John Laurens Manning IRBY, Congress, SC (1854-1900)

IRBY, John Laurens Manning, (great-grandson of Elias Earle and cousin of Joseph Haynsworth Earle), a Senator from South Carolina; born in Laurens, Laurens County, S.C., September 10, 1854; attended Laurensville Male Academy, Laurens, S.C., Princeton College, Princeton, N.J., in 1870-1871, and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville 1871-1873; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1875, commenced practice at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, S.C., returned to Laurens; appointed lieutenant colonel of the South Carolina Militia 1877; intendant of Laurens 1877; member, State house of representatives 1886-1892, serving as speaker in 1890; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1897; was not a candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Fifty-third Congress); subsequently an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1897 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his cousin Joseph H. Earle; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1895; resumed the practice of law and also engaged in agricultural pursuits; died in Laurens, S.C., on December 9, 1900; interment in the City Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present