General Notes

[basham.ged]
1850 Census Crawford County Arkansas  Page 281 Family 3
1880 Census Scott County Arkansas  E D 168 Sheet 12
1900 Census Eastland County Texas  E D 59 Sheet 3
Info From Betty Ruth Morris Correspondence
Ref Basham Document No 33 Page 163
First And Second Marriage Info In Rec No 1016
Cemetery Info In Texas  Comanche  Files
Sebastian County Arkansas Marriage Book A, Page 185
1850 Census Crawford County Arkansas  Page 281  Family 3
1870 Census Sebastian County Arkansas; Page 100, Family 4
1880 Census Scott County Arkansas  E D 168 Sheet 12
1900 Census Eastland County Texas  E D 59 Sheet 3
Ref Basham Document No 33 Page 163
Third Marriage Info In Record No 3527
Cemetery Info In Texas  Comanche  Files
Info From Lula Mae Basham Correspondence
Sebastian County Arkansas Marriage Book A, Page 185
Info From Betty Ruth Morris Correspondence
Email Edna Underwod Powell 1/24/2002 <smoke@@txol.net>
My great-grandpa, Joseph, was born in West Virginia on May 12, 182
7. He w as born during John Quincy Adam's term as President of the Unit
ed State s.  In 1839 Joseph moved to Johnson County, Arkansas, with his fa
mily.  Wh en he was very young, he quit school to help his dad with the wo
rk at hom e.  Joseph often said from memory many poems to entertain his fr
iend s.  He had a fine voice for singing.  He sang songs of war and lov
e.  Whi le he was in the Civil War, he sang while sitting around the campf
ire s.  He was a lieutenant in the Federal side.
Joseph fought against his brother, Oliver, during the Civil Wa
r.  In t he early 1850's, after gold had been discovered in California, Jo
seph we nt to San Francisco by ox wagon.  It took Joseph six months to rea
ch Calif ornia.  He worked his own claim in California for about two year
s.  Duri ng that time, he was also working for a cousin, William Basha
m.  William o wned a nine hundred acre wheat field.  When Joseph decid
ed to return hom e, he boarded a ship at San Francisco and sailed down t
he Isthmus of Panam a. He rode a mule across the Isthmus and boarded anoth
er ship which was sa iling for New York City.
From New York City he went to Little Rock, Arkansas, by train.  H
is wi fe and children were living in Little Rock, at this time.  He did ca
rpent er and cabinet work and farmed.  He was appointed to the office of c
ircu it clerk at Clarksville by Governor Murphy.  When the Civil War bro
ke ou t, Joseph joined and served during the whole war.  After the wa
r, he mov ed to Sebastian and Scott Counties, where he became a carpent
er and farme r.  He became very famous as a carpenter.  Some of his wor
ks are still us ed in Arkansas and in Texas.  In 1890 Joseph, his wife, a
nd their childr en who were not married moved to Eastland County, Texas. T
hey boarded a tr ain in Jensen, Arkansas, and arrived in Carbon, Texas, ab
out three days la ter.  At the time of their arrival in Carbon, Josep
h, my great-grandpa, w as sixty-three years of age.  His wife was forty-tw
o.
The families who came to Eastland County with the Bashams settled in Ea
st land and Comanche Counties.  Joseph died on March 7, 1908 and his la
st wi fe died in 1937. The children lived on the old home place for awhil
e; th en they began to drift away.  They are now living in Texas, New Mexi
co, a nd California.
Family History in Lula Mae Basham correspondence
Joseph P Bassham, farmer and mechanic, is a son of Jonathan and Delil
ah ( Payne) Bassham, both of whom were born in Franklin County, Va. The fa
th er was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was a cabinet maker by trad
e, a nd in connection with this calling followed the occupation of farmin
g. Aft er his marriage he moved to West Virginia, where he made his home u
ntil 18 39, when he came to Johnson County, Ark., and here he and wife spe
nt the r emainder of their lives, dying in 1848, at the age of fifty-tw
o, and 185 7, at the age of fifty-five, respectively. three of their elev
en childr en are liv