When the town of Manor was platted in 1872, streets running east and west were named after founding fathers / families in the area. On the north side of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad tracks, in downtown Manor, was Burditt Street. Approximately 4 blocks long, it covered the area from LaGrange to Bastrop Streets. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps as late as 1925 still show Burditt Street, but at some time it ceased to exist. Today, there is no street at all where Burditt Street used to be.
What was Manor's connection to someone named Burditt?. Why would this street have been named after him / her / them?
The Jesse Fletcher and Mildred (Cain) Burditt family had moved from Tennessee to Texas in 1833, eventually ending up in Travis County in 1844. They settled south of Austin below Montopolis, where he and three of his sons, William Buck, Joel Allen and Minos Cannon had cotton plantations. Later Jesse and Mildred moved north of the Colorado River near Gilliland Creek where he was a farmer and rancher and a prominent member of the community. Three other sons, Giles Henry, Newell Walton and Jesse Fletcher, Jr. settled north of Austin in the Walnut Creek / Fiskville area, where they also operated cotton plantations. An 1876 newspaper article described Giles Henry Burditt's home as being "near Manor".
In 1857, Minos Cannon Burditt purchased 500 acres of land from James Rogers; land which was part of the James P. Wallace 1/3 league located a few miles north of Austin. In January 1868 M. C. Burditt sold all claim to any of Jesse Burditt Sr.'s estate to his brother Giles H. and not long after that M. C. Burditt had moved away from the Austin area to Coryell County, eventually ending up in Scurry County.
Jesse Burditt Sr. died in 1855, and 16 years later, in June 1871 the Travis County District Court appointed his son, Giles Henry to be the Administrator of his estate with orders to sell much of Jesse's estate; proceeds to be divided among the heirs. Part of the estate was the 500 acres of the James P. Wallace league which Giles Henry then had surveyed and divided into 12 lots of forty acres each and 2 lots of ten acres each, which were offered for sale to the highest bidder. Deed records described this property as being "six miles north of Austin".
James Manor purchased lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12 for total of $6,370. Lots 1-6 were described as tillable land enclosed by a fence and lots 10-12 were timbered land containing houses and a spring.
When James Manor died on May 17, 1881, his will instructed the Executors of his Estate to pay off all of his legal debts. If there were not sufficient funds available for this purpose, they were also instructed to sell his "Mountain Home Farm" property located "6 miles north of Austin". On October 18, 1881 they sold the 9 lots purchased from Giles H. Burditt to R. P. Roberts. Lots 1-6 sold for $5000 but the purchase price for lots 10-12 is not stated in the records.
This was not James Manor's only connection to the Burditt family. Newell Walton Burditt had married Missouri C. Parker in 1839. Together they had at least 7 children. Newell W. died in 1856 at the age of 36. On September 20, 1866 Missouri C. (Parker) Burditt became the second wife of James Manor. Information is not readily available concerning the death and burial of Missouri (Burditt) Manor, but deed records show that she sold some of her land in June of 1872, and that W. H. Reynolds was appointed as the Administrator of her Estate in June of 1874. We also know that James Manor married his third wife in April, 1875.
It could be that the now non-existent Burditt Street was named after Missouri C. (Parker) (Burditt ) Manor, as James Manor's way of honoring and remembering his second wife.
And it could be that Burditt Street was named after Giles Henry Burditt, from whom James Manor had purchased the land that he called his "Mountain Home Farm".
But it seems more likely that Burditt Street was named for "the Burditt family" because of their having been so active and involved in the area of Travis County that would become the town of Manor in 1872.
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