| A lot of myth is mixed in with the facts about Dr. John Manners. One source claimed he was the personal physician of Thomas Jefferson. Lequear wrote: Dr. John Manners, born 1785, studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia. He practiced at Clinton for several years. He married a daughter of Judge Cooper, and gave up medicine for law. He was a member of the State Senate for three years, and during a part of the time was President of that body. He left no issue. Snell has that he: was a physician as well as a lawyer, born in Hunterdon Co. in 1786. He was the son of John and Rachel Manners. After a full course in the College of NJ, he entered the Medical Dept. of the Univ. of Penn, from which he received his degree of M.D. in 1812. Soon after, he was licensed to practice in NJ. He located at Flemington, but subsequently removed to a handsome country-seat near Clinton, this county, to which he gave the name of "Belvoir". Having married (1810) a daughter of Dr. Thomas Cooper, of South Carolina, he was brought into intimate relations with many eminent Southerners, which developed in him an admiration for Southern character and customs, and led him to make Belvoir, as near as he could, the model of a Southern homestead. He became a member of the County Medical Society in 1836. His latter years were devoted more to law than to physic. He died June 24, 1853, and by will he prescribed his place of burial .... In his will he indicated that he had a race horse named "The Marques of Granby" which is the title of the Earl of Rutland. He is buried in Mercer Cemetery in Trenton, along with his wife Eliza in lot 10 S - 1 + 2W. "Belvoir" is the name of the Manners family castle at Oakham, Rutland, England. He was in the Class of 1808 from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and 1812 from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. According to the records at Princeton, he did not graduate with that class, but did receive an honorary degree in 1816. He was a Senator from Hunterdon County 1850-52. As President of the Senate in 1852, Dr. John was instrumental in the passage of the "Married Women's Property Act." This Act was the first in New Jersey to insure that a woman's property was her own "sole and separate" of her husband's. Dr. John did study with Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. It is interesting that Dr. Rush's daughter married a Major Thomas Manners who was an Englishman of the Rutland Manners. Dr. John was a cousin and neighbor of the descendants of John Hart (1707?-1779), another of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. As for being the personal physician of the Author of the Declaration, well, perhaps the legend arose from the fact that Dr. John corresponded with former President Jefferson. Below are links to his letters and Jefferson's replies. |
| Doctor John Manners |
| CLASSIFICATION IN NATURAL HISTORY To Thomas Jefferson, Esq. January 24, 1814 To Dr. John Manners February 22, 1814 |
| THE RIGHT OF EXPATRIATION To Thomas Jefferson L.L.D. May 20, 1817 To Dr. John Manners June 12, 1817 |