347 – Maninger and Cheney

Mark Jarvis

It was 1921. That’s when our Cheney and Maninger families were joined.

Ned Cheney and Emily Maninger met in Wichita Hospital where Ned was doing internships with his uncle and Emily was in nurses training.

Their relationship flourished and they decided to marry. Let’s follow along on their wedding day…

It was February 3. A Thursday. Morning dawned a cool 35 degrees, but it was sunny.

That morning, Ned Cheney and Emily Maninger boarded the interurban train in St. Louis bound for Waterloo, Illinois. A train left every 90 minutes, and the 22 mile trip to Waterloo took just over an hour. 

St. Paul’s Evangelical Church – Waterloo, Illinois

Traveling with Ned and Emily were George Powell and Pauline Everitt. George was Ned’s friend and classmate from Saint Louis University Medical School. Pauline graduated with Emily from Wichita Hospital School for Nurses. 

At Waterloo, the travelers walked the few blocks to St. Paul’s Evangelical Christian Church. There, Ned and Emily were married by Reverend G.F. Brink, longtime pastor. George and Pauline were their witnesses.

Marriage Certificate – Ralph Cheney and Emily Maninger

At that moment and in that place, our Cheney and Maninger families became one. 

Ralph “Ned” Cheney and Emily Maninger – 1921

A busy schedule

Just two days earlier, on Tuesday, February 1, Ralph Cheney had received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Saint Louis University Medical School.

Diploma – Ralph Edwin Cheney – Doctor of Medicine – Saint Louis University – 1921

Illinois didn’t have a 3-day waiting period to get a marriage license. So Ned and Emily married in Illinois on Thursday.

A busy year

The Salina Sun – August 6, 1921

By April 1921, the newlyweds were living in the household of Ned’s parents in Gypsum, Kansas. 

In August, they moved to Salina, Kansas and Ned opened a medical practice.

The Salina Daily Union – November 20, 1921

In November 1921, they had their first child, a daughter they named Mary Margaret.  

1921 was a watershed year for Ned and Emily Cheney. Their schooling was complete. World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic were in the rear view mirror. They were at home in Salina with a new medical practice and a new baby.

1921 was the first year of the Roaring Twenties, a decade of optimism for many. 

Maninger / Cheney

In an earlier series, we followed our Maninger family from 1700s Germany to 1920 Kansas.

This series tracked our Cheney ancestors from 1650s colonial Maryland to 1920 Kansas.

In 1921, the two families joined when Ned Cheney married Emily Maninger.

We’ve written series about our other ancestor family pairs – Jarvis/Webb, Teply/Kloppenberg, and Gallagher/Riley. The Maninger/Cheney series completes the stories of our eight great-grandparent families.

Each past series focused on a separate family, from their early history up to the 1920s or 1930s.

Our next series will follow all these grandparent families together as they encounter the Great Depression and World War II.

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