Margaret Bassett descends from #2B Thomas Bassett of Virginia as follows:
Thomas Bassett (b. 1617) and wife Mary
William Bassett (b. 1643) and wife
Thomas Bassett (b. 1668) and wife Elinor
Thomas Bassett (b. 1696) and wife Lydia Howle
Nathaniel Bassett (b. 1721) and wife Mary
Burwell Bassett (b. 1767) and wife Mary Hunter
George Hairston Bassett (b. 1806) and wife Columbia Renfro Staples
Alexander Martin Bassett (b. 1853) and wife Molly Settles
Rev. Wallace Bassett (b. 1884) and wife Lottie Bounds
Margaret Bassett and sister Evelyn Elaine Bassett
“Honey Chile” Margaret (Bassett) Johnson and Bob Hope about 1938
Dallas Morning News, Thursday, July 25, 1940
Bassett Family To Hold Reunion
A family reunion will be held this week end at the home of the Rev. Wallace Bassett, 219 Montreal, when Mr. Bassett’s four children will meet in Dallas.
Mrs. Travis Johnson, New York City, and her son, Wallace Henry Johnson, arrived Tuesday. Mr. and Mrs. John J. Selig Jr., New York City arrived by plane Wednesday and Mrs. Wesley Tomlinson, New Orleans, also arrived Wednesday. Dr. and Mrs. Wallace H. Bassett, Houston, will be in Dallas Saturday to complete the family gathering.
Mrs. Johnson, who has been a photographer’s model in New York City for several years, as has Mrs. Selig Jr., was pictured in eight color pages in the July issue of American Magazine as a typical model.
Dallas Morning News article about Margaret (Bassett) Johnson and Elaine (Bassett) Selig
Saturday, July 27, 1940
Dallas Morning News, 3 Jun 2007
Margaret Bassett Johnson (picture included)
Margaret Bassett Johnson, 99, Musician, Model, Radio & TV Personality, a resident of Walnut Place, Dallas, died peacefully on May 27, 2007. Born Marcella Margaret Bassett, October 24, 1907 in LaGrange, Missouri, she was the oldest child of Rev. Wallace Bassett and his first wife, Charlotte. A skilled pianist at an early age, Margaret attended Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri and Baylor University in Waco, graduating in 1928 and marrying young tenor and fellow graduate Travis Johnson of Troup, Texas. The couple moved to New York City in 1931 to pursue musical careers. In New York, tall, blond Margaret quickly found work as a model and appeared regularly in newspaper and national magazine ads. In 1936, she joined the Bob Hope radio show as “Honey Chile.” She turned down a Hollywood contract to remain in New York with her husband where they organized the Song Spinners quartet, providing musical backgrounds for “The Wayside Cottage,” a radio show dramatizing early American folk Ballads. Here Johnson emerged as one of New York’s top vocal arrangers. In 1943 the Song Spinners had two hit records on the Decca Label, “You’ll Never Know,” backing up crooner Dick Haymes and their own “Comin’ in on a Wing and a Prayer.” Margaret and the Song Spinners did similar work with Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald, and performed on numerous radio shows of the 40’s and 50’s, including “Melody Roundup with Roy Rogers and Andy Devine, “The Henry Aldrich Show,” “The House of Mystery” and the “I’d Walk a Mile” quiz show with Bill Cullen. From 1949 to 1952 Johnson hosted her own daily television show in New York, the “Maggie Johnson, Television Shopper Show,” interviewing guests and demonstrating new household products. By the mid 1950’s, Johnson was a prominent composer-lyricist of jingles, creating musical identities for many products including the highly successful “Winston taste good, like a (clap clap) cigarette should.” This was named one of the ten job jingles of the twentieth century by Advertising Age Magazine. Margaret retired to Dallas with her husband in 1967 and was widowed in 1970. Then she began her final career as a volunteer pianist for organizations throughout Dallas, giving hundreds of sing-along performances at numerous senior rest homes, including Walnut Place, where she became a resident in 2004. Margaret Bassett Johnson is survived by her brother, Dr. Wallace Bassett of Dallas, her three children, Wallace “Hank” Johnson of Westminster, MD, Janet Presswood of Dallas, and Claudia Orpin of Long Beach, CA, grandchildren Dan Stover, and Dr. Scott Stover and Joshua Orpin of Dallas, Dr. Amy Lungren and Jennifer Lawton of Lewisville, TX, Christine Dyer of Vina del Mar, Chile, Mark Johnson of New York, NY, Brian Johnson of Union Bridge, MD, and Maggie Orpin of Huntington Beach, CA as well as great-grandchildren Peter and Janet Lawton, Nathan, Andrew and Matthew Lungren and Kimberly Orpin. A memorial service will be held at 2 PM, June 16th at Cliff Temple Baptist Church, 125 Sunset Av. Dallas, TX 75208.
Woody Guthrie and Margaret (Bassett) Johnson