The library’s purpose is analogous to the contemporary family or living room, a place for relaxation and informational entertaining. The library’s décor reflects a later period than other first-floor rooms. It is an example of changing styles as it was converted from a dark, arts and crafts style room, popular at the turn of the twentieth century, to a light and bright space commonly found in mid century homes.
Floor 1
First floor of the McFaddin-Ward House Museum
Library General Audience
Ida Regina Caldwell McFaddin (1872 - 1950)
Ida was the daughter of James Lewis and Mary O’Bannon Smith Caldwell of Huntington, West Virginia. Their portraits hang in the Music Room. She attended Mary Baldwin College in Stanton, Virginia then married W.P.H. McFaddin, of Beaumont, Texas, in 1894. They had three children, Mamie McFaddin-Ward (1895-1982), William Perry Herring McFaddin, Jr, (1897-1973) and James Lewis Caldwell McFaddin (1901-1984).
Ida was an influential philanthropist in Southeast Texas and a successful businesswomen, following in her father’s and brother’s footsteps by serving as the president of the Caldwell Company of West Virginia. She was tasked with managing the family’s interests in banking and mining. She died in Beaumont on March 21, 1950. Ida inspired her daughter, Mamie, to continue the family tradition of philanthropy, a value she held dear.
About the Painting:
After Ida McFaddin’s death in 1950, her daughter Mamie McFaddin Ward, commissioned this painting from a photograph. Mamie hired Portraits, Inc based in New York City. An artist by the name of Louise Altson (1910-2010) was assigned the commission. Altson, born in Belgium, began her career as an artist at age twelve. She studied in both Europe then emigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City. Over the course of a long career she illustrated children’s books, comic books, and magazines. She also painted for President George W. and Barbara Bush, Tommy Dorsey, the DuPont family, and the Woolworth family.
General Audience Tour
Ida Regina Caldwell McFaddin (1872 - 1950)
Ida was the daughter of James Lewis and Mary O’Bannon Smith Caldwell of Huntington, West Virginia. Their portraits hang in the Music Room. She attended Mary Baldwin College in Stanton, Virginia then married W.P.H. McFaddin, of Beaumont, Texas, in 1894. They had three children, Mamie McFaddin-Ward (1895-1982), William Perry Herring McFaddin, Jr, (1897-1973) and James Lewis Caldwell McFaddin (1901-1984).
Ida was an influential philanthropist in Southeast Texas and a successful businesswomen, following in her father’s and brother’s footsteps by serving as the president of the Caldwell Company of West Virginia. She was tasked with managing the family’s interests in banking and mining. She died in Beaumont on March 21, 1950. Ida inspired her daughter, Mamie, to continue the family tradition of philanthropy, a value she held dear.
About the Painting:
After Ida McFaddin’s death in 1950, her daughter Mamie McFaddin Ward, commissioned this painting from a photograph. Mamie hired Portraits, Inc based in New York City. An artist by the name of Louise Altson (1910-2010) was assigned the commission. Altson, born in Belgium, began her career as an artist at age twelve. She studied in both Europe then emigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City. Over the course of a long career she illustrated children’s books, comic books, and magazines. She also painted for President George W. and Barbara Bush, Tommy Dorsey, the DuPont family, and the Woolworth family.
William Perry Herring McFaddin (1856-1935)
W.P.H. was the son of William and Rachel McFaddin of Beaumont, Texas. The McFaddins descended from Tennessee settlers who moved to the area when Texas was still part of Mexico prior to Texas independence.
W.P.H. attended the Texas Military Institute in Austin, Texas then went on to Jones Commercial College in St. Louis, Missouri to complete business courses. At age twenty-two he entered into the cattle business with his father at which time he started the process of growing the family’s extensive land holdings, eventually totalling approximately 12,000 acres in Jefferson County and 48,000 acres in Knox and King Counties. The McFaddins diversified their revenue streams through additional agricultural pursuits such as rice-milling, canal irrigation development, muskrat trapping. Eventually, oil and commercial real estate were income earning endeavors.
The Lucas Gusher erupted in January of 1901, on land owned by the Beaumont Pasture Company, of which W.P.H was a partner. This event forever changed the Texas economy.
W.P.H. married his first wife, Emma Janes, of Beaumont in 1877. They had three children, Lillian Skipwith McFaddin (1877-1943), Di Vernon McFaddin (1879-1953), and William Valentine McFaddin (1883 - 1944). After her death in 1890 he married Ida Regina Caldwell from Huntington, West Virginia in 1894. They also had three children, Mamie McFaddin-Ward (1895-1982), William Perry Herring McFaddin, Jr. (1897-1973), and James Lewis Caldwell McFaddin (1901-1984)
About the Painting:
W.P.H.’s daughter, Mamie McFaddin Ward, commissioned this painting of him in 1960 from a photograph. He died in 1935. Mamie hired Portraits, Inc. based in New York City. An artist by the name of Louise Altson (1910-2010) was assigned the commission. Altson, born in Belgium, began her career as an artist at age twelve. She studied in both Europe then emigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City. Over the course of a long career she illustrated children’s books, comic books, and magazines. She also painted for President George W. and Barbara Bush, Tommy Dorsey, the DuPont family, and the Woolworth family.
General Audience Tour
William Perry Herring McFaddin (1856-1935)
W.P.H. was the son of William and Rachel McFaddin of Beaumont, Texas. The McFaddins descended from Tennessee settlers who moved to the area when Texas was still part of Mexico prior to Texas independence.
W.P.H. attended the Texas Military Institute in Austin, Texas then went on to Jones Commercial College in St. Louis, Missouri to complete business courses. At age twenty-two he entered into the cattle business with his father at which time he started the process of growing the family’s extensive land holdings, eventually totalling approximately 12,000 acres in Jefferson County and 48,000 acres in Knox and King Counties. The McFaddins diversified their revenue streams through additional agricultural pursuits such as rice-milling, canal irrigation development, muskrat trapping. Eventually, oil and commercial real estate were income earning endeavors.
The Lucas Gusher erupted in January of 1901, on land owned by the Beaumont Pasture Company, of which W.P.H was a partner. This event forever changed the Texas economy.
W.P.H. married his first wife, Emma Janes, of Beaumont in 1877. They had three children, Lillian Skipwith McFaddin (1877-1943), Di Vernon McFaddin (1879-1953), and William Valentine McFaddin (1883 - 1944). After her death in 1890 he married Ida Regina Caldwell from Huntington, West Virginia in 1894. They also had three children, Mamie McFaddin-Ward (1895-1982), William Perry Herring McFaddin, Jr. (1897-1973), and James Lewis Caldwell McFaddin (1901-1984)
About the Painting:
W.P.H.’s daughter, Mamie McFaddin Ward, commissioned this painting of him in 1960 from a photograph. He died in 1935. Mamie hired Portraits, Inc. based in New York City. An artist by the name of Louise Altson (1910-2010) was assigned the commission. Altson, born in Belgium, began her career as an artist at age twelve. She studied in both Europe then emigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City. Over the course of a long career she illustrated children’s books, comic books, and magazines. She also painted for President George W. and Barbara Bush, Tommy Dorsey, the DuPont family, and the Woolworth family.
The baluster shaped emerald green glass vase, cased in silver, cut to shape floral motifs is believed to be a wedding gift to W.P.H. and Ida McFaddin's
when they married in 1894, according to family accounts. There is no record as to who gifted the vase to the McFaddins. The initials ICM are monogrammed on the front.
Technique Details: The silver deposit (or silver overlay) process, by which silver was electroplated onto glassware and ceramic, was developed in the 1880s. The overlay was achieved by adding a metal-based flux to an object, over either the area of the desired design or the entire surface, to attract silver (a conductive material) to the otherwise nonconductive glass or ceramic surface. When the piece was immersed in a silver bath, the area holding the conductive substance was covered with silver. The longer it remained in the bath, the thicker the silver layer became. If the entire piece had been coated, silver could be removed, often by an acid bath, by first protecting the design area with a coating of flux.
General Audience Tour
The baluster shaped emerald green glass vase, cased in silver, cut to shape floral motifs is believed to be a wedding gift to W.P.H. and Ida McFaddin's
when they married in 1894, according to family accounts. There is no record as to who gifted the vase to the McFaddins. The initials ICM are monogrammed on the front.
Technique Details: The silver deposit (or silver overlay) process, by which silver was electroplated onto glassware and ceramic, was developed in the 1880s. The overlay was achieved by adding a metal-based flux to an object, over either the area of the desired design or the entire surface, to attract silver (a conductive material) to the otherwise nonconductive glass or ceramic surface. When the piece was immersed in a silver bath, the area holding the conductive substance was covered with silver. The longer it remained in the bath, the thicker the silver layer became. If the entire piece had been coated, silver could be removed, often by an acid bath, by first protecting the design area with a coating of flux.
The wood heart shaped decorative table was produced around 1915. The table top features intricate inlay, which means wood is cut out in a desired shape, then filled with a contrasting or colored material that fits perfectly into the inlay. The insert is flush with the wood surface.
General Audience Tour
The wood heart shaped decorative table was produced around 1915. The table top features intricate inlay, which means wood is cut out in a desired shape, then filled with a contrasting or colored material that fits perfectly into the inlay. The insert is flush with the wood surface.
Library 
