Songs of the Saints: James W. McFadden
by Wayne S. Walker
In his book Hymns and History, Forrest M. McCann wrote, "Various individual Christians have published hymnals used more or less regionally in the United States and by segments of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Among these, without any effort to be definitive, are the following: S. H. and Flavil Hall, The Gospel Message in Song (1910); Redemption's Way in Song (1911); and the Cross and Resurrection (1920, 1927). The songs included were chiefly by the editors and their friends....F. L. Rowe, editor of the Christian Leader, published these hymnals." One of the songs that the Halls published in many of their books was "Beautiful Home." The text was written and the tune was composed by James Wesley McFadden, born on October 27, 1873, in Bethel Township, Monroe County, Ohio, to William Ray and Louisa May Day McFadden.
On July 16, 1893, McFadden married Mary Evalyn Morrison of Mt. Ephraim in Noble County, Ohio. The wedding occurred at Sycamore Valley in Monroe County, where the young couple lived, and he became an elementary school teacher. Their first eight children were born there. A lifelong member of the church of Christ, he preached some, taught Bible classes, and conducted funerals. In the early days of the century, the church was the center of family activities, especially during gospel meetings. The church usually had no full-time preacher, and his home always seemed to keep the preacher for the meetings. His grandson, James R. McFadden of Hilliard, Ohio, remembered seeing Flavil Hall at his grandparents' home when Hall was conducting a meeting. Hall published McFadden's song and helped him with a couple of spots.
Mrs. McFadden played the old-fashioned pump organ around which the musical family liked to sing. McFadden taught singing, both in the church and outside as well. One of their daughters, Addie Louisa Sharp Albaugh, who lived from 1908 to 1996, also composed a song, "The Realms of Somewhere," published by the Halls. McFadden's teaching career took him first to Tuscarawas County, in the Dover/New Philadelphia area, and then to Wheeling Township near Old Washington in Guernsey County, both in Ohio. While living in Guernsey County, two more children were born to the McFaddens, and they continued to reside there until McFadden's death on Feb. 18, 1933. His wife survived and lived until 1966.
My first acquaintance with McFadden's song was the result of visiting during gospel meetings with the church assembling on Cemetery Rd. in Hilliard, OH, where his grandson, James R. McFadden, was a member and would occasionally lead it from copies that had been pasted in the back of their songbooks. After asking for and receiving copies of the song, I obtained a copy of the 1927 revised and enlarged edition of The Cross and Resurrection in Song, edited by Samuel H. and Flavil Hall, which contained the song. Through the years, many good brethren have written songs that have been used for a while and then forgotten. This seems to be undoubtedly quite normal because, as time passes, new songs are written, and many older ones naturally fall into disuse. But there was something about this song that caught my attention the very first time that I heard it. While we already have many songs about heaven in our books, this is a good one that perhaps deserves "dusting off" and being given a second look.
