The SIMMONS/SPILLERS/SHINN/HOGUE Families of Texas:Information about Henry Arthur McArdle
Henry Arthur McArdle (b. 09 Jun 1836, d. 16 Feb 1908)
Notes for Henry Arthur McArdle:
Article taken from the Houston Post by Charlotte Phelan dated June 4, 1961.
R. M. McArdle settled back on the sofa and took up the story of his father, a native of Belfast, Ireland, who came to the United States by way of Canada as a young boy.
"He loved art and must have been a pretty good little artist for a little boy.he drifted down to Boston and went to the conservatory there.Then, he decided he wanted to change places, so he went to Philadelphia, Pa.I haven't any idea how long he stayed there, not too long, I think.Then he went to Virginia and bought a small tobacco plantation.
"Like all those foreign people, he had saved his money.Of course, at that time the Civil War was going, so he had to go to war.he was a courier or whatever you call it, and made sketches of the enemy's operations.
"Then after the war he went back to the plantation and took charge.After awhile he decided to sell it and take up art altogether.he came to Texas, to Independence in Washington County.It was a center of learning at that time, with Baylor University and Carey Crane College (Baylor Female College) there.
"He taught art at Baylor.I was born in Independence, the second youngest of five children.My father started the Texas murals there, the ones that hang in the Senate at the Capitol in Austin now.
"They're called 'The Battle of San Jacinto' and 'The Dawn at the Alamo,' but a lot of people call it 'The Fall of the Alamo' because that's about when it happened -- at dawn.
"His studio was twice as big as this house and twice as tall, with big rafters.I've forgotten who all I was.Once I was one of Deaf Smith's victims.Finney Clay, another boy who lived there in Independence, was a real good rider, and he would pose for the people with horses.
"Finney was Deaf Smith at the bridge at Vince's Bayou, and he was stabbing me, right here in the chest.My father had ropes hung from the rafters to hold me, so I could pose like I was falling.
"Once I was Sam Houston, giving an order, holding my hand up, like I was urging the troops on.There were a lot of other characters--I don't recall most of them.
"Those murals are seven-by-12 feet.They're companion pieces.One tells one story, and one tells another.They hung in the Capitol some years before the State bought them sometime between 1920 and 1930--I don't remember just exactly when.
"Some of those senators didn't know as much as a chicken about art.One senator, I remember, said you could get photographs that big a lot cheaper.Anyway, we sold both pictures for $25,000.It was divided among us five children.
"There are some other pictures my father did around the Capitol, too, I think.Most of them were portraits of members of the Legislature.
"He died in San Antonio, where we moved from Independence, and he's buried there.
"I came here to Houston in 1915, as a painter and paperhanger.I've papered as much as 6,000 room in my day.I've papered this house since we married, and painted.There are still some other things I want to do.
"There's a lot of touching up a fellow can do to make things nice..."
More About Henry Arthur McArdle:
Date born 2: Belfast, Ireland.
Died 2: 16 Feb 1908, San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, USA.604
More About Henry Arthur McArdle and Jane Eliza Smith:
Marriage: 01 Nov 1866, Albemarle, Virginia, USA.604
More About Henry Arthur McArdle and Isaphine Dunnington:
Marriage: 24 Apr 1872, Independence, Washington, Texas, USA.604
Children of Henry Arthur McArdle and Isaphine Dunnington are:
- Willett A McArdle, b. 1873, Texas, USA604.
- Marie Francesca Mcardle, b. 1876, Texas, USA604, d. 1959604.
- Philip Harry McArdle, b. 12 Mar 1880, Austin, Travis, Texas, USA604.
- John Ruskin McArdle, b. 1881, Texas, USA604.
- +Robert Marmaduke McArdle, b. 12 Jun 1883, Independence, Washington, Texas605, d. 31 May 1973, Houston, TX.