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.