John Mann was born January 9, 1747, at County Antrim, Ireland.  He immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1774 on the ship Sally.  His occupation was listed as a “Groom,” which family legend records he was a cabin boy.

John Mann was a private and a fifer in the Revolutionary War in the companies of Captains James Wilson, Robert Wilson of Colonel Irvine’s Sixth Battalion, Seventh Regiment of the Pennsylvania Continental Line.  He was listed in the Muster Rolls of Valley Forge.  Mann not only survived that harsh winter, but he endured a crude method of inoculation against smallpox called variolation, per the command of General George Washington.  He was ill for about a month, but then had some immunity to the fatal disease.

After his military service, John married Annie Dean of New York in 1785.  They were the parents of five children:  John Jr., Jane, Alexander, William and Samuel.  They resided on his 171 acres of land at Huntington, Pennsylvania. 

By 1814, Mann moved his family to Ohio.  In that year, as one of the original land purchasers of Richland County, he purchased 326 acres.  By the summer of 1815, Mann obtained an additional 160 acres in the northern part of Washington Township and into Madison Township.  Mann obtained his property at two dollars per acre.

Mann partnered with other local businessmen and established the bank at Mansfield as Richland and Huron Bank.  They did a great deal of business and printed notes that were later declared invalid because of an improper charter.  Consequently, they were sued by several residents, including each other!  

John Mann died January 11, 1824.  He was buried at the West Grave Yard, located at West First Street and South Mulberry Street at Mansfield.  The town expanded, and property was needed.  Family members were requested to move individuals to the new Mansfield Cemetery that opened in 1845.  John Mann was disinterred and moved to the Mansfield Cemetery, May 2, 1855.