Notes for: James MCFADDIN
James McFaddin reputedly left home in 1813 to join a Tennessee Volunteer group to serve in the war of 1812 and is said to have been at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. He married in Louisiana in 1818, and three of his children were born there prior to moving to Texas. He moved his family only after taking a trip out beyond San Antonio in 1821.
The James McFaddin family first arrived in Texas in 1823 and settled at Moss Bluff near the mouth of the Trinity River in the Atascosita Districton land that was rich but not legally open by the Mexican government for colonization. It would be about eight years before his land settlement claim was granted. His grant of a league of land (4,428 acres) cost him $45 and 5 Mexican Reals.
James later removed his family to Louisiana during the period 1832-33 because of his opposition to the "Anahuac troubles," an armed insurrection that removed the nearby garrison commander. Upon theirreturn to Texas in 1833 they settled at Trevis Bluff (later Beaumont, Jefferson Co.) on the west bank of the Neches River as only the fourth family in the area. James' brother William also moved to Texas ca.1829-32 and settled a few miles to the west in Liberty County. Overtime, these branchs of the family have adopted the "McFaddin" spelling ofthe surname.
In 1836 James served in the Texas Revolution for which he was granted 320 acres of land in Williamson Co. He failed to patent this land due to a conflict, and it was later sold by his son William in 1849 for $55. That, however, did not impede this family's ultimate land acquisition program during following generations.
The 1840 Republic of Texas Census shows James McFaddin with land, 185 cattle, and 4 horses. On this same census, the holdings of his wife, Elizabeth, are nearly similar but separate as they had legally separated. No divorce is recorded, however, prior to James' death it is believed that they had divorced as Elizabeth McFaddin independently entered into several contractual agreements in following years. James died in 1845 in Natchitoches, Louisiana, after falling ill enroute home from settling his father's estate in Montgomery Co., Tennessee. [emailDavid McFadden]