John W. Manges
Hon. John W. Manges, Representative in the Ohio State Legislature from Allen County, was born near Somerset, Perry County, Ohio, March 1, 1857, and is a son of Peter and Mary (Staats) Manges. The grandparents of Mr. Manges were Pennsylvania Dutch. They came to Ohio about 1832-33, locating at Circleville, Pickaway County. Peter Manges was born in Pennsylvania, January 1, 1830, and he was 15 years old before he had mastered the English language. He died at Bluffton, Ohio, in October, 1898, aged 68 years. He was a farmer and a veterinarian, and during the last 15 years of his life he practiced his profession to the exclusion of other occupations. He had three brothers and two sisters. He married Mary Staats, who was born in Perry County, Ohio, and died in Allen County in 1863. They had these children: Harriet, who is the wife of T. L. Goble, of Paulding County; Amanda, who married Rufus Parker, of Charlottesville, Virginia; John W. of Allen County; Rachel, who died aged 16 years; and Charles J., of Bluffton.
In the spring of 1861, the parents of the subject of this biography came to Allen County and settled on a farm near West Cairo. He remained with his father on that and other farms in Northern Ohio until his marriage when he located at Beaver Dam. His education had not been neglected in the meantime and after finishing school he taught for 15 terms in Allen County. In addition to his farm interests he has engaged in the fire insurance business; but for so long a period has he been a public official that much of his time has been consumed in attending to the various duties imposed upon him. For 20 years he has been clerk of the School Board of Beaver Dam, was village clerk for six years, mayor for four years, township clerk for two terms and for the same period was township trustee, and is now serving his fourth term as justice of the peace. In 1901 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent Allen County in the State Legislature, and his course at Columbus met with public approval to such an extent that he was reelected in 1903. He has served on a number of important committees, at all times looking out for the interests of his community, and has done excellent work on the taxation committee, the dairy and food committee and on the committee which looks after the affairs of the sailors' and soldiers' orphans.
Mr. Manges was married in Wood County, Ohio, March 27, 1884, to Lizzie Plowright, who was born April 10, 1856, and died January 18, 1905. She was a daughter of Henry and Mary (Cross) Plowright, natives of England, who came to Allen County, Ohio, moved to Monroeville, Huron County, and finally to Wood County. Mr. and Mrs. Manges have had five children, namely: Flora M.; Layton; Charles, who died aged four and a half years; Byron and George.
For 30 years Mr. Manges has been a member of the Church of Christ, in which he has been an elder for a quarter of a century. His fraternal relations are with the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.