Bassett Family Association Database

Mabel Bourne

Female 1875 - 1953  (77 years)


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  • Name Mabel Bourne 
    Born 16 Aug 1875  Chicago, Cook County, Illinois Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    _UID CC1E3E046E5BA245B21F7FA37D17D141759A 
    Died 2 Aug 1953  Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Memorial Park Cemetery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • 1900 Federal Census of Trinidad, Las Animas County, Colorado (11 Jun 1900)
      Joseph Bassett - M - 39 - Nov 1860 - MI-MI-MI - Head - Conductor Railroad
      Mabel - F - 25 - Aug 1874 - IL-ME-IL - Wife
      Clyde - M - 8 - Jun 1891 - MT-MI-IL - Son - At School
      Clara - F - 6 - Aug 1893 - MT-MI-IL - Daughter - At School
      Herbert - M - 5 - Dec 1894 - MT-MI-IL - Son - At School
      Margaret DeShon (Widow) - F - 48 - Aug 1851 - IL-IL-IL - Aunt-in-Law
      Edith Bourne - F - 18 - Jul 1881 - WI
      (Married 10 years, 3 children, 3 living)
      (Margaret - no children)

      1910 Federal Census of Sapulpa, Creek County, Oklahoma (28 Apr 1910)
      Joseph Basett - M - 47 - CN-EN-CN - Head
      Mabel - F - 36 - IL-EN-IL - Wife
      Clyde - M - 18 - MT-CN-IL - Son
      Herbert - M - 15 - MT-CN-IL - Son
      Clara - F - 16 - MT-CN-IL - Daughter
      (Married 20 years, 3 children, 3 living)

      1920 Federal Census of Sapulpa Township, Creek County, Oklahoma (12 Jan 1920)
      Mabel Bassett - F - 44 - IL-MO-IL - Head - Humane Agent Doc.
      Claire - F - 25 - MT-CN-IL - Daughter - Steno County Clerk
      (Living at 318 South Division)
      (Still listed as married)

      1930 Federal Census of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma (23 Apr 1930)
      Mael Bassett (Widow) - F - 53 - IL-MO-IL - Head - State Com.
      Clyde W. (Widower) - M - 35 - MT-CN-IL - Son - Operator Filling Station
      and 2 lodgers
      (Living at 401 East Park Place)

      Daily Oklahoman
      January 5, 1911
      WOMAN ‘COP’ GETS PLACE IN SAPULPA
      Mrs. Mabel Bassett to Wear Star With Full Powers of an Officer
      Sapulpa, Oklahoma - January 4 - (Special) - Sapulpa has the first woman patrolman in the state, the city commission having just appointed Mrs. Mabel Bassett to the position.
      Mrs. Bassett has been given a regular assignment and draws a large monthly stipend for her duties. She looks after juveniles and if any of them under sixteen years of age are found on the streets after 8 o’clock at night they will be arrested. Mrs. Bassett is to be provided with a start and will have the same power as any member of the department.

      Source Unknown
      Mabel Luella Bourne Bassett (1876-1953)
      Mabel Bourne Bassett served as Oklahoma’s third Commissioner of Charities and Corrections for six consecutive terms (1923-1947). Born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 16, 1876, Mabel was the only child of Stephen Bourne, merchant and Civil War veteran, and Martha Ellen Bourne, suffragist and one of the first women in the country to edit a newspaper. Mabel graduated from the Missouri School of Social Economy in St. Louis and married Joseph Bassett, a railroad conductor. The couple had three children. In 1902 the Bassetts moved to Sapulpa, Indian Territory, and by 1910 Mabel had organized one of the state’s first humane organizations, the Creek County Humane Society.
      As commissioner, Bassett worked to promote fair living conditions and opportunities for the state’s inmates. Notable advances included bills requesting a new building for woman prisoners at McAlester and the removal of delinquent black boys from the penitentiary to a more suitable home in Boley. She ran on the Democratic ticket for Congress in 1932 but was defeated by a Moore schoolteacher named Will Rogers. After losing the office of commissioner to Buck Cook, she retired. When Mabel Bassett died in 1953, acting Governor James E. Berry ordered that her body lie in state at the State Capitol Blue Room so the public could mourn her passing.

      Tribute to Mrs. Mabel Bassett
      By Jessie Randolph Moore
      This tribute is written to honor the memory of Mrs. Mabel Bassett, one of the great humanitarians of Oklahoma. For twenty years she served Oklahoma as Commissioner of Charities and Corrections in an heroic fight for the safe-guarding of human welfare. She was a woman of great initiative and vision. She was assured that God was actively present in the world and had full knowledge of the collective needs of all of His Children who came under her jurisdiction as Commissioner of Charities and Corrections and would hold her responsible for any neglect of the sacred obligations of her office.
      The inequalities of life were grave problems and a matter of deep concern to Mrs. Bassett. She had a “charge to keep.” The aged, who have built the bridges of the past over which we have traveled to the benefits of today. The neglected and dependent children had her compassionate interest. She believe the destiny of our nation lies in the hands of our children and that it is our duty today to conserve these resources that made the generation of tomorrow. The physically handicapped should be given the opportunity to live an independent life. The mentally incompetent wherever found should have sympathetic competent supervision and medical care. The delinquent should have competent, understanding assistance if they were to reform their lives.
      In so many of her investigations on the negative side of life she found the prisons of Oklahoma were filled with delinquents who had never had a chance to become good citizens because of environment. Mrs. Bassett had a sympathetic understanding for the needs of all of “the charges”, who came under the jurisdiction of her office.
      One of her other numerous official duties included the inspection of City, County, and State Institutions. She was especially interested in the supervision and welfare of the inmates of these institutions, also the sanitation of the buildings and seldom had any trouble in having carried out any correction she recommended.
      The Commissioner considered all of the under-privileged citizens to be a sacred obligation to State and Nation. She endorsed Governor Marland’s great Social Security Petition. She regarded it as a wonderful safeguard for most of the important Social Welfare problems and used her influence over the state to promote its adoption by the people.
      Mrs. Mabel Bassett served Oklahoma as Commissioner of Charities and Corrections for a quarter of a century, and during that period it was always her sincere desire to serve the under-privileged. This benevolent purpose constitutes an essential part of the whole life of this great humanitarian.
      She was an Apostle of Hope to the “Little children of the poor”, and day by day faithfulness to her “charge” through many years merged into the fragrance of Alabaster Ministration.

      Mabel Bourne Bassett, 1876-1953
      Contributed by Mrs. Elsie D. Hand, Librarian, Oklahoma Historical Society
      Mabel Bourne Bassett was State Commissioner of Charities and Corrections from 1923 to 1947. Perhaps few people realize the unique place she will fill in the final writing of Oklahoma history. Certainly, few know how fortunate the young state was to have in her so capable a “friend to the friendless”, for it is ironical that Mrs. Bassett’s work was better known outside the borders of her own state.
      Mabel Bourne was born in Chicago, Illinois, August 16, 1876. Her father was Stephen Bourne, a merchant, and a veteran of Company B, Eighth Regiment, Missouri Infantry. Her mother was Martha Ellen Tomlin, daughter of Judge Levi Preston Tomlin of Charleston, Illinois; and it would seem that her crusading spirit was a fitting heritage for a crusading daughter.
      Martha Ellen Tomlin, with her sisters, Mary and Margaret Tomlin, were the first women in the United States to edit a newspaper. This was The Balance established in 1870, in Chicago, burned in the great fire, re-established and used to champion women’s interests and further woman’s suffrage. Martha Ellen Bourne, mother of Mabel Bassett, used the nome du plume of “Capitola”, and her strong pen moved tirelessly in an effort to free women of that day from servitude to citizenship. Martha Tomlin trained her young daughter, Mabel, as a public speaker. So successful was she that Mabel, at ten years of age, spent the summer in Chautauqua with the humorist, Bill Nye. Mable Bourne’s education was a practical one in social service. She completed her formal education ni St. Louis, Missouri, at the Missouri School of Social Economy.
      At an early age, Mabel Bourne married Joseph Bassett in Billings, Montana. She and her young husband moved to Sapulpa, Indian Territory, in 1902. Three children were born to Mabel and Joseph Bassett; William Clyde, Mabel Claire (wife of Fleming Warren Abshire), and Herbert Norval. Only William Clyde survived his mother. Also surviving are four granddaughters, Mary E. Abshire, Jean Bassett Harr, Phylis Bassett and Karen Bassett; one great granddaughter, Sharon Harr.
      In 1920, Creek County organized the first humane society, out of which grew the first home for children established in the new state of Oklahoma, The Creek County Children’s Home. Mabel Bassett headed the organization from the beginning, first as a part time voluntary worker, and as the work grew, organization became a model relief and child welfare agency.
      During those twelve years, Mrs. Bassett gained experience. She became aware of needed legislation, comprehended the urgent requirements of social reforms, and was singularly prepared to take over the office of Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, to which she was elected in 1922. Mrs. Bassett was unprecedented in the state as a vote getter. In the 1926 elections she carried 73 of the 77 counties in the primary and lead the entire state ticket in the general election. A vigorous and forceful campaigner, her loyal supporters were dedicated to her service.
      Among her great accomplishments for Oklahoma, Mrs. Bassett fought for the statute, making wife and child desertion a felony enacted by the Eighth Legislature. She was the first to promote the establishment of a State Pardon and Parole Board. She was responsible for the Industrial School for Negro boys at Boley, Oklahoma. She recommended and pushed through to completion a building for women prisoners at the State Penitentiary at McAlester.
      Mrs. Bassett was untiring in her work to raise the standards of every institution in the state, whether orphanage, mental institution, or penal and correctional institution, often with woefully inadequate appropriations. She often fought against a wall of prejudice to educate the public in more enlightened treatment of its wards. She held offices in or was a member of the following organizations: Vice President of the American Prison Association; member of the Police Officer’s Association; Big Sisters Organization; Women’s Auxiliary of the International Railroad Conductors Union, Farmer’s Union, and many Labor organizations. In addition, she was affiliated with Eastern Star - White Shrine, the Ruth Bryan Owen Club, Jeffersonian Club, Women’s Democratic Council, and Daughters of Democracy.
      For her Red Cross work during World War I, Mrs. Bassett was awarded the highest honor in the state by the National Red Cross, a service medal for 3200 hours of dedicated Red Cross work. The club women of Oklahoma recognized her usefulness by appointing her to the Fourth District Legislative Committee of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs, and were staunch in their support of her for many years. For her outstanding services for the betterment of mankind, she was inducted into Oklahoma’s “Hall of Fame” by the Oklahoma Memorial Association, on Statehood Day, November 16, 1937.
      Mabel was replaced in office January of 1943. She re-entered the race for her old office of Commissioner of Charities and Corrections but was defeated, and retired once and for all, relieved to be free of the strenuous duties of office.
      Until her death August 2, 1953, Mrs. Bassett enjoyed a full and pleasant life. She spent much time at her farm about seven miles west of Guthrie on State Highway #33, where she established a model dairy farm with registered Guernseys.
      Possessing rare ability of mind and heart, Mrs. Bassett also had a fine sense of humor. She lived to the fullness of years for her life abounded in the greatness of things accomplished.
      On August 3, 1953, by direction of Acting Governor James E. Berry, Mabel Bourne Bassett returned to the Capitol where she served so faithfully, there to lie in state in the Blue Room. It was the last honor the State could pay her. Christian Science services were held for her the following day with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery.
      This Tribute was delivered by Mrs. Jessie R. Moore at the funeral of her friends, Mabel Bourne Bassett.
    Person ID I2  78B Joseph Bassett of Oklahoma
    Last Modified 6 Nov 2015 

    Father Stephen Bourne 
    Mother Martha Ellen Tomlin 
    Family ID F2  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Joseph Bassett,   b. Nov 1860, Michigan or Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Bef 1930  (Age ~ 69 years) 
    Married Montana Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. William Clyde Bassett,   b. 13 Jun 1891, Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Feb 1974, Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 82 years)
    +2. Clara (Mabel Claire) Bassett,   b. Aug 1893, Montana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Dec 1935  (Age ~ 42 years)
    +3. Herbert Norval Bassett,   b. 25 Dec 1894, Helena, Montana Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1952  (Age 57 years)
    Last Modified 10 Nov 2015 
    Family ID F1  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart