[basham.ged]
1880 Census Crawford County Arkansas E D 46 Sheet 15
1900 Census Crawford County Arkansas E D 50 Li 61
1910 Census Crawford County Arkansas E D 5/76
1920 Census Crawford County Arkansas; E D 5, Sheet 2
Cemetery Picture In Arkansas File
Viola Basham Cathey Info Bd32 Page 24
Email 5-2001 Mary Ellen Ledford <ellen@@airmail.net>
She never married. Lived with Kathy Basham Irvin's Dad's family unt
il s he died. Alledgely she was a mean lady.
Feb 7 1952 Press- Argus, Van Buren, Ark.
Also gave this story:
Death Discloses Love Story
In December of last year at the time of Mahala Basham's death, it w
as o ur privilege to become somewhat acquainted with the Lee Basham fam
il y. On one wall of their living room we noted open-shelved bookcases fi
ll ed with many and choice books. These belonged to Mahala and by being in
ter ested in them we came upon a great love story.
Back in the early years of 1905 Mahala's father, Jasper Basham was mu
ch in terested in the mining possibilities in the hills-particularly, grap
hit e. Two mining men from St. Louis were here and interested in graphi
te depo sits on the bank of the Bay Frog (Clear Creek) just back of the Ar
kansas T raveler
building. This was on Basham's land. These St. Louis men were qui
te su re they had a "find" but decided to have an expert look over the sit
uatio n. So they sent to Denver for a college-trained mining engineer to c
ome do wn and have a look. ( The Colorado School of Mines is at Golden ne
ar Denv er).
A young, eager, educated gentleman by the name of Peter. ( Whi
le th at is not his real name there will be those who will remember h
im by name ). Came and was housed in the Basham home. Here was "Hally
," shy, beauti ful and with remarkable intelligence for the opportuniti
es she had had. W hat more natural
than that the two should fall deeply in love. The courtship for Peter e
xt ended over more than 15 years. Always he was hopefully trying to pers
ua de Mahala to leave her family here and come to Denver to live with hi
m. N ever could she quite make up her mind that this would work out for t
he hap piness of all. The difference in their station, their education, h
er fath er's firm belief that it would not be for the best, all these thin
gs influ enced her in her final decision.
It was during these years that the library accumulated on the wal
ls of t he Basham living room. Always Peter sent her books, sometimes who
le se ts of books, which Mahala read while she waited to make up her min
d. We s aw an exquisite beaded bag, gold mounted, which Peter had sent a
nd a who le trunk
full of letters. There was a set of Scott's Waverly novels, twenty or t
we nty-five volumes, Kennilworth and Black Dwarf among them; the Muhlba
ch nov els; Kingsley's Hypatica; Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii, Alexand
er Dumas a nd Balzac were there. There was an eight vol. set of translati
ons, the be st short stories, from the German, the French, the Italian, t
he Spanish, t he Dutch and the Scandinavian countries.
Many others.
Finally, after 15 years, Peter sent a letter, "You must deci
de to co me or we must break this off. It cannot go on." Then Mahala ma
de the dec ision. And now about that lake, in Colorado. Peter owned la
nd near Denv er on which was a natural lake and a small river. Later he s
old it to t he city of Denver for a water supply and to this day that la
ke is on the m ap, "Lake Mahala."
Did Peter plan this bit of rural land for their home? Did Mahala regr
et h er decision? Who can say? Here is a story as enthralling as any of t
ho se in the books on the Basham shelves. It remains to be written by a m
ast er's pen.