August 16, 2025

THE BLOOR HOUSE, Alfred Sutton Bloor and Martha Wainwright Bloor

Who were Alfred and Martha Bloor and how could they build such an expensive home in Manor?

Bloor house - 709 Lexington Street, Manor, TX


Alfred Sutton Bloor
Alfred Sutton Bloor was born January 18, 1850, most likely in Clarion, Pennsylvania. The 1850 U.S. Census shows him as a 6 month old living in Clarion, PA. (about 60 miles NE of Pittsburgh) His father was James Holbrook Bloor and his mother was Harriet (Sutton) Bloor.

According to a family history, James H. Bloor is said to have disappeared sometime around 1863, however, there is no date or location given for his death or burial. Alfred's mother died June 20, 1864 and was buried in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, PA. 

Due to the fact that Alfred was only 14 1/2 years old at that time, his mother's brother; Richard Bishop Sutton was appointed by the court to be guardian of Alfred, his brother, James and their sister, Theodosia. Alfred, James and Theodosia went to live with their grandmother, Ann Sutton, in Pittsburgh, PA.

During the March, 1867 term of the Allegheny County, PA. Orphans Court, Ann Sutton and Richard B. Sutton filed a petition to be allowed to sell all of the property owned by Harriet Bloor, deceased, and James H. Bloor, whereabouts unknown. Court records state the following; 

"But your petitioner further represents that Harriet Bloor was married on the 23rd day of September, A. D. 1847 to James H. Bloor and that said James H. Bloor had for nine years previous to the death of his wife willfully deserted his wife and children and neglected to provide in any manner for their support and that for five years previous to the death of Harriet Bloor his wife, no intelligence had been received of him, nor has any been received since by your petitioner, nor by any member of the decedents family."

The same year that his mother died, 1864, Alfred enrolled as a student at Pittsburgh Central High School. In the late 1860's he was apparently studying to be a lawyer. A publication titled "The Twentieth Century Bench and Bar of Pennsylvania" published in 1903, states: "Alfred Sutton Bloor was registered April 10, 1867, admitted February 25, 1871..."The Pittsburgh Legal Journal of May 31, 1871 shows Alfred Bloor involved in a divorce case at his office at 85 Grant Street in Pittsburgh.


Martha Wainwright Bloor
Alfred married Martha Wainwright - probably in 1873 - probably in Pittsburgh, PA. Martha was 
born July 28, 1849 in Pittsburgh, PA. (both were 23-24 years old) 

Martha was the daughter of Zachariah Wainwright and Elvira (Phillips) Wainwright. The Wainwrights would have been considered a rather wealthy family in that day and time and this is where Martha got much of her money. According to Martha Bloor's probate records, when she married Alfred she was given "a gift of a considerable sum of money" by her mother, Elvira Wainwright.

Zachariah Wainwright died in April, 1871 leaving quite a large estate to his widow and children. In addition to other properties, he owned a nine-acre parcel of land in Pittsburgh, which included Wainwright's Island in the Allegheny River. (noted as being the place George Washington spent one night in 1753)

In 1882, the Pittsburgh Junction Railway Company purchased a part of the Wainwright property 
for a total of $140,000 so the railroad could build a bridge across the Allegheny River.

When Elvira Wainwright wrote her will in March, 1902, she left $10,000 to each of her 12 
grandchildren, and $10,000 to her daughter Martha BIoor. All the rest of her estate was to be 
divided equally between Martha Bloor and her sister, Annie Abbott. An inventory of Elvira's estate 
after her death in 1904 valued it at $140,000.

David B. Sutton was Alfred Bloor's mother's uncle. He was never married and at the time of his 
death he had no surviving family members. He also had not written a will. When he died March 3, 
1895, his estate was valued at $1,034,903. In February, 1897, Alfred Bloor and his sister, Theodosia Bingham were each given $25,000 from David B. Sutton's estate. According to Martha's probate records, written by her son, Bertram H. Bloor, who was a lawyer in Austin, Sutton also left Alfred Bloor $130,988.39. Alfred gave Martha $75,000 of that money to be her separate property.

Alfred Bloor's grandmother, Ann Sutton, died May 12, 1889. She wrote her Last Will and Testament on August 2, 1883. In provision 3 of her will, she left him $2,000. All this indicates that Alfred and Martha Bloor both came from families of considerable wealth.

Deed records show that Alfred and Martha Bloor, John R. and Ella W. Cooper, as well as Elvira Wainwright were in Austn, TX as early as March, 1878. Records filed in Travis County, TX as well as Allegheny County, PA show Elvira Wainwright selling property in Pittsburgh, PA to Ella Cooper and her sister, Annie Abbott on March 25, 1878. Alfred and Martha Bloor were witnesses to the signing of those documents. 

Deed records also show that Alfred and Martha Bloor, along with John R. and Ella Wainwright Cooper, purchased 906 acres of land in Travis County on June 19, 1878 from George Armistead for
$4,094.90. This land was about 3 miles south of the town of Manor. Martha would end up buying
this land again about 17 years later, for an even higher price. Here's how that happened;

Ella Cooper was Martha Bloor's sister. John and Ella had a son, Paul Wainwright Cooper, who 
according to genealogical records, was born May 21, 1878. This would make him about 1 month 
old when the property in Travis County was first purchased in 1878. Ella died October 14, 1879 at the age of 21 or 22 years old, leaving John as administrator of her estate, and Paul, who was one and one half years old, as heir, along with his father, to one half of the 906 acres.

At some point, John Cooper went back to Pennsylvania. In January, 1895 Martha Bloor went to 
court in Travis County to get the 906 acres legally divided between the Bloors and the Coopers. 
The court appointed men called commissioners to examine the land and make a fair and even
division of the property. Unfortunately, those commissioners said that because the land was
irregular in shape and the surface was rough and unbroken, a division of the land was impractical.

The court ordered the Travis County Sheriff to seize the land and sell it to the highest bidder. William L. Abbott, guardian of Paul Cooper, was authorized by the Orphans Court to bit a maximum of $700 per acre, using monies from the estate of Paul Cooper.  The sale was held in February, 1895 with Martha Bloor being the highest bidder at $6,025.00. Paul W. Cooper who was still a minor at that time and living in Pennsylvania, would receive his share of the sale price which was controlled by his father who was administrator of Paul's estate. 

Back to 1878: Alfred and Martha, along with their two sons, David Sutton Bloor and Alfred 
Wainwright Bloor, moved into a log cabin on the banks of Gilleland Creek. They built another 
house a short distance away and lived there while four more sons were born, and then moved again 
when they built their new home on Lexington Street in Manor. 
Old Log Cabin - Bloor Ranch - 1878

It appears that Alfred had given up his law practice in favor of raising sheep and cattle on his 
newly acquired land in Texas. Travis County tax assessment records from 1891 show that he owned 700 sheep. News from Manor printed in the June 24,1892 edition of The Austin American newspaper said, "Mr. A. S. Bloor left yesterday for Chicago with two cars of sheep." 1893 Travis County tax assessment records show that he owned no sheep that year.

When the Bloor house was built in 1897, it was actually not in the town of Manor. A man named 
Addison Earldom Lane had purchased 38.75 acres of land from James Manor in 1879. In February, 1897 Martha Bloor bought a piece of this property 250 feet square from A. E. Lane. The purchase price of the land was $1,900. It was just outside of, but adjacent to the town of Manor, bordering on 
Rector Street. There were no streets north of Rector Street at that time. The deed record states that Mr. Lane agreed to lay out a street an the north side of the property that was 60 feet wide and also on the east and west sides of the property that were 80 feet wide.

When Mr. Lane officially added his 38.75 acres to the town of Manor in 1912, those east and west 
streets became extensions of the already existing Lexington and Caldwell Streets and the street on the north side of the property was named Lane Avenue.

The Austin Daily Statesman newspaper printed this on July 19, 1897; 
The Austin Weekly Statesman newspaper followed with this update on August 12, 1897;


A contract was signed with Charles P. Ledbetter and work was begun. While most of the homes in Manor were wood frame buildings, the Bloor house was covered in brick that was supplied by the Elgin Press Brick Company, just a few miles down the road in Elgin. The house had 4 chimneys and 7 fireplaces. (most other homes, including that of James Manor had only 1 chimney and 1 or 2 fireplaces, depending on whether they were one or two story buildings)

Bloor house - under construction, 1897
In addition to the main dwelling, three other buildings were constructed. One was a two-story frame house, 24x40 feet in area which was built as a gymnasium for the children in the family. This building is visible in the 1897 construction photo above. 

Bloor house - gymnasium at the corner of West Lane Avenue and North Caldwell Street

Another, 18x20 feet in area, was to be the carriage house. 

Bloor house - carriage house on the West Lane Avenue side of the property

The third was a 10x12 frame building used as a garden house. 

Bloor house - garden house at the rear of the main house
A total of 89,77O bricks were purchased for constructing the house - costing $748.10. How do we
know this? On February 24, 1898, Morgan F. Smith, who was Secretary & Treasurer of the Elgin Press Brick Company, filed a mechanics lien against Mr. A. Vogle. who was a sub contractor doing the brick work on the house. There was still an unpaid balance of $434.10 for the bricks used in building the house. (Travis County Deed Records - Mechanics Liens 123, pages 624-625) The mechanics lien erroneously shows the house to be located on "Livingston" street.

Apparently the past-due balance was paid at some time because the Bloor family moved into the
house in 1898. Unfortunately, Alfred Bloor enjoyed the new home only a short time, dying on November 24, 1899. He was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.

A family genealogy website says that after Alfred died in 1899, the family returned to Pittsburgh
for a short period of time. The Galveston Daily News printed this on March 19, 1900; "Mrs. A. S.
Bloor and family left this week for Pittsburgh, PA. to spend the spring and summer..."The 1900 U.S.
Census, taken on June 5th, shows Martha and her four sons living at 219 Winebiddle Street, Pittsburgh, PA. This is the former home of Alfred's grandmother, Ann Sutton, where Alfred and his siblings went to live after the death of their parents in 1863-1864.

They had apparently returned to Manor by at least July 26, 1901 when their son, Grant, age 16, died and was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Austin.

Bloor House, circa 1908
Martha continued to live in the home until her death on February 7, 1928. She was buried next to Alfred in the Oakwood Cemetery. According to her probate records, her estate was valued at 
$247,196.28. She owed debts of only $6,700.

Ownership of the house then passed to her son, Bertram H. Bloor; Sr. who was a lawyer in Austin.
The house was rented out to various local residents until 1951. At that time Lillian Shockley 
bought the house with a deed of trust made out to the Austin National Bank.

In late 1951, Lillian Shockley opened a rest home in the Bloor house. It was called,  "Shockley's 
Sheltering Arms". She operated the rest home until August, 1953, at which time she sold it to 
Chester Foster and it became known as Foster's Rest Home.

The Elgin Courier newspaper,
August 20, 1953
The Elgin Courier newspaper, 
August 28, 1952






















The dates are not exactly clear, but at some point the Bloor house was placed in trust with the
Austin National Bank and when Bertram H. Bloor, Sr. died November 18, 1953, the house was
inherited by his son and daughter, Bertram H. Bloor, Jr. and Anne Shryver. In 1960 they sold the
house to Thomas and Anne Bowdy. That ended the Bloor family connection to the house.

The Bowdy's sold the house to Sidney and Evelyn Donnell in 1977. In 1982, the Donnell's 
submitted an application to the Texas Historical Commission for a historical marker for the house. 
The application was approved on January 7, 1983. The marker is fastened to the outside wall near 
the front door. It says;



"Local rancher and farmer Alfred Sutton Bloor (1850-1899) and his wife Martha (Wainwright) (1849-1928), natives of Pennsylvania, built this home in 1897-1898. Constructed by the Elgin Press Brick Co., the house features characteristics of the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. Outstanding features include the turreted corners and the massive portico. A landmark in the Manor community, the house remained in the ownership of the Bloor family until 1960."

Information on the historical marker is correct, but there are a number of details on the application that are not correct.

The application says; "The owners of the land upon which Bloor House was built were a few of  the outstanding citizens and pioneers of Travis County. These citizens and their land eventually became a part af the municipality of Manor, Texas founded in 1912".

(1) There were only 2 owners of the land before Martha Bloor - James Manor and A. E. Lane.
(2) Manor was founded in 1872 - A. E. Lane added his land to Manor in 1912.

The application says; "a resume of the owners of this land begins in 1844".
Actually the list of previous owners begins in 1838 when James Manor received his land grant for 
1280 acres and had the land surveyed on November 12, 1838.

The application says; "Judge Townes died in 1871 before all of his land title recards were
completed.'
" ----- Judge Townes actually died in 1864.

The application says; "The executor of Judge Eggleston's estate transferred the title....."
It should say Judge Towne's estate.

The application says; "Nelson Rector received title to part of the estate in 1873, and he sold 
this part to James Manor in 1877. This became part of the 'James Manor Headright Survey'." 

Nelson Rector never owned any part of this land. It had belonged to James Manor since 1838. 

The application says; M.C. (Martha Cousins) Townes purchased the property from the estate of
her deceased husband, Eggleston D. Townes in 1871 and the deed was recorded in "Volume 5, 
page 514
" of the Travis County Deed Recerds. Actually it was recorded in Volume V, page 514. 
They must have misinterpreted the "V" as a Roman numeral and converted it to the number 5.

The application says; "In 1881 James Manor sold 38.75 acres to A.E. Lane." The deed for the 
sale is dated November 29, 1879.

The application says;
Martha Bloor purchased the land where they built the house on "August 3,
1897". The deed was filed in the Travis County Clerk's office on August 3rd, but the deed itself does 
not give a month or day when it was signed, only the year of 1897. The Notary Public who verified 
the signing of the deed dated his record June 30, 1897. That's just over a month earlier than the 
application shows.

And there are several names that are misspelled. A. C. Caldwell's first name, Charles Chevaillier's 
last name, and Nathaniel Amory's last name are all misspelled.

These are some of the small errors in the application, but there is one huge error. The application
shows six owners of the land before James Manor. All of those transactions are from the A.C.
Caldwell land grant, not from the James Manor land. This means that the first six owners listed in the application had no connection whatsoever to the land where the Bloor House was built and should not have been included in the application. 


Bloor house - historical marker application, pages 14 & 15
Highlighted area should not have been part of the application.




Sources

Photographs of Alfred and Martha Bloor, and painting of the Old Bloor Cabin, graciously provided by Carol Schryver-Bloom, great granddaughter of Alfred and Martha Bloor

Bloor family genealogical information taken from "Our Genealogy" website -
https://www.laurellynn.com/genealogy/bloor/james_bloor____James_H.htm

Richard B. Sutton appointed guardian of minors - Allegheny County, PA. Orphans Court Docket, Book 19, page 185, March Term, 1864 - December Term, 1864 

Alfred S. Bloor enrolled in high school - My High School Days : Including a brief history of the Pittsburgh Central High School from 1855 to 1871 and addenda, / Geo. T. Fleming, 1904, page 130

James Holbrook Bloor's absence explained in Allegheny County, PA. Orphans Court Docket, Book 22, pages 161-163,  December Term, 1866 - September, 1867

Bloor family information from Pennsylvania taken from FamilySearch.org - Full Text experimental pages

Ann Sutton, Last Will and Testament, Allegheny County, PA., number 79 in Will Book 35, pages 156-161
handwritten will - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9SW-Q3S9?view=fullText

Ann Sutton - application for Letters Testamentary by Theodosia Bloor, May 18, 1889, Allegheny County, PA. Death Record, Book 7, page 20

John R. Cooper, Ella W. Cooper and Elvira Wainwright in Austin, TX – March 25, 1878, Allegheny County, PA. Deed Book 388, page 335

John R. Cooper and Ella W. Cooper living in Austin, TX. - April 5, 1878 – Allegheny County, PA. Powers of Attorney, Book 11, pages 172-173  

William L. Abbott appointed guardian of Paul Cooper – January 10, 1880, Allegheny County, PA. Orphans Court Docket 1879-1880, Volume 42, page 240


Travis County Deed Records found online on The Portal to Texas History

Travis County Probate Records found online on The Portal to Texas History

The Elgin Courier newspaper found online on The Portal to Texas History

Bloor house historical marker application found online on The Portal to Texas History



July 12, 2025

MILLENNIUM K. ALEXANDER - Earliest Recorded Burial in a cemetery in Manor

Although there may be a few small, family cemeteries in the area near Manor with burials from earlier dates, it seems that the earliest burial in a cemetery located in what is now the City of Manor, may have been that of Millennium K. Alexander.

The fifth child of Allen Jenkins and his wife (name unknown), Millennium K. Jenkins was born August 21, 1816 in Mississippi (probably Carroll County). She had five siblings, one of whom was a sister named Louisiana Jenkins.

On September 19, 1838, twenty-one-year-old Miss Jenkins married thirty-one-year-old John Thomas Alexander in Carroll County, Mississippi. Not much is known about their marriage except that at some point he went to medical school and became a doctor. 

Carroll County, Mississippi Marriage Bond Records, book A, page 152


Dr. Thomas, his wife, Millennium, and her father, Allen Jenkins, moved to Louisiana. Dr. and Mrs. Alexander were living in Caldwell Parish, while Mr. Jenkins resided in Quachita Parish which adjoined Caldwell Parish on its northern boundary.

On November 8, 1842 a deed was written and signed between Allen Jenkins and his daughter, Millennium K. Alexander in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana. Years later, it would also be filed in Travis County Deed Records, book H, pages 428-431. In this deed record, Allen Jenkins gave Millennium K. Alexander possession of 30-35 slaves of various ages with a total value of $7,925.00. He also gave her 560 acres of land in Caldwell Parish valued at $1500. In return, Millennium agreecd to pay Allen $100 per year for the rest of his life, only if he demands it of her. If he fails to demand payment for any particular year, then the amount for that year is considered by him to have been remitted. Allen Jenkins lives only six more years, dying in 1848.

 Travis County Deed Records book H, pages 428-431  


In 1852, Dr. John Alexander, along with his wife and five children, moved to Travis County, Texas. 
Their children were Newton John Alexander, Virginia Evelyn Alexander, Edward H. Alexander, John Thomas Alexander and William Allen Alexander.

Dr. Alexander opened an office on Congress Avenue in Austin not long after arriving. Shortly thereafter he began advertising his services in the local newspaper.

Texas State Gazette, December 11, 1852
Millennium K. Alexander purchased one half interest in 350 acres, more or less, from Edward Harrington on December 29, 1852. This land is located approximately 2 miles northwest of where the town of Manor was founded twenty years later. The purchase price of the land was $1500 and was paid for by giving Mr. Harrington one slave named Hester, valued at $800, her child Alick, valued at $400, and her child Jim, valued at $200. In addition, Mr. Harrington is given $100 cash.

Travis County Deed Records, book H, page 427

On January 17, 1853 Dr. Alexander was elected President of the newly-formed Travis Medical Society.

 Texas State Journal of Medicine, Volume 49, Number 5, May, 1953

At a meeting in Austin on November 13, 1854, Dr. Alexander was elected President of The Medical Association of Texas. 
The Texas State Times, November 18, 1854

Thirty-nine year old Millennium K. Alexander died on August 10, 1855 and was apparently the first person buried on land owned by Judge Thomson Mason Rector, Sr. – in a small area that would later become known as the Rector Cemetery. Located approximately 1 ½ to 2 miles east of the land purchased by the Alexanders in 1852, the cemetery is one of 3 cemeteries within the city limits of Manor today.
Millennium K. Alexander Grave, Rector Cemetery

Tombstone inscription

The inscription on the tombstone says, 
          

Note: Many records on FindaGrave.com and FamilySearch.org, etc. state that Millennium K. Alexander was born August 2, 1816 and died on August 10, 1855. Travis County Probate Minutes, book B, page 233 says that the date of her death was August 3, 1855. However, a plaque that was erected with the historical marker at the Rector Cemetery gives August 21, 1816 as her birthdate thereby agreeing with the inscription on the tombstone marking her grave. 
 
On September 24, 1855 John T. Alexander was appointed administrator of her estate and James Manor, William H. Hill and William W. Atwood were appointed to make an inventory of her property.
State Gazette newspaper, November 10, 1855
The inventory of her estate was presented to the Probate Court on October 30, 1855. Travis County Probate Records A, pages 427-429 showed that she owned;

5 acres on Wilbarger’s Creek - $60
One half interest in 354 acres on Gilleland Creek - $1770
133 acres south of Gilleland Creek property - $332.50
19 slaves of various ages - $12961.62
Personal property consisting of livestock, wagons, buggies, farm implements, field crops, household furnishings and other items, gold watch and chain, and cash on hand - $1931.
Community property consisting of livestock, wagons, carts, bottles, jars, medicines and books - $361.00

A record of her accounts showed that she owed $625.14 to 27 different people and that she had $35 cash on hand at the time of her death.

October 31, 1855 – John T. Alexander petitioned the Probate Court to allow him to sell most of the personal property of his deceased wife. The Court approved the sale to be held by public auction on December 17, 1855. (Travis County Probate Minutes B, page 247)

The record states that John T. Alexander was said to have no means of his own to support the five Alexander children, and that they had no property of their own for their maintenance, so the Court also approved an amount of $1000 to be taken from the sale of the items as maintenance for one year for the children, of whom John T. Alexander is now considered to be their natural guardian.      

  In 1869, along with his son, Newton J. Alexander, Dr. Alexander opened a drug store on Congress Avenue in Austin.                                                                                                                                          
Georgetown Watchman newspaper
Saturday, March 20, 1869


By April, 1871 Dr. Alexander was appointed Superintendent of the Blind Asylum in Austin.

John Thomas Alexander died on January 3, 1879 and was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.

An article in the Weekly Democratic Statesman newspaper of August 4, 1881 gave high praise to Dr. Alexander and his skills as a compounding and manufacturing pharmacist over a period of many years.
Weekly Democratic Statesman, Thursday, August 4, 1881








August 23, 2024

MANOR AND THE 1869 FLOOD

The City of Manor very likely owes its beginning and existence to an extremely destructive and devastating flood that has been described by some as the worst flood in the history of the state of Texas.

In July, 1869 the Colorado River reached never-before-seen levels in several Texas counties. Rain began on July 3rd and continued steadily for more than 60 hours. Central and East Texas cities such as Austin, Webberville, Bastrop, Smithville, La Grange, Columbus, Wharton, and many more, all suffered major losses including people and property along the river. At Bastrop, the river is said to have crested at 60-65 feet – normal level was below 20 feet. In Austin there were reports of the river being two miles wide. In some places, the river, which was normally 80 feet wide, spread to 5 to 10 miles wide. 

Newspapers reported that people, houses, cabins, fence rails, horses, cattle, hogs, etc. were all carried away in the flood. As the waters began to recede people were rescued from trees where they had sought safety from the rising water 2-3 days earlier.

The Weekly Harrison Flag, July 22, 1869
 
The Bastrop Advertiser, June 6, 1981

The Standard (Clarksville, TX), August 7, 1869

What possible connection could the City of  Manor, established 2 ½ years later and eight miles north of the Colorado River, have with this 1869 flood?

Part of the answer to that question began 18 years earlier, when, in 1851, citizens of Austin began discussions to get a railroad built from Houston to Austin. In 1858 a survey was made marking out a route for a railroad from Houston to Austin by the most direct route possible. This would take the line thru the area of Webberville, TX. 

In 1860 the Texas Legislature authorized the establishment of the Air-Line Railroad Company which was to begin building the line.

Due to the start of the Civil War in 1861, very little was accomplished until after the war ended in 1865 when emphasis was once again placed on getting the railroad built. In 1868, at a state Constitutional Convention, the Houston and Texas Central Railway Company was given authority to construct their railroad from the city of Brenham to Austin. The railroad had already been built from Houston to Brenham. 

Brenham to Austin through Webberville 

In April, 1870 a committee of ten men was appointed to meet with the Railroad Company to work out details of getting the line built. One of those ten men was James Manor.

The Houston Telegraph, April 14, 1870

The rest of the answer to the question can be found in a letter written by Mr. John E. Elgin in 1924. In response to a letter he had received from Miss Jewel Meek, Secretary & Treasurer of the Retail Merchants Association of Elgin, TX, Mr. Elgin gave this explanation which was published in The Elgin Courier newspaper;

John E. Elgin (born June 11, 1851) was just eleven months old when his father died. John went to live with his uncle, Robert Morris Elgin, namesake of the city of Elgin, TX. After the Civil War was over, Robert Morriss Elgin moved to Houston, TX and was employed as land commissioner for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. 

Robert Morriss Elgin
As a young boy, John would often accompany his uncle on railroad business trips.

John said in his letter that the original plan for the railroad was to build it as far as to where the town of McDade is today and then turn left going through the area of Webberville in the Colorado River Valley and on westward into Austin. John also said that he had heard of an old Indian tradition about water once having been all over the Webberville prairie. And, even though the Railroad engineers found water marks indicating this was true, they decided to continue building the line through Webberville. The year was 1868.

The very next year the major flood occurred and the Webberville area and any railroad line that had already been built was under water. As a result a new survey was made taking the line through McDade and on to what is today Elgin and Manor.


1869 Colorado River flood
Mable H. Brooks collection at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
H. B. Hillyer, photographer

That was when James Manor, as a member of the committee working with the railroad, freely gave the Houston and Texas Central Railroad a 200 feet wide right-of-way through his land, a distance of about two miles. The Railroad Company established a train station and the town of Manor on that right-of-way.

Except for the biggest flood in the history of Texas that occurred in 1869, the railroad probably would not have gone through James Manor’s land and the town of Manor may have never happened when it did and where it is today.

The same can be said for Elgin, Texas.





February 27, 2024

Remarks delivered at the 2024 Black History Celebration

On September 23, 1802 a North Carolina couple named Mills Manor and Lucy Smith, were married. From 1803 to 1821 eleven children were born into this Manor family, 8 of them in North Carolina, but the last 3 in Tennessee. Between 1836 and 1850, four of those children and their families, with the last name of Manor, moved to central Texas. These were ALL white families.

We know that there were many slaves working on the southern farms and plantations who took the last name of the man who owned the farm or plantation.

A search of Manor  history reveals the names of many people with the last name of Manor, who were NOT white people.

James Manor, the founder of the town of Manor, along with his wife, Phebe, and two young daughters, moved from Tennessee to Texas in 1836. Along with them came James’ younger brother Joseph John Manor and his wife, Caroline. They all settled in the area known then as Webber’s Prairie, now named Webberville. A couple of years later, James Manor moved to this area that is now the City of Manor, but Joseph J. Manor continued to lived in Webberville until the time of his death.

James Manor’s sister, Rhoda Manor, and her husband, John Wilson moved from Tennessee to Travis County, TX about 1850. They bought farm land in the area that is now part of southeast Austin. John Wilson is believed to have died in 1852, leaving Rhoda as a widow.

Also about 1850, James Manor’s youngest brother, David Mills Manor, along with his wife Susan Manor, and their daughter Ursula Gertrude Manor moved to Travis County, TX. They purchased 555 acres of land about 2 to 2½ half miles south of here. David Manor died August 7th, 1854.

U. S. census records from 1850 and 1860, called “Slave Schedules” show 3 of the Manor families as slave owners.
James Manor is shown as having 9 slaves in both 1850 and 1860.
Joseph J. Manor is shown as having 5 slaves in 1850 and 6 slaves in 1860.
Rhoda Manor Wilson is shown as having 15 slaves in 1860.

In addition, two of James Manor’s daughters, Lavina Henrietta and Mary Emeline, are each shown to have 3 slaves in 1860. His daughter Catherine “Kitty” is shown to have 2 slaves in 1860.

David M. Manor is not listed in the 1850 “Slave Schedule” but Travis County Probate Minutes dated November, 1855 show David as having 3 slaves at the time of his death in 1854.

Phebe Manor, James Manor’s first of 3 wives, died March 12, 1859. Travis County Deed Records dated March 19, 1960 show James and Phebe as having 13 slaves at the time of her death.

When Phebe Manor died in 1859, James was left with 6 daughters to raise by himself. One of his slaves, Priscilla, was apparently of tremendous help to him in raising these girls before he remarried in 1866. On September 22, 1873 James gave Priscilla the deed to a lot on what would become known as Main Street in the newly established town of Manor. The deed read, in part; “...for and in consideration of the sum of One dollar, and the assistance she has rendered me in raising my family as my former servant, to me paid by Priscilla Manor, (freedwoman)...do sell, convey and deliver unto said Priscilla Manor Lot 1 in Block 28 of the town of Manor…".

During his lifetime, James Manor had a total of 10 children; 2 sons and 8 daughters. Both of his sons died before the age of 5 years, so their were no male descendants of James Manor to carry on the Manor surname.

However, a search of Travis County historical documents, and genealogical records, reveals the names of many individuals with the last name of Manor, all of whom are described as “colored”, “Negro” or “black”.

Shown here is a list of about 50 people, taken from Travis County Marriage Records between the years of 1867 and 1922, all with the last name of Manor.

All of these people with the name of Manor are shown in the records to be either “colored”, “Negro” or “black”.

There are many more people with the Manor surname in the marriage records, but their ethnicity is not indicated.


When the town of Manor was founded in 1872, the street running east to west, next to the railroad tracks, on the south side, was named Barnhart Street, most likely after the Joseph Barnhart family who purchased 200 acres of land from James Manor in 1844. Joseph Barnhart was active in the development of the area for many years thereafter.

Sometime in the more recent history of the city, Barnhart Street was renamed Carrie Manor Street in honor of Carrie Manor Pollard, the first African-American elected to the Manor City Council. An article published in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper on June 16, 1996 says this:

That Carrie Manor Pollard and James Manor share the same name is no coincidence. The ancestors of Pollard’s late husband, Willie Manor, belonged to James B. Manor’s family. They were among slaves the Manor family brought in from Louisiana…While James B. Manor is honored as the founder of the town, the first of the black Manors, Henry Manor, is accorded little recognition for his part in building and settling Manor…Although the date and circumstances of Henry Manor’s arrival isn’t known, county records show he bought land in the area in 1873.”

The 1996 article continues:

Pollard remembers moving to the town in 1952 and finding “not one thing” for black people. She started a young people’s center in one of her houses, organized some women to sell eggs to raise money, and kept it going, expanding services as the years went by. Pollard’s center was the precursor of the East Rural center.”

The article closes by saying that as of 1996

Whites are still buried in the Manor Cemetery where James B. Manor lies. Blacks are still buried out in the county at Park Springs Cemetery.”


However, there is a strong possibility that there was an attempt to change that. In 1906 Martin McVay purchased nearly one half acre of land just 17 feet away from, and parallel to, the northwest corner of the Manor Cemetery. Mr. McVay is shown in Travis County records as being either “black” or “Negro” and as one of three trustees of the Gilleland Creek Baptist Church in Manor which is shown as being a “colored” church. Travis County Deed Records describe the land purchased by Mr. McVay as a “cemetery lot”. In other records Martin McVay is described as a “cemetery sexton”, or caretaker of a cemetery. While there are indications that some burials may have taken place there, it was apparently discontinued at some time. Martin McVay died in 1947 and was buried at the Parks Spring Cemetery.




February 26, 2024

JOSEPH ELWARD CLAYTON AND THE CLAYTON VOCATIONAL INSTITUTE

Joseph Elward Clayton was born February 8, 1879 in Fulshear, Fort Bend County, Texas. He graduated from high school in Houston, TX in 1895 and continued his education at Guadalupe College in Seguin, Texas, after which he pursued a career in education and administration.

He taught school at Bastrop, TX from 1900 to 1903 and in 1903 he was appointed as principal of the Manor Colored School, also known as the Negro Graded School.

The school occupied one building in block 1 of the town of Manor. It was run as a traditional public school until 1911 when a tour of Texas by Booker T. Washington inspired Clayton to improve and expand the facility to include dormitories and additional classrooms. A two-story building was built and furnished on the school lot. Dedication ceremonies for the new school building were held on February 3, 1912. Another building was added where students were taught canning, sewing, millinery, agriculture and they received manual training. A cannery was started where students learned to preserve produce from their own farms.

In 1915 Principal Clayton urged the State to recognize the school, now having more than 300 students, as a State Industrial Institution. As a result, the school was renamed the Clayton Industrial High School.

A June 13, 1916 article in the Austin Statesman and Tribune newspaper stated that J. E. Clayton had been offered the presidency of the Fort Worth Industrial and Mechanical College but that he turned down the offer because of plans that the had to build up at Manor an industrial school similar to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. 


In November, 1916 the trustees of the Manor Independent School District purchased six acres of land from Alice B. and William Vickers. Manor ISD paid $100 in cash and the remainder of $1400 was to be paid in full by November 25, 1923. Mrs. Vickers was a teacher in the grammar school department of Manor ISD. The deed for the land specifically stated that it was “especially for the use and benefit of the Clayton Industrial High School (colored) of Manor, Texas.”

Travis County Deed Record 300, pages 637-638 (snippets)
In 1917 the U. S. Congress passed the Smith-Hughes act that promoted vocational education in "agriculture, trades and industry, and homemaking" and provided federal funds for this purpose. The Clayton Industrial High School was one of only 4 schools for “colored” students in the State of Texas to receive these funds that year.

November 16, 1917 George W. Brackenridge of San Antonio paid off the note due on the six acres and released the property to the Manor ISD for the use of the Clayton Industrial High School.

Travis County Deed Record 301, page 97
In 1918, George W. Brackenridge offered $7000 as one half of the purchase price of 75 acres adjoining the land occupied by the Clayton Industrial High School. The land was intended to be used as an experimental farm. William Luedecke, President of the Farmer’s National Bank of Manor gave the other $7000 to complete the purchase. George W. Brackenridge also canceled a note of $15,000 which he held against the school on an adjoining ten acre tract of land. 

Austin American newspaper February 10, 1918
A March 9, 1918 article in The Statesman newspaper printed details of ceremonies that were to be held for the dedication of the new Breckenridge Hall on the campus of the school. Staff members of the school were listed as:

J. E. Clayton, principal – mathematics and sciences
Texana Robinson, history and geography
Maud Kellough, intermediate department
Maud Ikard, primary departments
A. V. Smith, English
C. Morrison, general assistant
J. J. Hayden, agriculture and manual training
Brittie Clayton, domestic science and art

On March 15, 1918 dedication ceremonies were held at the school. The next day, a headline said: "CLAYTON INSTITUTE DEDICATED FRIDAY; VALUED AT $50,000".   The article in the Austin American newspaper went on to say:

    “Ceremonies incident to the dedication of the Clayton Industrial Institute, a negro institution at Manor, which, including the new building with 100 acres of land, is valued at $50,000, were in progress all day yesterday.”

The Austin American newspaper March 16, 1918
The August 20, 1918 edition of the Austin American newspaper ran a story with this headline: “NEGRO INSTITUTION AT MANOR TO HAVE AID OF NATIONAL FUNDS IN PROSECUTION OF ITS WORK." The article said that the Clayton Industrial School at Manor would be receiving $1000 per year from the Slater Board of Education in Charlottesville, Virginia and $500 annually from the general board of education in New York City. The Slater fund would also arrange for the employment and payment of another teacher in the Manor school.

September 9, 1918 the Manor ISD Board of Trustees applied to the Travis County Commissioner’s Court to be allowed to sell lots 1, 2, 4 and 6 in block 1 of the town of Manor to Ben and Texanna Meeks for the price of $400. The application stated that these 4 lots had previously been used by the Negro Graded School of the Manor ISD which had now moved to another location and the lots were no longer needed for school purposes. Permission to do so was granted by the Court. The lots were sold to the Meeks by deed that was dated September 14, 1921. 

Travis County Commissoners Court minutes N, page 316

Travis County Deed Record 306, page 553
On February 18, 1919 the thirty-sixth legislature of The State of Texas passed House Bill Number 28 which said, in part:

    “That the school located in said Manor Independent School District now known as Clayton Industrial High School is hereby established to be hereafter known and designated as Clayton Vocational Institute, for the education of colored boys and girls in the arts and sciences in which such boys and girls may acquire a good literary education of at least academic grade, together with a knowledge of agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, stock raising, domestic arts, and sciences, including the several branches and studies usually taught in established schools of like character, having in view the training of such boys and girls for the more important industrial activities of life, while at the same time acquiring a good practical literary education.”

A follow-up story in the April 19, 1919 edition of The Statesman newspaper under the headline “MANOR HAS GOOD TRAINING SCHOOL” said this:

    "The Clayton Vocational Institute of Manor, created by an act of the last legislature, is a school for colored boys and girls that offers courses in practical agriculture, horticulture, stock raising and domestic arts and sciences, including the several branches and studies usually taught in schools of like character. By this act the Clayton Industrial High School was reorganized and placed in a position to become a much larger and better school."  


The San Antonio Express newspaper published a story on May 7, 1919 which said, 

    “Governor Hobby today sent to the Senate the following nominations of trust fund commissioners for Clayton Vocational Institute in the Manor Independent School District of Travis County: William Luedecke, John F. Nagle and M. C. Abrams, all of Travis County. This school is endowed and efforts are to be made to make it the “Tuskegee College of the Southwest.”

In 1920, the school made plans to add a laundry, a broom and mattress factory and a dairy herd to the school. It was hoped that patriotic citizens of Manor would furnish a sufficient number of cows for the dairy. Students involved in the laundry, the broom and mattress factory and the dairy would all be paid for their work so that they could have a part in financing their own education.

The Statesman newspaper June 26, 1920
On December 1, 1920 Joseph Clayton purchased lots 7, 8, 9 and 10 in block 23 of the town of Manor from Judge Wilbur P. Allen, Austin philanthropist and capitalist. The purchase price was $2500. Clayton paid $2000 at the time of the purchase and signed a note for the $500 balance that was due to be paid on or before three years after that date. Only 17 days later, Clayton then donated these same 4 lots to the Trust Fund Commissioners that had been appointed to oversee the Clayton Vocational Institute for the Manor ISD. It was stipulated in the deed that the money received for the sale of the lots would first be used to pay off the $500 note held by Clayton and the remainder was to be used to build a new dormitory at the school. The Trust Fund Commissioners paid off the note of $500 and W. P. Allen released the lien on the property on September 10, 1921. The Commissioners sold all 4 lots to three different Manor residents on September 24, 1921 for a total of $675.

Travis County Deed Record 327, page 232
Principal Clayton apparently left the Clayton Vocational Institute in 1923. A September 9, 1923 article in the Austin Statesman newspaper said:

    "Review of the work and activities of the Clayton Vocational Institute of Manor during the 1922-23 term is outlined by J. E. Clayton, former principal, in a statement sent to Commissioner B. W. Giles in which Clayton asks for the financial and moral support for the school in order that education of the colored children of that community started by him may be furthered."

In the article Clayton stated that his salary for the school year was $1200 but that he gave $1015 of that so that other staff could be paid. He also gave $40 for groceries for the school, leaving him with a total salary of $145 for the school year. He said also that he had donated his entire salary for the last three years so that the colored children of Manor might be given a first class education without experiencing financial difficulties.

He also mentioned that the 4 lots in block 23 of Manor that he got from W. P. Allen, originally intended for his own use, had a two-story, ten room residence located there and that he had donated it all to the Trust Fund Commissioners so that the over 420 students of the school could be properly educated.

In 1984 the Texas Historical Commission erected a marker at one of the last remaining buildings of the school. 


Historical marker original location 1984
In 2017, the marker was moved to its present location in front of what was then the Manor Voluntary Library which was located in the only remaining building of the school. Rededication ceremonies were held on February 24th of that year. 

Historical marker relocated 2017

During his time at the school in Manor and for many years thereafter, Joseph Clayton was involved in programs and organizations that were designed to help "colored" farmers to better themselves and their work, all over the state of Texas and beyond. 

He is believed to have died in 1958 but many records of his life don't list a date or location of his death.