Ms. Ochs in her wild and interesting note wrote that Dr. James Emory, my grandfather's grandfather had changed his name as was actually named Manely (James Emory Manley). She mentions two brothers
As you can see from the reference above, these two brother did seem to exist. One in Mt Carmel, F C Manley and other Perry in Siloom (sic) -- Salam?
This was in 1860, and James Emory Manley was supposed to have done his bad deed in 1864. I could not find him in the Wabash County census data at all. Otherwise everything Ms. Ochs wrote where I can check, seems to pan out.
On top of that, Dad wrote in some notes I found, that Dr. James Emory was born in Mt. Carmel. I now would be inclined to think Illinois?
As can be seen from above, I have checked the census data for Wabash county, and as luck would have it, 1860 was availble. I found both the brothers
Next steps: I will try to track down the family one generation earlier and also to see if a James E Manley existed in Illinois maybe in 1850 or 1840. Wish me luck!