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James
Alfred
McFaddin,
rancher, was
born on May 5,
1840, near the
site of
Beaumont,
Texas, the
eldest son of
Rachel
(Williams) and
William M.
McFaddin.qv
His
grandparents,
James and
Elizabeth
McFaddin,
moved to Texas
in 1821 from
Tennessee.
William
McFaddin
established a
ranch in
Liberty
County, where
he received a
land grant
from the
Mexican
government in
1831, and the
following year
the family
moved to
Jefferson
County, where
William
established a
ranch about a
mile from the
site of
present
Beaumont. In
1858 James
McFaddin
established
his first
ranch on Melon
Creek in
Refugio
County, using
130 cattle
from his
father's ranch
in Jefferson
County. He
married
Margaret V.
Coward in
1861, and
their first
child, Allen
M. McFaddin,qv
was born while
McFaddin was
in the
Confederate
service. In
1863 McFaddin
joined the
Refugio Guards
as a second
corporal under
Capt. Dan
Doughty, and
he appears to
have attained
the rank of
first
lieutenant by
the end of the
war. After the
war he
returned to
Refugio County
and continued
his interest
in developing
cattle
ranching and
farming in the
area. For
years he
served his
neighbors as a
"one-man
bank," keeping
their money in
his safe until
a bank was
established.
He commanded a
company of
militiamen for
Refugio County
and in 1875
was involved
in overseeing
road
construction
in the county.
McFaddin
bought up land
in Victoria
County in the
fork between
the Guadalupe
and San
Antonio rivers
in 1878 and
moved his
family there
around 1881.
During these
years he began
to incorporate
Brahman blood
into his
herds; he was
one of the
earliest
cattlemen to
do so. By 1879
he had begun
cross-breeding
experiments
which later
resulted in a
recognized new
breed under
his grandson,
Claude K.
McCan.qv
He continued
to use the M6
brand,
designed by
his father in
1837, and
added the N6
and Z brands.
McFaddin was
also one of
the first to
fence pastures
with barbed
wire,qv
and he drained
and reclaimed
about 5,000
acres of
swampland by
building a
twelve-mile
levee along
the Guadalupe
River. In
February 1884
he helped
organize the
Building and
Loan
Association,
and in 1897 he
invested in
the Guadalupe
Valley
Railroad,
which was
abandoned in
1899. When the
St. Louis,
Brownsville
and Mexico
Railway was
established in
1903, one of
the stations
was placed on
the ranch and
named after
McFaddin. To
combat
rustling, he
became one of
the founders
of the Cattle
Raisers
Association of
Texas. With J.
J. Welderqv
and Harry
Rathbone, he
helped
organize the
Guadalupe
Navigation
Company, which
extracted and
transported
sand and
gravel to
clear the
rivers for
riverboat
traffic. In
1883 McFaddin,
Thomas M.
O'Connor, and
others
organized the
Texas
Continental
Meat Company,
the first
meat-packing
plant in
Texas, which
employed at
its peak
eighty-seven
butchers. By
1885 McFaddin
was one of the
wealthiest
ranchers in
the county,
with land
worth $95,800
in three
ranches. He
died on June
25, 1916, at
his home in
Victoria and
was buried in
Victoria.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Mary Whatley
Clarke, "Big
Hearted `Mr.
Al': Favorite
Victoria Son,"
Cattleman,
February 1952.
James Cox, Historical
and
Biographical
Record of the
Cattle
Industry
(2 vols., St.
Louis:
Woodward and
Tiernan
Printing,
1894, 1895;
rpt., with an
introduction
by J. Frank
Dobie, New
York:
Antiquarian,
1959). Roy
Grimes, ed., 300
Years in
Victoria
County
(Victoria,
Texas:
Victoria Advocate,
1968; rpt.,
Austin:
Nortex, 1985).
Hobart Huson,
Refugio:
A
Comprehensive
History of
Refugio County
from
Aboriginal
Times to 1953
(2 vols.,
Woodsboro,
Texas: Rooke
Foundation,
1953, 1955).
Rosine
McFaddin
Wilson
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