James Manor LbNA #51793

James Manor first came to Texas in 1832 with Sam Houston, who had been commissioned by U.S. President Andrew Jackson to negotiate treaties with Texas Indian tribes. Manor's family had moved from North Carolina to Tennessee shortly after Manor's birth in 1804, and it was there that Manor first became acquainted with Houston. The two remained lifelong friends, and Houston frequently visited the Manor home. In 1836 Manor settled on Gilleland Creek just west of present day downtown Manor while Texas was in its earliest days of the Republic. He cleared the land and constructed a log home on the east bank. In 1842, Manor constructed a two story frame home retaining the cabin at the rear of the house as the kitchen. That house served as the first stage stop out of Austin and as a post office when stage service from Austin to Houston was shifted through the area in 1857
Located twelve miles northeast of Austin in one of the earliest areas of Travis County to be settled, Manor's first residents, primarily farmers attracted to the rich fertile soil of the blackland prairies, began arriving in the 1830s. Webberville, a stagecoach stop located to the south of Manor, was its major rival. During Reconstruction, when the path of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad was being determined, both communities vied for the privilege of having the railroad pass through them. James Manor's offer of land helped turn the decision in Manor's favor, and in 1872 the growing trade center for the surrounding agricultural area was officially named in honor of its benefactor, James Manor.

Find yourself at the Manor Cemetery. Its Off N. Lampasas St. and Lockhart St. If your coming from Austin on HWY 290 E. you will turn right at loop 212. At "the 4 way stop sign" you will turn left. Take Lockhart St. on your left. This will take you to the cemetery gates. Enter the cemetery and drive under the rusty arch. Park near the tall Cedar tree that is inside the short rusty fence of the Hill family plots on your right. Walk along the short fence keeping the Hills to your right. Directly in front of you should be James Manors headstone surrounded by a single rusty chain fence. As you walk up to the headstone you will walk over a tree stump that is as low as the ground. Standing facing the headstone with the stump behind you, find a 220 degree heading and walk to the large outcropping of Crape Murtle trees. In the middle of this grouping buried under leaves, a rock, and some bark lies James Manor in a camo box.
Please hide him back well, for he is my first portrait carving and I am very fond of this fellow.