so while there at Naf I decided to
go on to Spanish Fork and have my father bring me back when the weather would permit. 
So May lst he brought me and Mary's father, William Flavel, back to Richfield and while
on the way back I traded father my interest in the ranch at Naf for a team and harness, so
I decided to stay at Richfield, I had filed on a homestead at Naf (dry land) so I released
that filing and bought a filing from Elias Flavel at Richfield and filed on a homestead
there, which I later proved up on.  The summer of 1917 I worked for the Idaho Irrigation
Company again and went to work for a fellow named Earl Ragland.  He was from
Gooding and was a foreman for the company.  I had worked for him the fall before and
was his straw boss.  This same job he gave me this summer.  So when the water was
turned off that fall I came back to where we lived and went to work for Birney Powell on
the same kind of work for the same company.  The summer of 1917 I bought an 80-acre
place from Quet Johnson.  This was 6 miles north and 2 miles west from Richfield, and
in the spring of 1918 I bought a two room house and moved on to this place.  I also built
another room onto it.  While building this home I made up my mind to quit the tobacco
habit and have never tasted tobacco to date (1965).  In the summer of 1918 I bought my
first automobile -- it being a 1917 model "T" Ford.  It was a used car and I gave $350 for
it.  I farmed this place I had purchased through the seasons of 1918 and 1919 and that fall
I went to work again for Birney Powell as foreman.  He gave me a straw boss job but
only a few days later assistant chief engineer, Lathrop Crosby came and took me to town
and gave me a gang of my own to run.  The company had some tents so Mary, Don, and I
moved into a tent for the fall.  Mary got a job helping cook for a large camp run by Ed
Dayton.  We both stayed until it froze up that fall.  My brother-in-law, William Flavel
and myself went down to Wendell, Idaho to look for work.  The Idaho Power Company
was building a power plant at Thousand Springs, but they were full handed so I got a job
feeding sheep and working at a feed stable.  I got off for a few days and took my wife and
baby to Spanish Fork for Christmas and left them there to visit awhile and I returned to
Wendell.  I had been back there about two weeks when I received a telephone call from
my brother who then lived at Rupert.  He stated that our father had passed away in
Payson, Utah.  This was January 29, 1920, so that afternoon I got a bus to Gooding where
I caught the train and left for Utah.  My brother Lo met me at Minidoka and we traveled
together.  Father had passed away with flu-pneumonia.  We buried him January 31, 1920,
at Payson, Utah.  That night I came down with the flu and was sick for about three
weeks.  Mary and Don did not have it, but Mary's father, mother, sister Joyce and her two
children all had it.  We didn't try to go home until spring.  We left Spanish Fork about the
middle of March and drove father's car back so Lo could have it.  Lo did not have a car of
his own and I did have one.  The spring of 1920 I rented 160 acres that lay just across the
road north of my 80 acres.  This belonged to Kilpatrick Brothers of Picabo.  I hired a man
by the name of Whitmore Wright and gave him $90 a month and board, also Sundays off. 
I had only 8 days of water that summer, so I had to lay off my hired man and I had to go
to Picabo and work in the hay to get money to pay off my hired man, so when fall came I
was in bad shape financially.  In April 1920 I was elected to the North End School Board,
which office I held until I moved into town in 1921.  May 2, 1920 after the missionaries
from Carey had gone over the Richfield Tract, they decided there were enough L. D. S. to
organize a branch of the Carey Ward, so on this date Bishop E. C. Rawson of Carey came
down to organize.  We had received an invitation to come in, and I guess out of curiosity
we went to witness the organization.  Wm.  R. Robinson, manager of the Consolidated
Wagon and Machine Company was chosen branch president with Louis J. Johnson as
first counselor and myself as the second counselor.  This surely came as a great surprise
to me, as I was still a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.  This began my come back in the
church.  I was ordained an Elder, July 18, 1920, and took my wife and five year old boy
to the Logan Temple where they were sealed to me for time and eternity on September 8,
1920.  Because of water shortage and crop failure I moved into town and worked for W.
R. Robinson at the Consolidated Wagon and Machine Co. beginning about October 1st.  I
rented my farm to L. G. Metcalf and continued to work here for C. W. & M. until 1923
when they went out of business and moved most of their stock out.  I then went to work
for the Big Wood Canal Company who had taken over the project from the Idaho
Irrigation Co. I had a chance to go with C. W. & M. but Mary and I decided to stay with
my church job, as on June 12, 192I I had been put in as Branch President.  Meanwhile, on
February 18, 1921 was born to us a lovely baby girl, and never having had a sister, I
surely prized her very much.  She was bothered with colic for about two months and I
walked the floor with her from about 7 P. M. until 11 P. M. every night.  Then when she
got over that, she was a good baby and never caused us any trouble throughout her life
and was no more trouble than a rag doll.  This baby was named Lois.  On June 18, 1923 I
received my patriarchal blessing under the hands of Patriarch Edward Davis of Carey,
Idaho.  We took our first car trip through Boise Valley in August 1924.  In December,
1925, William T. Flavel and myself took advantage of a cent-a-mile excursion to Los
Angeles.  It cost us $20 each for a round trip ticket.  We spent two weeks on this trip and
it was at this time that we both first saw the Pacific Ocean, In June 1925, I entered the L.
D. S. Hospital in Salt Lake City and was operated on for a hernia, and as I was not able to
work upon my return home, I took my family along with my wife's mother Rosetta
Flavel, on a trip through Yellowstone Park, and later in the summer we spent a week
camping and fishing in the mountains at Bear Valley.  In 1927, I was elected a member
of the Richfield Village Board, and resigned before the end of my second term. , I
worked for Big Wood Canal Co. until August 1st, 1928, at which time I went to work for
Richfield Elevator Company as warehouseman under the managership of Floyd Stuart, at
a salary of $125. 00 per month.  Thirteen months later Mr. Stuart left and I was put in
manager in his place.  The company decided it would be best to move me to Fairfield to
manage an office there, and ask me to arrange my affairs so that I could go right away. I
resigned as Branch President of the Church and Earl Crowther replaced me. But because
of the wonderful success I had in managing the Elevator.  The Elevator Co. decided to
leave me in Richfield.  While I was still Branch President, I had purchased some lots and
started a new church building.  Crowther, taking my place, continued to build and had the
building all enclosed when his father became ill in Provo, Utah, and he resigned and
moved to Utah.  My mother passed away at Salem, Utah December 1928.  She died of
pneumonia.  My first Model "A." car--glassed in type was purchased in February 1929. 
Ila was born June 26, 1929 -another lovely baby girl, at Gooding, Idaho. When Earl
Crowther resigned as Branch President in May 18, 1930, I was sustained in his place, W.
L. Adamson officiated because we were then an independent branch.  I took up the work
of construction on the church and saw it to completion.  Up until this time we held our
meetings in various buildings around town.  I purchased my next Model "A" car in 1931
(a Ford), and I purchased my first Chevrolet in 1934.  Richfield Branch was made a Ward
on July 28, 1935 and at that time I was chosen as the first Bishop of Richfield Ward.  In
June 1935, I was again operated on for a hernia in Salt Lake City.  I bought my first
Dodge car in 1936.  I was released as Bishop October 24, 1937 and was put in the Stake
High Council January 30, 1938.  I served 4 1/2 years on the Richfield School Board, the
last year as chairman of the board, ending my term in 1939.  My 2nd Dodge car was
bought in 1938, also in January 1938 our son Don was called on a mission to the
Northwestern States with headquarters in Portland, Oregon.  I was elected to the Idao
State Senate in November 1940 and served four consecutive terms of 2 years each.  This
was a wonderful experience, as I was the first L. D. S. Senator to ever go from Lincoln
County.  In 1941 I bought a new Oldsmobile, and in December of this same year, our
daughter Lois left on a mission to the Eastern States, with headquarters in New York
City.  On September 1944, I was put in as President of the Blaine Stake by Harold B. Lee. 
It was revealed to me by inspiration that I was to be the new Stake President.  During this
time our son Don was serving in the armed services, having gone into the Army in June
1943.  He served for two and three-quarters years with 8 months of this time spent in
Okinawa, and some time in Korea.  On April 8, 1946, our daughter Lois, was married in
the Salt Lake Temple to John A, Larsen of Salt Lake.  We were privileged to witness this
marriage.  Then on March 21, 1947, Don was married to Mary Barraclough of Boise. 
This was solemnized in the Idaho Falls Temple.  We were also privileged to witness this
marriage.  Our youngest daughter, Ila was married to Wm.  Grayson Gurr in the Salt Lake
Temple on October 27, 1950, and we were likewise privileged to attend this wedding. 
March 9, 1952.  I was released as Stake President and put in as Stake Patriarch of the
Blaine Stake, under the hands of Elder Harold B. Lee which position I now still hold
(1965).  Continued working at the Richfield Elevator until January 1, 1957, at which time
I retired under the Social Security System.  In 1949 we bought a new Ford car, and that
same year I was again operated on for a hernia in Salt Lake City Hospital.  In 1955 I
bought my first Pontiac and in 1957 I bought another one.  Right now I am awaiting
delivery of my 3rd new Pontiac (April 1958).  In June 1956 I was operated on for the 4th
time at the L. D. S. Hospital for a hernia at Salt Lake City.  In 1963 in September it was
our 50th wedding anniversary and all of our children and grand children participated on a
program to which all of Richfield was invited.

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