McCall Law Office

“I arrived in Montgomery, Texas, at 11 ½ o’clock, April 4, 1840,” as written in Nathaniel Hart Davis’ journal. He was a practicing attorney at the age of 25, three years after attaining his license to practice law. He was the third son of Nathaniel Bowe and Martha D. Davis, born in Fayette County, Kentucky in 1815. Nat Davis became a member of the Sommervell Expedition under Colonel Joseph I. Bennett, in whose home he had lived during his first years in Texas. He was elected as the first Mayor of Montgomery in 1848 and married Sarah Elizabeth White in January, 1851. The couple boarded in different houses until Betty (as Sarah Elizabeth was often called) discovered they were to be three! They then began constructing a cabin from logs that had been cut from local timber in 1831 and used as a cabin by William C. Clark, a local family living north of town. The Clarks paid for settling of their estate with these logs which are within the walls of the N.H. Davis Cottage still today. The cabin was constructed on a lot Mr. Davis had bought from James McGown in 1844, which now fronts on Liberty Street with McGown Street at the back. This large lot extended on the south at Eva Street and to Caroline Street on the north. Using this large lot, Nat Davis constructed side “shed” rooms and an attic bedroom. On this one acre of land, there was also added a barn, buggy house, saddle house, two log servant houses, milk cow shed, chicken coop and a “patch” for livestock. A small vegetable garden was fringed with fruit trees. A pear tree located behind the law office remains today. The kitchen and dining area was at first connected to the main part of the house only by an open platform. An underground cistern was dug and curbed with handmade brick and a shed was built to cover it. This was the water supply for the household. Over these many decades, part of the cistern had begun to crumble; the Society hired masons to reconstruct it using mostly the same bricks—they did a beautiful job, and have fixed it to its original state. Seven little Texas-born Davises were bring raised into this first generation of Davises: John Felix Davis, Amelia Jane Davis, James Nat Davis, Martha Bowe Davis an Peter Willis Davis. Two infant children died and were buried on the south yard, which was the front of the home. One was an unnamed baby girl, apparently stillborn in October, 1841, and Nathaniel Hart Davis, Jr., born November 23, 1853 and died April 26, 1854. Davis family writings state that these babies were buried in the front yard. This was before there was an addition added to the house which included concrete front area for a porch on the west side. About ten years ago, the Society wanted to commemorate the burial of these two Davis babies. Other than the family’s writings that they were buried in what was the front lot at that time, the exact location is as yet undetermined. Society member Jack Shepherd created two small headstones inscribed with their names and dates. This is all the Society can do, since we do not own the lot where the Davis family noted they are buried, and the exact location is not yet known. In October 2021, a cadaver dog which was here for the Voices from the Past Historic Cemetery Tours and he was taken to the lot in question. He signaled on a spot close to the picket fence near the back door of the Davis Cottage. He laid down on one of the pieces of stone imbedded in the grass . Ground penetration sonar will need to be used to determine the locations of their graves so they can be protected from harm. “Judge Davis,” as he became to be known due to his holding various offices of legal authority in the county, district, and state, had built his law office on a corner of this home lot. (His law office sits adjacent to the Davis Cottage.) In 1855, Judge Davis improved their home by boarding over the logs on the outside, adding a frame bedroom to the north with a double stack chimney and a front porch on the west side. Texanna Snow's school was in this building 1881 until 1895. The Nat Davises resided here until 1876 when he purchased a lot on the east side of the courthouse square and built a fine new two-story house. This home has been renovated and is located on Prairie Street. It is now owned by Miles Marks, and where he has the Montgomery Consignment & Antiques. The Davis Cottage was then inhabited by their son, John Felix Davis and his first wife, Mary Snow. John Davis made various changes and improvements to the old house, but the basic little log structure remained, but John never allow the kitchen to be sealed overhead because of danger of fire. The side walls, however, were sealed in the late 1880’s with boards bought from the county when the old Montgomery County Courthouse was torn down, and the county seat was moved from Montgomery to Conroe. Today, these boards are the same blue color they were when in the courthouse. The wood burning stove in the kitchen is original to the Cottage and was refurbished by Society member, James Armor. You can stand in the kitchen and look up to the rafters and see how that the burning wood from that stove has blackened the rafters inside the roof. The Montgomery Historical Society was given the house and law office in 1984. At that time, the cottage was under a couple feet of dirt and had to be raised, aged wood was found to replace the flooring, a wooden porch was installed over the concrete structure, the full length of the home, as it stands today.

The Museum Complex

The N. H. Davis Pioneer Complex and Museum is comprised of three buildings within the picket-fenced grounds. Besides the N. H. Davis Cottage, and Nat Davis’ law office, there is also Judge Screen A. McCall’s small Law Office. The Davis Cottage showcases period furnishings and memorabilia in a pioneer home. The stove is the only item that was originally in the home when the Davises lived there, but the other furnishings have been purchased or donated which date back to that era.

The Lone Star Flag

Dr. Charles B. Stewart lived just outside of Montgomery proper when he designed the Texas flag. He met with Texas President Mirabeau Lamar to show him the drawing. He slid it across the table and President Lamar signed it, also writing “Official Flag, Republic of Texas – January 25 1839.” This original drawing is in the State Archives in Austin. A copy of the original drawing can be seen in our N.H. Davis Pioneer Complex & Museum. On May 30, 1997, the House of Representatives of the 75th Texas Legislature officially commemorated Montgomery County as the Birthplace of the Lone Star Flag thanks to Dr. Charles B. Stewart’s design.

The Davis Cottage is Donated

Dr. Margaret (Peggy) Cameron was retired as head of the Physics Department at Lamar University in Beaumont when she donated the Davis Cottage to the Montgomery Historical Society. Mrs. Jean Cameron Adams is now deceased. Her daughter, Mrs. Virginia Adams Burke, visits from Galveston occasionally. At the time of her bequest in 1994, Dr. Margaret (Peggy) Cameron said, “Mama always wanted a white picket fence.” The Society installed the picket fence around all sides of the buildings, with parking on the east and west streets. Texanna Snow's school here 1881 wing in 1895. Still in family. Recorded Texas His 1891