Mann, Stillman proprietor of the Russell House. Mr. Mann erected the stone part of his hotel in the summer of 1877; it is 25×48 feet, and three stories high. There is also a wooden addition, 26×68 feet. The hotel cost $7,000. Capacity is about seventy-five guests. He first came to Russell in April 1871, with the Northwestern Colony from Eastern Wisconsin; at that time there was only a section house in the place. He, in company with H. W. Tusten, built a small shanty, and both families lived in that until other arrangements could be made. Mrs. Mann first began to bake bread and sell it to settlers, and finally, after they got more room, they began to lodge people, and that is the way the Russell House first started.
The Northwestern Colony were citizens of Ripon, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, Wis. The biographies of the most active men in this colony will appear in the history of Russell County. Dr. C. W. Bond came with the colony, but remained only a short time and returned to Wisconsin. The only meat the settlers had for over two years was buffalo, deer, antelope and elk, which roamed over the plains in vast herds, and could be shot down in any direction.
Mr. Mann was born in Orange County, Vt., in 1825, where he lived until he was twenty-one years old. He went to Wisconsin in 1848, to Fond du Lac in 1852, where he embarked in the boot and shoe trade until 1857. He then clerked some time, then went to Ripon, Wis., and engaged in the grocery business two years, then to Pittsfield, Mass., and clerked in a boot and shoe house some time, then returned to Fond du Lac, Wis., in 1866, and went into the gents’ furnishing and clothing business until he came to Kansas, arriving with nothing but his family and able-bodied.
He was married in 1855 to Miss Sarah S. Hubbard, of Pittsfield, Mass. She died in 1865. He was again married in 1866 to Miss Addie L. Dunham, of Washington, Mass. They have two children – Roy E. and Gilbert H. Mr. Mann is an active member of the Congregational Church. He served four years as Justice of the Peace and Notary Public. He has been a member of the city school board two years. He is superintendent of the Sunday-school, and assisted to organize the Congregational Church, of which he is a member, in 1872.