J.
J. Manker
Rev. J. J. Manker, D. D., dean of the school of theology, and professor of
systematic theology in Chattanooga University, was born December 24, 1839. His
father was Rev. John Manker, who located in Ohio when a young man, and married
Miss Sarah Wright. This union was blessed by the birth of seven children-four
sons and three daughters. For a livelihood he followed mercantile and
agricultural pursuits. Besides this he wielded great influence for good by
locally ministering to the spiritual welfare of his fellow man. The mother, too,
was a worthy Christian, both being of the Methodist persuasion. They lie buried
in the Buckeye State. Our subject had good educational advantages. After
completing his high school course he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University in
1858, but at the breaking out of the war he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-fourth
Ohio Zouave as a private. Step by step he arose until he was commissioned
captain of Company B, Fiftieth Ohio Regiment; his entire service extended over a
period of nearly three years. After the war he entered East Tennessee Wesleyan
University, from which he graduated in 1870 with the degree of A. B. In 1871 he
received the honorary degree of A. M. from his first alma mater, the Ohio
Wesleyan University, and in 1882 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by
the University of Tennessee. During his course he had opportunities for
teaching, and upon graduating was elected professor of Greek in that university,
which position he filled for three years when he resigned and was made presiding
elder of the Knoxville District. In 1880 he was sent to the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Chattanooga, and during his pastorate the magnificent stone church was
erected. He was afterward appointed presiding elder of Chattanooga District, and
in 1886 took his present position. In 1864 he married Miss Julia Tarbell, only
sister of Judge David Tarbell, of Georgetown, Ohio. She died in 1880, leaving
five children-four sons and one daughter. Rev. J. J. Manker was a member of the
general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1876 and 1884, and of
the Centennial Conference of Methodism at Baltimore in 1884. He was a member
of the General Missionary and Church Extension Committee from 1876 to 1880. He
is a Knight Templar, being at present Grand Prelate of the State of Tennessee.
Goodspeed's
"History of East Tennessee" 1887