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You might find the following article of interest:
Brazoria County, Texas
PAGE 4 ~ THE WINDOW PANE PULLOUT SECTION ~ MAY 2004 Page 12 THE BULLETIN MAY 18, 2004
100 East Cedar, Angleton, Texas 77515 email: bchm@bchm.org MAY 2004 www.bchm.org Your Monthly Museum Newsletter
By ROSEMARY D. DUKE Recently, I was reading some of Catherine Foster's articles in the Angleton Times and came across some interesting facts. She wrote in 1974 about a plantation belonging to a William Maner. This plantation was located just north of the Osceola Plantation along the Brazos River, according to Abner Strobel in his 1926 brochure on old plantations. Mr. Maner settled on a land grant previously secured. He brought two ships loaded with household goods, slaves and tools from New Orleans to start a cotton plantation. According to the 1850 Census, he was raising sugar cane and doing well. We have no information or pictures of the plantation. One can only imagine, like Catherine did, gold door knobs, massive hearths and mantels of imported marble, mahogany stairs, carpeted floors and all the splendid things the other beautiful plantation owners of that time had. It has been reported that Mr. Maner was a remittance man, his income having been paid by the reigning royal family of Britain. Catherine wanted to know what he did to be banished from England. Well, I would like to know that also. Mr. Maner was born in 1795, in South Carolina to a Captain William and Jane Aseneth May Maner. He married RACHEL MILES, and Catherine thought they had 17 children. According to the 1850 Brazoria County Census, however, they had only 12 children listed. The oldest was 26 and the youngest four years old. Interestingly, the census states that none of the Maner children were born in Texas. Of course, they may have left a couple of adult children behind. Also of note is that Catherine found that Mrs. Maner supposedly was no larger than a dwarf: a very small woman to have born so many children. William Maner was said not to remember all of his children's names, but always spoke to them politely when he encountered them on the plantation. Wanting to impress upon them their royal blood, it is said that he would not allow them to press foot directly on Brazoria County soil. Now that upsets me! Supposedly, he had a small slave accompany each of the children who would roll out a carpet for them to walk upon. Catherine recounts in her story that William and Rachel were buried in gold coffins, studded with precious stones. I think Catherine, an avid collector of ghost stories, wanted someone to dig up these graves back in 1974 to see if it would rile William and Rachel so that she would have a new ghost story to write about! William and Rachel are buried in the Maner Cemetery in Columbia Lakes. There is a head stone on the grave of William Maner. Although Rachel is buried next to him, there is no head stone or marker. It is said that folks used the bricks from the mausoleum to make chimneys for fireplaces. The only other thing that we know about the Maner family is that William's son, Theodore A. Maner, was a member of Terry's Texas Rangers during the Civil War. It is said that when he came home from the war, he brought along with him the news that Lee had surrendered. If anyone has any information on the Maner Family or Plantation, please call the Museum.
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