Born in
Manchester, England July 22, 1840, Elizabeth Ann Stelfox became James Manor’s third wife on April 22,
1875 when she was nearing 35 years of age. As it turned out, 70 years old James
was Elizabeth’s third husband.
Elizabeth,
along with her parents, John and Harriet Holden Stanley Stelfox, immigrated to
the U.S. in 1848 when she was 8 years old. They entered the country at New
Orleans, but soon settled in Little Rock, AR. where her mother died in 1854.
Her father was soon remarried to Elizabeth Ann Wahly, and in 1855 the family
moved to Austin, Texas where John, along with his close friend, John H.
Robinson, opened a general merchandise store in the 500 block of Congress Avenue.
On January 19, 1865, Elizabeth married James F. Allen, with whom she had
two sons. In 1867, they traveled to England where, in November, James Allen died of
consumption and was buried there. Elizabeth returned to Texas with her two sons
prior to 1870 and lived with her father in Austin. She had a baby girl, Elizabeth Ann, born in 1868 after James F. Allen died. The child died and was
buried May 26, 1870 in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.
On April 24, 1872, Elizabeth married John B. Davis in Austin and they had one
son, Henry Ward Davis. It is said that John was killed by a team of runaway
horses in December, 1874.
Four months later, Elizabeth married James Manor. Together they had two
girls, Lucille G., born in 1876, and Elizabeth, in 1879. James Manor died on
May 17, 1881. According to his will, most of which was written on May 20,
1879, his wife, Elizabeth inherited the majority of his estate.
On March 5, 1882, at the age of 41, Elizabeth, married 26 years old Marion
Courtland Abrams. They lived on the James Manor estate. In 1888, they had one
son, Johnie, who lived 1 year and is buried in the Manor City Cemetery next to
James Manor.
The June 29, 1893 edition of The Austin Statesman newspaper carried the following announcement, "Mrs. M. C. Abrams and daughter left Wednesday for Chicago to visit the World's Fair. They will be gone two or three months." On September 8th, the Galveston Daily News showed "Miss Lucy Manor, Lizzie Manor, and Mrs. M. C. Abrams" as visitors to the fair.
On July 18, 1940, The Austin Daily Tribune carried a story regarding Elizabeth's soon-coming 100th birthday. When asked how she wanted to celebrate this momentous occasion, she replied, "I just want to go down by the creek and be alone." The story continued to say that she just didn't feel quite up to entertaining a lot of guests all day and didn't see any reason for a lot of fuss because living to be a hundred years old was nothing particularly unusual.
Elizabeth also outlived her fourth husband, known as M. C., who died
January 29, 1941 at the age of 84. In March, Elizabeth Ann Abrams and her
daughter, Elizabeth Manor Elliott, were appointed executors of M. C. Abram’s
estate. Elizabeth passed away November 3, 1941 at the age of 101. The family said
that Elizabeth died of a heart attack while teaching one of her grandchildren
how to do an Indian War Dance.
She was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Austin along with her fourth husband. Small, plain white headstones simply contain names and dates.
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