SCHOOL RULES 1908-1909

1.  Pupils are required to be punctual in attendance, diligent in study, courteous to teachers and schoolmates, and to be neat and clean in person and dress.

2.  In cases of tardiness and absence, pupils must report the cause to their respective teachers.

3.  No pupil shall leave the grounds during recess without the permission of his teacher or the Principal.

4.  Pupils will return their report books promptly and properly signed by their parents. Signatures of pupils or other members of the family will not be accepted.

5.  Fighting and the use of obscene or profane language will not be tolerated.

6. Pupils guilty of writing obscene words upon any part of school premises will be promptly suspended. Action of the Board will be necessary to reinstatement.

7.  Unnecessary communication between boys and girls is strictly forbidden, and the will occupy separate portions of the playground during recess.

8.  Smoking on the school grounds or anywhere about the school premises will not be allowed.

9.  The giving and receiving of invitations to social gatherings during school hours is forbidden.

10.  Loud noises and rough play will not be allowed in room, hallways or cloak rooms during recess, and pupils must abstain from intruding into other rooms than their own without permission.

11.  Pupils must spend their recesses on the playground, weather permitting, unless they have special work that must be done in their rooms; neither study nor play will be allowed in the hallways or basement.

12.  Any pupil damaging or defacing any part of the school building or other school property shall be suspended from the benefits of school and pay full damages before being readmitted to the school. Everyone is positively prohibited from entering or attempting to enter the school building when the same is locked up.

13.  Pupils are not expected to assemble on the school grounds before 8:15 a. m., and upon dismissal after school they shall go directly to their homes, and abstain from playing or quarreling on their way. No pupil will be permitted to loiter about the school building or grounds after school hours and all will be held subject to the regulations of the school until they have reported at home.

14.  No pupil afflicted with a contagious disease, or coming from a home where such is known to exist, shall be allowed to enter or remain in school. Pupils who have been debarred under this rule shall not be permitted to re-enter without a certificate from a reputable physician.

15.  No pupil shall be excused from school during the daily session, except from sickness, unless a written request be furnished by parents.

16.  Any pupil absenting himself from examinations, except on account of sickness, shall forfeit all claims to promotion.

17.  In all cases where rules of the school do not specify, the action of the Principal and Board of Trustees shall be the rules.

MANOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

By a vote of 58 “for” and 37 “against”, the Manor School District became a corporation in an 

election held on December 12, 1903. For almost two and one half years, M. C. Abrams, W. H. Wentland, William Luedecke, F. C. Gregg, John E. Sellstrom, W. E. Ware and Charles 
Anderson filled their elected positions as trustees of the corporation.

Then a suit was filed in District Court on May 4, 1906 seeking to have the election establishing the corporation declared null and void. Reasons for the suit were several, some of which were;

1. The citizens of the Rose Hill community didn’t want to be a part of Manor schools.

2. The surveyor’s notes and plat map used to establish the district were “vague, indefinite, contradictory and inconsistent…and made it practically impossible for the voters to
determine what territory was embraced therein”.

3. The county judge failed to designate the place where the election was to be held, and notice of the election was not posted in any part of the district outside of the town of Manor, depriving many voters of knowledge of the election.

4. Because the election was claimed to be illegal, the trustees were unlawfully serving and therefore could not levy and collect taxes from the citizens, as they were “threatening” to do.

This article appeared in The Houston Post, The San Antonio Daily Express and The El Paso Daily Times newspapers.

The case was heard before Judge George Calhoun of the 53rd District Court on May 12, 1906. He ruled for the plaintiffs and declared the previous incorporation to be void. 

Two months later, on July 10, 1906 another election (in which the Rose Hill community was not included) was held in the town of Manor “to determine if said town should form an incorporation for free public school purposes”. After a vote of 130 “for” and 39 “against”, Travis County Judge John William Hornsby did “adjudge that said election did result in favor of such incorporation” and “declared the inhabitants of said territory …duly incorporated…, the name of the incorporation being ‘Manor Independent School District”. 

A survey made by Travis County Surveyor Dennis Corwin showed that the new school district would contain a total of 12,892 acres or 20 square miles. 

In a separate election held on that same day in which a total of 138 votes were cast, six of the previous trustees were reelected along with one new member. The results of the election were as follows;

Marion Courtland Abrams ----137 votes

William Luedecke ---------------137 votes
Charles A. Anderson -----------137 votes
W. E. Ware------------------------138 votes
John E. Sellstrom ---------------136 votes
Thompson Mason Rector------137 votes
D. H. Reeves ---------------------137 votes
J. H. Williams –---------------------1 vote
A. L. Bell –---------------------------1 vote

The survey property line, which turned corners 30 times, had several interesting directions listed. One stated that the survey followed an “angle in the road - an Elm tree marked X on the north side of the road in the corner of Mrs. Riggles fence”. Another simply said, “…in a lane…leaving the Colored Peoples graveyard to the north”. 

Both elections and the survey were certified official by County Court Clerk, Joe Corwin, brother of the County Surveyor. 

Shown here is the plat map prepared by Dennis Corwin designating the area that would become the Manor Independent School District.

In September 1964 another election was called to settle a very heated debate over whether or not the Manor ISD should be annexed to the Austin ISD or perhaps be abolished and placed in the hands of the Travis County School Board which was expected to divide the district between Austin, Elgin and Pflugerville. Some citizens of Manor, who felt that students would get a better education that way, along with others who were opposed to the newly increased Manor school tax, called for the vote. The issue was defeated and Manor ISD continues to exist and thrive to this day. 

Travis County Commissioners Court Minutes 7, page 589

Note: Rose Hill which was a little over two miles from the Manor city limits, no longer exists. According to the Texas State Historical Association, the first school was opened there in 1879 and by 1907 had two teachers and fifty-eight students. 

According to Manor ISD School Board minutes, at a meeting held on August 18, 1939, "Plans were being developed to send all Rose Hill students to Manor".  Minutes dated November 7, 1950 state "Rose Hill School sold to Lonnie Humphrey for $800."

All that remains today is the Rose Hill Cemetery, located directly behind the Good Luck Grill between Rose Hill Road and the Stonewater subdivision.

JOHN E SELLSTROM

The first recorded automobile fatality in the city of Austin was a well-known and highly respected Manor businessman. The Galveston Daily News said this about him;

"HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM" 

Manor, Tex Feb 25, 

"Mr. John E. Sellstrom, who was so quickly called to this final account early this morning in the city of Austin, was held in high esteem by citizens of this place. John Sellstrom was a well-known, reliable businessman of this place. He came to town from the country some twelve or fifteen years ago and went to work in the lumber business and had climbed up to the head of the large firm of Sellstrom & Rich of Manor. He married several years ago, but his wife died about five years ago. Mr. Sellstrom leaves two sisters and three brothers."

Born August 2, 1876 of parents who both came to this country from Sweden, John Edward Sellstrom became involved in the lumber business in Manor as a young man. As early as May 1896, at the age of 20, his name was being featured in Manor Lumber Co. ads in a Swedish newspaper called the Texas Posten.

By January 1900 Mr. Sellstrom’s name was the only one being shown in the ads of the Manor Lumber Co. Translated into English it said, “Mr. John Sellstrom would like you to visit The Manor Lumber Co’s lumber yard that he may be able to show you what they have in the way of building materials”. Another ad stated, “Mr. John Sellstrom is every bit Swedish.”

After moving to Manor in 1904, Mr. George J. Rich joined the firm and it became known as Sellstrom and Rich Lumber. By 1905 the Sanborn Fire Maps showed Sellstrom and Rich Lumber Co. in the same location that had been shown as Manor Lumber Co. on their 1900 map.

When the Manor Independent School District was formed in 1903, John Sellstrom was elected one of the first trustees of the school board. He was reelected to this position in 1906.

In February 1905, John Sellstrom was one of 11 businessmen who filed for a charter to build and operate a general hospital or sanitarium in Manor.

The Sixth Annual Announcement of the Manor Public Schools for the 1908/1909 school year featured this advertisement:  

In the early morning hours of February 25, 1910 Mr. Sellstrom and four friends were leaving Austin, after having spent the evening there, to return to Manor. Riding in an almost new, 30 horsepower, Chalmers-Detroit automobile with Mr. Sellstrom driving, they were heading east on sixteenth street, going at a speed of almost 50 miles per hour, when one of the front wheels of the car broke causing the axle to dig into the ground. The result was that the car flipped completely over (perhaps twice) and landed back on its tires headed in the opposite direction from which it had been going. All five men were thrown from the car. The four friends received varying injuries, from which they soon recovered. Mr. Sellstrom suffered a broken neck and died very soon after the accident. He was 33 years old.

Two days later, a special train of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad left Austin at 11:30 AM carrying the body of Mr. Sellstrom to the Burkland train station where it would be removed and buried in the Palm Valley Cemetery (a Swedish cemetery located in what is now Round Rock) beside his wife, Esther Dorothea Swenson Sellstrom, who, after a short illness, had died just over 3 years earlier at the age of 28.  Approximately 150 friends were expected to attend the funeral and burial. The train remained at the location to transport people back to Austin at the conclusion of the services.

Note: Sellstrom and Rich Lumber Co. continued in existence in Manor for about 25+ years after the death of John Sellstrom. The business, as well as the land on which it was located, was purchased in February 1911 by Swante August Sellstrom, brother of John, from his siblings, the other four heirs to the estate. In February 1934 his partner, George J. Rich was found by his wife in the bedroom of their home with a gunshot wound to the head. He died shortly afterwards. Sellstrom and Rich Lumber Co. became Carlson Lumber and Hardware Company sometime in 1938.

INCORPORATION OF MANOR

Part 2 - The Elections

In accordance with an order made by Travis County Judge William Von Rosenberg, Jr. on February 4, 1913, an election was held on March 4th to determine whether or not the voters of the town of Manor wanted to become an incorporated city with the ability to elect their own governing officials and establish their own rules and regulations. Shown here are the results of that election as recorded in the Commissioners Court Minutes; 80 votes for and 35 votes against.

On March 10^th Judge Von Rosenberg declared Manor to be an incorporated city confined to the area detailed by a survey and plat map that were also recorded in the same book.

Following that, this entry was made;

"In the matter of the Incorporation of the town of Manor;

It is ordered by the County Judge of Travis County, Texas, that on Tuesday the 15^th day of April, A. D. 1913, between the hours of 8 o’clock A. M. and six o’clock P. M. at Wm. Roesle Office Building in the town of Manor in Travis County, Texas, an election be held for the purpose of electing the following officers of and for said town of Manor, to wit; a Mayor, a Marshal, and five Aldermen.”

“The qualifications of each voter at said election are as follows, to wit; each shall be a free male person who has attained the age of twenty-one years, and has resided within the limits aforesaid for the six months next preceding the day of said election, and is a qualified elector under the laws of the State of Texas, and each of the officers to be elected shall possess all of the qualification of such voters.”

Nelson Houser was appointed to be the presiding officer to hold the election and was given full power to select the people needed as Judges and Clerks to assist him in carrying out  the election. With their help, he was authorized to hold the election after the proper notice had been given in accordance with the manner and period of time required by law. The County Clerk was directed to provide Mr. Houser with the information and documents necessary to carry out the judge’s order.

On April 17^th The Austin Statesman newspaper printed the following;

“The first set of city fathers for Manor were elected Tuesday, as follows; Mayor, J. P. Lockwood; Alderman, W. H. Wentland, Dr. F. C. Gregg, W. A. Hiller, C. A. Johnson and S. H. E. Smartt; City Marshal, Henry Lockwood. There was no opposition except for marshal. The election was very quiet.” 

A follow-up article on April 23rd said;

“By today’s mail, provided the trains keep running, the first Mayor of the city of Manor will receive his commission as such officer, signed by William Von Rosenberg, County Judge. Judge Von Rosenberg prepared the commission yesterday, affixed his signature and an impressive gold star under the proper seal, after which he deposited it in the mail, addressed to J. P. Lockwood, Mayor. The County Judge also signed and sent out certificates of election to the six other officials whose names follow; W. H. Wentland, F. C. Gregg, W. A. Hiller. S. E. Smartt and C. A. Johnson, Alderman; Henry J. Lockwood, City Marshal.”

One year later, on April 7, 1914 all were reelected for a second term with the exception of the City Marshal who was replaced by Mackey (Mackie) Jester who had previously served as a Travis County Constable.

A little over 6 years later, a story under this newspaper headline ;

told how Manor's first Mayor, Joseph Preston Lockwood, and his wife, Emma Lacker Lockwood,  died when a west-bound Houston and Texas Central Train hit their car while it was crossing the railroad tracks in Manor, November 17, 1920.

Sub headlines read;

The November 18th edition of The Statesman newspaper gave these details of the accident;

"The accident in which the aged couple were killed occurred Tuesday afternoon at three o’clock as they were crossing the Texas Central track near the Manor depot. They were riding in a closed car and had just left the business district for the Lockwood home on the outskirts of Manor. In attempting to cross the track ahead of the Texas Central train which was coming from the east they failed to make the necessary distance and the engine crashed into the rear end of the automobile hurling the vehicle and its occupants down the track embankment. A number of persons rushed to the Lockwood’s assistance and pulled them from the wreckage of the car. Mrs. Lockwood died twenty minutes after the accident without ever regaining consciousness while her husband survived in a semi-conscious condition until six o’clock Wednesday morning when he too breathed his last."

A board of inquiry held that same day exonerated the train crew of all responsibility for the accident. It appeared that Mr. Lockwood did not see or hear the train coming. The windows of the car were closed  and witnesses said he didn't increase or decrease his speed while crossing the tracks. 

News of the tragic accident was carried in many area newspapers, even making front-page headlines as far away as Monroe, Louisiana where their son, Joseph Edwin Lockwood lived.

At the time of the printing of this story it was not yet known in Monroe that J. E. Lockwood's Father had also passed away.

INCORPORATION OF MANOR

Part One - The Petition 

Although James Manor took possession of the land that is now the City of Manor in 1841, it remained wide-open prairie land until about 1850 when he moved his family from Webberville (known then as Webber's Prairie) to his land and built a cabin near Gilleland Creek. Over the next few years others began to move into the area and slowly formed a recognized community. The 1870 U. S. census listed them merely as residents living in 
Travis County Justice Precinct No. 2. 

Even when they began to establish churches, schools, a post office, a cemetery, etc., they didn’t plat or consider themselves to be a town until 1872. When James Manor donated land to the Houston and Texas Central Railroad on which to build their tracks running from Houston to Austin in 1871, the residents of the area officially platted a roughly square area, containing 80 blocks divided into lots, and named the new townsite Manor.

Still considered a community or village, the area began to grow. The 1890 census showed a population of over 400 people and according to the Austin History Center, by 1901 there were almost 500 households, and Manor was considered to be the “second largest city in 
Travis County”.

Even so, it would be 12 more years before Manor would seek to become an incorporated city with the ability to elect its own officials and make its own rules and regulations. On February 4, 1913 a petition signed by forty-three of the citizens of Manor was presented to the County Court of Travis County requesting that the necessary steps be taken to allow Manor to become an officially incorporated city.  The signers of the petition were: Nelson Houser, James T. Harrell, J. S. Mayfield, A.P. Hansen, H. C. Allison, S. A. Sellstrom, H. C. Johns, O. W. Anderson, A. N. Anderson, C. H. Eva, W. H. Wendland, Frank C. Gregg, S. E. Smart, J. O. Watt, J. E. Hickman, W. M. Allison, W. P. Rowe, J. H. Allison, W. R. Wray, C. A. Johnson, A. F. Loftis, J. R. Keltner, I. N. Mayfield, Joe Dupree, O. T. Johnson, J. H. Empie, S. M. Jester, A. G. Sandberg, H. P. Lockwood, W. E. Ware, D. C. Ashmore, D. H. Williams, H. B. Howse, Henry Gregg, J. P. Lockwood, Pat Lockwood, W. J. Wilde, Louis Klein, W. A. Marcuse, J. W. Swenson, Charles W. Houser, Louis Hoffman and B. Pledger. (names spelled as shown on court documents)

The petition read as follows;

“Now come your petitioners who reside in the town of Manor, Travis County, Texas, and who are inhabitants and resident citizens of the hereinafter described and proposed incorporation of the town of Manor, Travis County, Texas, and who are qualified voters under the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, and respectfully file this our application for the incorporation of the proposed said town of Manor, Texas, and represents that the territory of the proposed town contains more than 500 and less than 10,000 inhabitants. And your petitioners respectfully ask that your honor make an order that an election be held in compliance with the Statutes of the State of Texas, in such cases made and provided.” 

Included in the petition were details of a survey that had been conducted by H. G. Lee, County Surveyor, Travis County, Texas, giving the boundaries of the territory that was desired to become the incorporated town, along with a plat map of the area surveyed.

After determining that he signers of the petition were qualified voters of the area requesting to be incorporated and that the area contained the number of residents required by law, Judge William Von Rosenberg, Jr. ordered that an election be held on March 4, 1913 at the William Roesle office building in Manor to decide whether or not the citizens wanted to become incorporated. Shown below is his signature as it appeared in the court records.

William Roesle was born in Switzerland in 1867. He came to Manor in 1889 and became a naturalized citizen in 1914. He owned a blacksmith shop in Manor in the early 1900’s and advertised as a Kadette radio salesman in 1936. He ran for mayor of Manor in 1939 and for Justice of the Peace in 1940. After living in Manor for 60 years, he died of a heart attack in 1949 and is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Austin. His death certificate erroneously lists his birthplace as Sugarland, Texas.

William Von Rosenberg, Jr. was born in Austin in 1859. He served as Justice of the Peace from 1882 to 1886, was Assistant Fire Chief of Austin Fire Dept. in 1886 and 1887, and was elected Travis County Judge from 1891 to 1894. He then held the position of city recorder for Austin for two terms and was County Judge again from 1913 to 1916. He was very active and involved in many road and bridge improvements in Travis County and had a long and distinguished military career. He died, alone in his back yard in 1919 at the age of 59 years, 11 months and 21 days as a result of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.

Nelson Houser (Hauser) (Howser) was one of two clerks responsible for recording the details of the election to incorporate Manor on March 4, 1913. He replaced J. P. Lockwood as presiding officer responsible for a future election held on April 15th of that same year. A street in Presidential Meadows appears to be named for him. 

H. G. (Horatio Grooms) Lee was born in 1848 in Austin. In 1859 he was among a group of boys who “set fire to Congress Avenue” in Austin. He served as a member of the Frontier Battalion, Company D of the Texas Rangers in 1874. He was elected on the ninth ballot as City Marshal of Austin from 1883 to 1885. Elected as Travis County surveyor from 1899 to 1903, he then served as City Engineer of Austin from 1903 to 1905. After this, he was again elected Travis County surveyor, a position he held until the time of his death in 1923. Never married, at the age of 75 he was said to be Austin’s oldest bachelor and was still considered to be an eligible catch. In 1922 a newspaper headline said this about him;

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

When James Manor died on May 17, 1881 news traveled rather slowly and area newspapers carried only very brief announcements such as these: 

The Austin Daily Statesman on May 29th and the Weekly Democratic Statesman on June 2nd both carried this announcement; 

The La Grange Journal printed this on June 2nd;

And the Bastrop Advertiser announced on June 11th, in their news from Webberville; 

The presiding judge of the County Court of Travis County at that time was Zachary Taylor Fulmore. Located on South Congress in Austin since 1911, Fulmore Middle School, founded in 1886, was named for the Judge. 

Fulmore had moved to Austin in 1870 and this ad was printed in The Tri-Weekly Gazette on March 22, 1871;

James had prepared his detailed Last Will and Testament on May 20, 1879, when he was 74 years old. Two years later on May 14, 1881, just three days before his death, he added a codicil to the will. In the will he named close friends Thomas E. Rowe and John T. Haynes as Executors of his estate. 

(Both Mr. Rowe and Mr. Haynes were members of the original board of trustees of Gilleland’s Creek Academy, located about halfway between Manor and Pflugerville. Mr. Haynes also served in the 15th Texas Legislature from 1876 to 1879 and was Postmaster at Round Rock at the time of James Manors death)

They submitted his will to the Judge at County Court in Austin on June 23, 1881. 

Two days later the following notice was prepared by Frank Brown, Clerk of the Travis County Court and was posted on the Court House door, as well as in Manor and Webberville, by Ed Creary, Sheriff of Travis County.

“The State of Texas to all persons interested in the administration of the estate of James Manor, deceased. Tho. E. Rowe and John T. Haynes have filed in the County an application for the probate of the will of said James Manor, deceased, and for letters testamentary thereon, which will be heard at the next term of said Court, convening the third Monday in July 1881 at the Courthouse thereof in the City of Austin at which time all persons interested in said administration may appear and contest said application if they see proper.” 

At the next regular session of the County Court held in July, Rowe and Haynes were officially appointed as Executors of the Estate and for the next six weeks local newspapers were required to publish the following announcement: 

Having witnessed the writing and signing of the will by James Manor, J. W. Bitting 
and F. C. Willburn were required to appear in the Court to testify as to its authenticity. 

(For more on Mr. Bitting, go to: https://manorstories.blogspot.com/2018/11/john-walter-bitting.html)

(Mr. Willburn {spelling varies} had moved to Manor in 1872, the year the city was officially named. He served as a Travis County Justice of the Peace from 1876-1880 and again from 1882-1884. He moved to Llano in 1886, later becoming Postmaster there)

The will presented to the court began with the following statement; “I, James Manor, of the County and State aforesaid, being at this time of sound mind and disposing memory, desiring to arrange my worldly affairs before my death, do make and execute, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament”

Following that were ten different provisions. The first was “that at my death my body 
shall be decently buried, and suitably enclosed, that a plain stone be placed at it with suitable inscription and for this purpose authorize my Executors to use one hundred dollars
of my estate.”
Buried in the Manor Cemetery, his grave is marked by this monument today:

Second: He requested that all the people interested in his estate should be called together by the Executors as soon after his death as possible and his will opened and read to them. 

Third: The Executors should take immediate control of his entire estate and manage it.

Fourth: Using the money on hand, they should pay off all his just debts, and if that was not sufficient, part of his Estate known as the Mountain Home Farm, "situated about six miles north of Austin" should be sold, and the proceeds from that sale be used to pay any remaining debts.

(Apparently it was necessary to sell this land. Travis County Deed Records show that on October 18, 1881 the Executors of the estate sold 360 acres of land in the James P. Wallace 1/3 league to R. P. Roberts. The transaction was not recorded in Travis County Deed Records until June 12, 1882. Real estate records printed in The Austin Statesman newspaper on June 18, 1882 show that the executors of the estate sold two tracts of land (acreage is not exact) that were located in the Wallace league for a total of $5000.) 

(James P. Wallace had been given 2 land grants that were located in that area. The larger one was for 1 league {4428 acres} of land and the other for 1/3 of a league. The 1/3 league of land would have been “about six miles north of Austin” at the time of James Manor’s death. Today, both areas are well within the city limits of Austin, on the north side.) 

Fifth: After the payment of all his debts, all of his remaining estate, real and mixed, properties and lands, should be equally divided and given to each of his surviving children who were Matilda Jane Manor Glasscock, Elvira Tennessee Manor Davis, Lavina Henrietta Manor Thompson, Catherine Georgia Manor Wheeler, and that half of one share should be divided and given to the children of his deceased daughter Ann Elizabeth Manor Boyce, it being their mother’s portion to be divided into four equal parts for her children; Alice Stricklin, Emma Boyce, Lee Boyce and Guy Boyce. 

Sixth: His surviving spouse, Elizabeth Ann Manor should have possession “for the rest of her natural life, all his present Homestead, including houses, gin house, barn, outbuildings, and structures situated adjoining the town of Manor, with all the lands and everything thereon, on the north side of the Railway, beginning at one hundred feet from the center of the Railroad on the Manor town survey, running direct to Judge Rector’s Six Hundred and Forty acre survey, thence running with his line westward to the corner of Barnards and his survey. Then southwards back to within one hundred feet of the center of the Railroad. Then running parallel with the railway line to the Manor town survey, including of all that land in cultivation and fifty acres in cultivation, and fifty acres of timbered land on his property in the Post-Oaks located on the southwest corner of the G. C. Jennings league. Any income made from these properties would be used to care for his wife and for the education of his daughter Miss Lucy Manor, and any other child or children that might be born to him. Thirty lots of land in the town of Manor nearest to the Railway depot would be given to each such child to be sold at their discretion and at the death of his wife Elizabeth Ann Manor, all of the estate should become the sole property of Miss Lucy Manor, and any other child or children that might be born to him. He also directed that the executors should turn over to his wife, five of the best cows and calves, the stock of hogs and goats and poultry, two horses, (along with the buggy and harness) the household and kitchen furniture, a pair of mules, harness and wagon, a yoke of oxen, plows, and five hundred dollars to be used to pay for one year’s liberal supply of household provisions, (this to be estimated by the appraisers of his estate) and the crops on the grounds.” 

Seventh: He specifically stated that he wanted his friends Thomas E. Rowe and John T. Haynes appointed as executors of his estate.

Eighth: Immediately after his death the executors should make a full and complete inventory of his estate, and appoint three appraisers, who would value, appraise and divide the property. After the reading of this will, the executors should present it to the court to be probated and recorded by the Clerk of the Court of Travis County Texas.

Ninth: After the will is probated, the executors should settle his estate by collecting any debts and money due to him, sell any property as might be necessary, and prepare deeds for property given to the heirs so that the court would not need to be involved in these matters.

Lastly, he encouraged the executors to be “speedy in the discharge of their duty and energetic in the collection of debts, rents, and profits,” and then they should charge the estate a reasonable amount for their services, which was to be paid by equal division among the heirs of his estate.

A codicil added to his will on May 14, 1881 made a couple of changes. Since the making of the original will, his granddaughter Emma Boyce, had died and he stated that her portion should now be equally divided among her sister and brothers.

Then James added this final condition: “Should any one of my heirs bring suit in Court for the purpose of breaking or setting aside any part of my will, that he or she shall thereby forfeit all his or her right and title to any part of my estate.” And should this happen, that portion would then be equally divided among the other heirs of his estate.

On July 23, 1881, Judge Z. T Fulmore ordered that J. W. Bitting, F. C. Willburn and John W. Brown be appointed as the appraisers of the property belonging to the estate and John T. Haynes and Thomas E. Rowe officially became the court-appointed Executors of the Estate. 

(John W. Brown served as a Travis County Commissioner for several terms between 1859 and 1893. He may have had a direct connection to James Manor because of the railroads. In 1860 the Texas State Legislature appointed a board of ten commissioners to form a corporation called the Air Line Railroad Company. John W. Brown was one of those commissioners. The purpose of the Air Line Railroad Company was to construct a railroad from Brenham to Austin. They were given two years to complete twenty-five miles of track (later extended to three years). Having failed in this effort, they combined their company with the Washington County Railroad which already had tracks leading to Brenham. In 1869 the Washington County Railroad was acquired by the Houston and Texas Central Railroad which completed the railroad to Austin in 1871 after James Manor donated land for the right-of-way through his land grant. It seems logical that John W. Brown and James Manor would have become acquainted because of railroad business during this time.)

ELVIRA TENNESSEE MANOR DAVIS

Before Cassandra Peterson became "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark", and before the Oak Ridge Boys sang the first verse of their hit song, "Elvira"; there was - - - "Elvira Tennessee Manor".

She was the sixth child of James and Phebe Manor, (only two of which were still living) and was born on October 31, 1841 after the Manor family had moved from Tennessee to Texas. 

The following story has been told by descendants of the Manor family:

"When Elvira was approximately 18 months old the Manor Family was raided by renegade Indians. A beloved slave hid the children in an old log house near the food storage house.There were large cracks between the logs and the children could see their father and mother filling saddle bags with food while the Indians held a gun on them. The slave was holding her hand over the baby's mouth and telling the other children not to make a sound.The Indians were standing within reach of the log house and the shiny beads on one of their moccasins attracted the baby's attention so she reached thru the cracks in the logs and pulled at the strings of the moccasin. The Indian turned and fired into the hut, but fortunately none of the children nor the slave were hit. When the Indians went into the house and the one Indian saw it was a baby, he pulled the string from the moccasin and gave it to Elvira".

At the age of 19, Elvira married 24 year old Blackstone Hardeman Davis, a lawyer from Bastrop. He served in the House of Representatives from District 56, Bastrop County from November 7, 1859 to February 4, 1862. He was the son of George Washington Davis and Emeline Moore Davis. Limestone used for the construction of the 2nd state capitol building of Texas, built in 1853, was quarried from G. W. Davis' farm land which, at that time, was about 5 to 6 miles north of Austin. 

          ELVIRA TENNESSEE MANOR                       BLACKSTONE HARDEMAN DAVIS

In January 1862, Blackstone enlisted in the Confederate Army, leaving Elvira and their first son alone. Elvira moved in with G. W. and his wife on the Davis land. When G. W.  went on trips, Elvira would be left alone with her baby and the servants. She told stories of how she heard noises at night and was afraid. Blackstone had given Elvira a cap & ball pistol that shot a large buckshot. She would hold it but never had to use it. It appears that Elvira was still living there when Blackstone returned after the war ended in 1865 and he joined her on the Davis family farm.

"Family members told the story about the time that Elvira was on the Houston-to-Austin stagecoach one night, with the temperature below freezing. The driver was on top, where it was really cold, and he had a bottle of whiskey. By the time he got to Onion Creek, near what is now Austin Bergstrom International Airport, he was badly drunk. Elvira opened the window and told him, “when you get to the top of the hill at the ferry, let me out and I will walk”. The four men in the stage got off with her and said they would walk with Elvira. The driver then popped his whip and took off. When he reached the landing, the ferry was on the other side and the stage and driver went into deep, fast water. The front two horses broke free, along with the driver holding the lines, and were saved. The two horses nearest the coach drowned. All the passengers were wearing heavy winter clothes and overcoats and would have probably drowned, had they not got off the stage earlier." (1)

In June 1868, G. W. Davis sold 315 acres of his farm land to Blackstone and he and Elvira apparently lived there together until his tragic and unexpected death on March 28, 1881 at the age of 45. It happened this way;

"It was about four in the afternoon on a day in 1881 that Blackstone left his home (in the vicinity of present-day Northwest Park in Austin). He was walking since his buggy was in the shop in Fiskville for repair. Blackstone was going to the State Hospital (then called the Lunatic Asylum) to collect for 200 bushels of corn he had sold them previously. He also had a 20 dollar gold piece his wife had given him to pay taxes with as well as about seven dollars of his own. He arrived at the State Hospital too late to get paid for the corn so continued on to town. Along the way he met an acquaintance coming from town in a buggy. Blackstone offered to buy him “all the beer he could drink” if he would turn around and go back to town. The man declined and Blackstone continued on to town.

Early the next morning a milkman saw a man lying on the road. When he saw the man was dead, he went to town to tell the authorities. At about the same time, Blackstone’s wife was sending their sons out to search for him. One of them, age 15, was the only one who had a horse ready at the time and he was sent to search the pasture along Shoal Creek. The two older boys, age 19 and 17, walked and arrived at the body about the same time as the people who came from town. Tracks and a bottle indicated that Blackstone and another man had walked from town and stopped at that point and emptied the last from a whisky bottle. The other man started back to town and Blackstone started on home. However, the other then turned and slipped up in back of Blackstone and hit him in the head with a rock. Then as Blackstone lay face down, he hit him again with a second rock to make sure he was dead. He was face down, his pants pockets turned inside out when found. A man was later arrested and tried but found not guilty. The murder remains unsolved to this day." (2)

Elvira never remarried, and in mid December 1896, now widowed with six children, she bought lots 31 and 32 of block 4 in the new Hyde Park addition, which was at that time just north of the city of Austin. Hyde Park was connected to Austin by a street car line and Elvira's newly-purchased property was right on the street car tracks. At that time it was Avenue B and 5th street. (when Hyde Park joined the city of Austin 5th street was renamed 42nd street) She is said to have built a house there by as late as 1904 where she continued to live until her death at the age of 76. The house is still standing and used as a residence at 4112 Avenue B in Austin. 

Blackstone and Elvira had six children. Their first child, James Manor Davis, served as Travis County Sheriff from November 6, 1900 to November 4, 1902, when he died of an “apoplectic stroke.” Well liked and respected, James had one of the largest funeral processions in Austin’s history, with the mourners walking from Congress Avenue to the Davis Cemetery located on the Davis farm land. 

Elvira died September 12, 1918 and Blackstone died March 28, 1881. Both are buried in the Davis Family Cemetery in Austin. Elvira was the last person to be buried in that cemetery. 

Elvira's Hyde Park house, the G. W. Davis farm land and quarry and the Davis family cemetery, are all designated as Texas Historical sites.

(1) The Allendale Neighbor - Volume 25, Issue 5, October 2010

(2) Rosedale Rambles - 1993 through 1999