Manly Graves Langston was the first to be given the name Manly. The origin of the name remains a mystery – there are no family members before him with the name, and it was not especially common in 1872 (or ever, for that matter). The middle name Graves is also a mystery. Based on available records, it appears that he went by his given name.
He was the son of Joab Marion Langston and Mary Cleveland Wilson, raised in Six Mile, Alabama where he worked in the lumber business and later as a dry goods merchant. He married Ruby Otis Frost in 1894 and they had a son named…
Manly Frost Langston. He was called Frost as a child – probably to reduce confusion in the house! Later in life he was called Snow by everyone who knew him.
Frost/Snow was an only child, born 1898 in Six Mile, Alabama. He was a general practice physician and Chief of Staff at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His real name was certainly known, since it was displayed on a metal plaque above their mailbox. He and his wife Gladys Virginia Rickles lived on Signal Mountain, TN where they raised three children – the youngest of whom was…
Manly Frost Langston, Jr. According to Southern Living magazine, Buddy is a nickname for “brother” and it’s commonly used in the South. This Manly went by Buddy his whole life; his name tag read “Dr. Buddy Langston” when he worked as a cardiologist in San Francisco, and it’s likely that many of his friends didn’t know his real name until they read his obituary. He and his wife didn’t name their son Manly, but they did give him the middle name Frost, which has carried forward to Buddy’s grandson as well.