General Notes

[basham.ged]
TO;  Our Sons, Tom, Carl, Jr. and douglas and to our daughter, Leah An
n, a nd to our grandchildren and great grandchildren.
FROM:  Your dad and mohter, or grandfather, grandmother, great grandfa
th er and great grandmother, as the case may be.
SUBJECT: Leona Rose Crawford Basham, My mother your grandmother ( or gre
at -grandmother or great- great grandmother.)
When my father, Louis Raymond Basham ( Usually called "pop" by h
is bo ys and his grand children) passed away December 12, 1988, we sudden
ly real ized that one of the two final sources of information concerning o
ur fami ly had just disappeared.  His older sister (then in their 90's) Au
nt Lore na Black, then living in Palatka Florida, was the only livinig sou
rce of s uch knowledge.  Unfortunately, her hearing had become impaired a
nd discuss ions concerning our family soon became difficult, if not imposs
ibl
We knew, just from our own knowledge and from being in the Basham f
am ily all of our lives, that Plp's mother. "Grandma"  Anna Birch Basha
m, di ed even before pop and mom moved from Columbus to Florida, about 197
4.
As far as we knew, the Birch family was from Kentucky,  My brothe
r, r aymond Stanley (BUB) and I used to visit the Birch family as childre
n, ne ar Ashland KY.  I recall they lived out in the country, in a log ho
me th at Uncle Lou and his boys, John L. and Andrew had helped him buil
d.  My co usin, his only daughter, Betty Lou, was about my age, and my fol
ks to ok me to visit and stay with them for a week or two each summ
er f or 3 to 4 years, when we were both teenagers.  Uncle Lou's wife, Au
nt Nell ie, was blind, but she seemed to manage the home and family as we
ll as mo st persons with normal eyesight.  they had no electricity and us
ed coal o il lamps for illumination, and betty Lou. and I walked up the hi
ll for wat er form thir well.  Naturally, they had an outdoor toilet ( Whi
ch I as a c ity boy, found uncomfortable but tolerable).
Aunt Nellie or Betty Lou churned milk to make butter, and they d
id a ll their own slaughtering.  They had an old pickup truck but I don
't reca ll ever getting to go into Ashland in it while we were visiting th
ere.  Be tty Lou was divorced and living in Oneco, Florida at the ti
me of her dea th about 1985 or 1986.  Her married name was Betty Lou manni
ng.  She was s urvived by one daughter and two sons.  Betty Lou Birch h
ad come to columb us as a teenager, about age 17 or 18, and had worked f
or the Athletic Dire ctor at Ohio State for Coach Paul Brown, as a li
ve in housekeeper or nann y.  She must have married and moved away whi
le I was in the service.  H er brothers, John L. and Andrew moved to Calif
ornia, somewhere near San Fr ancisco, out in the country where thery are f
arming.  I recall that they c ame back East for Betty lou's funeral and ca
me by to visit mom and pop, a nd that's the only way we learned of Betty L
ou's death.
As for Grandpa Basham, I never knew him at all. I learned thath
is na me was John, and that he worked in the mines and for the Semet-Solv
ay Co ke plant in Ironton, OH, prior to his death. While I don't recall ev
er bei ng told this, I had the impression that he had died even before B
ub a nd I were born in Ironton, OH. (In 1923 and 1926 respectively.)
We must've had some relatives in the huntington, WV area, since I r
ec all our family going there for frequent visits while we were youngster
s, p rior to our leaving Ironton when I was about five or six. Pop h
ad to ld us that our family had originally come from the Norfolk, VA are
a, sin ce he had some maiden aunts living there. As I recall, he and mom m
ade a t rip there about 1965 buthad been unable to locate any of them. T
om liv ed in that area twice, and it seems that he would've run into any o
ther Ba shams living there.
As for pop's family, he had two brothers: Carl, who was older, a
nd Ge orge Albert, who was younger. His sisters were Lorena, t