My Genealogy Hound

ALBERT B. MANN of Toronto has for thirty years been a resident of Woodson county. He was born in Sidney, Shelby county, Ohio, October 10, 1839. His father, Albert Mann, was a native of New Hampshire, born on the 1st of May, 1813, and was a son of Alexander Mann, who came to New Hampshire from Ireland while a boy. He was a highly educated gentleman who became a leading and influential citizen of New Hampshire, where he spent his remaining days. His wife was a daughter of Captain Joseph Parker, who commanded the company that drew the first fire at the battle of Lexington. Albert Mann, the father of our subject, was married in Boston, Massachusetts, to Miss Mary Harvey. He died in Wichita, Kansas, December 11, 1874, and his wife passed away in Chicago, on the 20th of August, 1877. He had been educated in the common schools and in an academy, and afterward pursued a course of medicine, practicing his profession in Lexington, Delaware county, Ohio, and later in Knoxville, Illinois. In 1873 he came to Kansas, and in the Sunflower state spent his remaining days. In politics he was first a whig, afterward an advocate of the freesoil party and later, when the republican party sprang into existence, he joined its ranks. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Mann were as follows: A. B., of this review, is the eldest; Harvey of Springfield, Illinois, was a member of the Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry. During the Civil war he served as hospital steward until April, 1864, when he was made assistant surgeon and in March, 1865, was appointed surgeon. On the expiration of his term of enlistment he joined the United States regular army as assistant surgeon and was stationed in the department of the Platte until May, 1867, when he was ordered to Vicksburg, Mississippi. He served in Arkansas and in Mississippi until 1869 when he came to Toronto, Kansas, and here practiced his profession while waiting for an assignment. He was next ordered to Fort Stephenson, Dakota, and afterward to Collinsville, South Carolina. He accompanied General Custer’s command to the Yellowstone and Black Hills country and was severely wounded in an engagement with the Indians at the Grand river agency in Dakota. In 1876 he located in Chicago, turning his attention to the practice of medicine. Afterward he came to Toronto where he resided until 1896. During the Spanish-Cuban war was surgeon of an immune regiment and in charge of general hospital at Key West, and since that time has been a resident of Springfield, Illinois. Mary A., the third member of the family, is the wife of Captain Samuel West, a resident of Boulder, Colorado. George is a practicing dentist at Waco, Texas. Hiram is living in Phoenix, Arizona. Mrs. Laura Barker, the youngest member of the family, makes her home in Toronto.

Albert Buchanan Mann, whose name introduces this review, pursued his education in the public schools and when eighteen years of age began teaching. He followed that business for three years and during two years of the time was employed in the graded schools of Knoxsville, Illinois. He had resided for ten years in Richland county, Ohio, before leaving the Buckeye state for Illinois, at the age of nineteen. On abandoning teaching he joined the army, becoming a member of Company E, of the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the spring of 1864. He was at the front five months when his health failed and he was therefore discharged. Returning to Illinois he engaged in merchandising at Knoxville, carrying on a dry goods establishment throughout a period of six years. In April, 1870, he came to Toronto, bringing with him a stock of goods which he disposed of to the residents of Woodson county, and the following year he located upon his farm.

On the 19th of December, 1867, in Knoxville, Illinois, Mr. Mann was united in marriage to Miss Martha H. Arms, whose father, Henry Arms, was one of the pioneer settlers of Knox county, Illinois, removing to that place from Massachusetts. Unto our subject and his wife have been born three children: George Albert, born September 11, 1868; Harry, born October 5, 1870; and William H., who was born January 9, 1872, and married Miss Lena Dearland.

No one has reason to question Mr. Mann’s political position for it is well known that he is a stalwart republican, having supported that party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and his last vote was cast for President McKinley in 1900. In 1874 he was elected to the Kansas legislature and served in that body the following year. He has twice been trustee of Toronto township and is a member of the Toronto school board. He has attended republican conventions and does all in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of his party, realizing fully the responsibilities and obligations of citizenship. He holds membership in the Presbyterian church in which he has served as elder, and all worthy movements for the benefit of his fellow men and substantial development of his county receive his support.