Built in 1854 for Peter J. Willis and his wife, Caroline Womack, Magnolia was named for their daughter, the first child born there, who later became Mrs. Geo. Sealy of Galveston, and Magnolia Petroleum Company was also named for her. Ilai and Melissa Davis bought the furnished house in 1868, and it was occupied continuously by their descendants, who preserved much of the original furniture brought there by boat and wagon from New York. Anna D. Weisinger, the present owner, was the only other child born there.