McManus was the grand­son of a Re­vo­lu­tion­a­ry War cap­tain and a French wo­man who had known the Mar­quis de La­fay­ette. In 1863, his fam­i­ly moved to Marsh Brook Farm, and he spent the re­main­der of his life there. He grad­u­at­ed from the me­di­cal coll­ege in Fort Wayne, In­di­a­na, and stu­died an ad­di­tion­al year at the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Mi­chi­gan, though he opt­ed for a ca­reer in writ­ing ra­ther than me­di­cine. He con­trib­ut­ed to Puck, the Bos­ton Tran­script, the De­troit Free Press, the New York In­de­pen­dent, the Bur­ling­ton Hawk Eye, and the Ram’s Horn and, from 1893-95, served as an In­di­a­na state sen­a­tor. His works in­clude:

• Rural Rhymes, 1898

• Stulken, p. 221

1. Love Con­se­crates the Hum­blest Act