HomeMy WebLinkAboutAC083_FLAGG_MAXSON_FAMILY_PAPERSDescriptive Sheet
The Flagg-Maxson Family Papers AC -083
General Type: Papers
Physical Description: 1 linear ft.
Inclusive Dates: 1900-1915
Donor: Peter Flagg Maxson
DESCRIPTION
In June, 1909, Harry I. Maxson (1885-1962) and Marion Flagg
(1887-1972), having delayed their marriage for three years because
of a antiquated state law were wed with great fan fare in the
chapel of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. The groom was
the son of Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Vice President and General
Manager Willis E. Maxson and raised in Galveston while his bride
Marion, youngest child of notable Connecticut artists Noel Flagg
had led a sheltered life in her ancestral home in Hartford and
Eastchester, New York.
In 1909, the couple returned to Texas in Harry's father's
private railroad car and made their first home at 715 Third Street,
in Beaumont. The residence was a modest, turn of the century Queen
Anne style dwelling typical of middle class housing in Spindletop
era Beaumont. Harry entered the insurance business with the firm
of Heisig and Smelter. In three years he had become a partner in
the firm. Although Marion found the Gulf Coast climate daunting,
the couple found happiness together in the cottage on Third Street
as described in a series of letters (1909-1915) to her sister, Miss
Ellen Earle Flagg of Hartford. These letters provide interesting
insight about the transplanted New Englander's impression of her
new home in Beaumont. In addition to family gossip, they cover
everything from the lack of a public library to the red light
district in Beaumont. Three of their four children were born in
the cottage on Third Street during the seven years they resided in
their cottage. In 1916, Harry moved his family to Dallas where he
achieved great success in establishing his own insurance agency
which is now Maxson-Mahoney-Turner. The cottage at 715 Third
Street was acquired by the Mamie MCFaddin Ward Foundation in 1989
and rehabilitated as offices for the organization.
No restrictions apply.