Mary O’Bannon Smith Caldwell, )1852-1927) Ida Caldwell McFaddin's mother from West Virginia

Mary O’Bannon Smith Caldwell was born in 1852 in New Castle, Kentucky. She was educated in Louisville. Her parents were Nicholas Smith (1822-1900) and Eliza Peters Foree Smith (1830-1923).

She married James Lewis Caldwell in Kanawha County, West Virginia in 1871. They raised their six children together in Huntington, West Virginia. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Colonial Dames but was reported to focus more intently on her home, family, and friends than outside civic organizations. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Children:
Ida Caldwell McFaddin (1872-1950)
Lewis Nicholas Caldwell (1876-1886)
Foree Dabney Caldwell (1880-1936)
George Jackson Caldwell (1883-1927)
James Lewis Caldwell (1888 - 1933)
Nicholas Smith Caldwell (1890-1928)

About the Painting:
ca. 1928; oil on canvas, from a photograph
Artist: Royston Nave (1886-1930)
Mr. Nave, born in LaGrange, Texas. He married Emma McFaddin McCan, a niece of WPH’s. She was the widow of Jim McCan, also an artist.

The Royston Nave Memorial Museum was opened in Victoria, Texas in 1933 to house his works and is still in operation.

General James Lewis Caldwell ( 1846-1923) Ida Caldwell McFaddin's Father from West Virginia

General James Lewis Caldwell was born in Elizabeth, which is now Wirt County, West Virginia in 1846, prior to West Virginia’s admission as a state in the Union in 1863. His family moved to Ohio where he attended school. At age seventeen he enlisted in The Union Army in the midst of the Civil War, joining Company F 60th Ohio Infantry. Caldwell served in multiple battles under General Grant, including the Battle of Appomattox Court House, one of the last battles of the conflict.

J.L. Caldwell moved to Huntington, West Virginia at the age of twenty-two after the war where he worked in various business pursuits including insurance, lumber, and mercantile work. He threw himself into civic responsibilities and was often credited with developing the economy of Huntington as well as the city itself. He was the first coal field developer and also known as the “father of the street railway,” as he advocated for the development of the city’s advanced infrastructure building. Caldwell helped start the First National Bank in the 1880s, going on to serve as the bank’s president for over four decades.

Caldwell was politically active, considered a leader of the Republican party in West Virginia. At one time he was proposed to run for a U.S. Senate seat, but instead withdrew from the race before the election.

James Lewis Caldwell married Mary O’Bannon Smith in Kanawha County, West Virginia in 1871. They raised their six children together in Huntington, West Virginia.

Children:
Ida Caldwell McFaddin (1872-1950)
Lewis Nicholas Caldwell (1876-1886)
Foree Dabney Caldwell (1880-1936)
George Jackson Caldwell (1883-1927)
James Lewis Caldwell (1888 - 1933)
Nicholas Smith Caldwell (1890-1928)

About the Painting:
ca. 1928; oil on canvas, from a photograph
Artist: Royston Nave (1886-1930)
Mr. Nave, born in LaGrange, Texas. He married Emma McFaddin McCan, a niece of WPH’s. She was the widow of Jim McCan, also an artist.

The Royston Nave Memorial Museum was opened in Victoria, Texas in 1933 to house his works and is still in operation.

The Ansonia Gloria Ball Swing Clock in the McFaddin-Ward House collection is in two pieces. The standing winged figure holds a lyre in one hand and the swing ball pendulum in the other. The clock must be wound twice per week with a key to maintain accurate time keeping.

The Ansonia Clock Company was founded in 1851 in Connecticut but eventually moved operations to Brooklyn, New York. The company produced high quality clocks until the 1920s at which time the company was sold to Soviet Russia’s Amtorg Trading Corporation.

Watch the linked video to learn how the curatorial team keeps Gloria ticking.

Video Transcript:
"The Gloria clock is one of three clocks we have from the Ansonia Clock Company, and it also has an interesting story attached to it. So, this clock actually used to be in two pieces, and one day, a clock conservator came by who was working on some of the other clocks in the house. He saw the statuette and he said, “Oh, well, it’s a shame you don’t have the pendulum,” and so, one day, the curators actually asked him, “What does the pendulum look like?” They tried to search for it themselves, and they actually found it! So, now they are both together and the clock does still work, so I am about to wind it, and how we wind it is you have to remove the pendulum, very carefully, and you want to want sure it’s supported, and you turn it clockwise. You want to make sure it’s not too tight, otherwise, it will snap back and it will break a finger off! Now, if the time is off, we set the time, and we put the clock back."

On December 21, 1905, one L. Johnson, a manager on the floor of the Ivers and Pond Piano Factory in Boston, approved a “69 Mahogany Grand” by stamping the serial number 39984 and signing his own name on the interior label. By early 1907, after purchase from the W.L. Pace Piano Company on the corner of Pearl and Forsythe in Beaumont, the instrument arrived at the home of W.P. H. and Ida McFaddin, and was formerly played on March 17, 1907 during a musicale and dance.

This piano is consistently maintained by our curatorial department for playing on special occasions.

Click the audio below to hear a recording of the museum's Executive Director, Tony Chauveaux, playing Ragtime on the piano.