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- Rebecca Mae (Bassett) Morgan
Mae Morgan Writes Her History
(Written in 1987. The Good Samaritan Home is in Hobert, Oklahoma).
I was born March 24, 1904 at Texola, Oklahoma on my grandfather's ranch. Texola is about one mile from the Texas line.
My mother's folks, the J.C. Graves family, filed on land in western Oklahoma when the land was opened for settlement.
In 1902, my father had the first blacksmith shop in Texola. We lived there until 1914, when we moved to California together with my uncle, Henry Graves and his family. Nearly all the residents of Texaola were there to see us off. We lived in California about two years. My mother's folks kept writing and telling us that we should come back to Oklahoma to see about our farm and home in Texola. Mother and us children did not want to move back, but my father did, so we moved back to Oklahoma. Uncle Henry and his family moved back also.
We lived on the farm, and I went to a country school called Choctaw. I say we learned more at that school than any we had attended so far. We learned the essential subjects; reading, writing and arithmetic. Then we moved to Erick, and later to Canyon, Texas. While I was attending school in Canyon, I met a young man who was in college by the name of William E. Markham. We were married and had three boys; Don, Billy and Eddie. We parted after a few years and the boys and I moved back to Erick.
I met French Morgan and we were married in 1928. He adopted my three boys when they were old enough to say that they wanted to be adopted.
Mr. Morgan and I had three boys, J.B., Earl and Robert. French was a good father; we lived on the farm, educated our boys, and we all worked together side by side. Don became a doctor, Earl was studying to be a dentist, but he took polio and so ended that, but he never gave up. He has managed Electric Cooperatives, and is presently Maintenance Supervisor for the Good Samaritan Center.
Billy joined the Air Force and was killed over Bucharect, Romania in 1944, on April 4th. He received many honors, including the Purple Heart and Silver Star. Our house burned one week after Billy was killed. We lost everything, but all got out safely.
We then moved to town. After we lived there for a short time, Eddie went into the service. Don was already overseas and received the news about Billy through his father-in-law who was the Chaplain.
Eddie is now retired from Rainbow Bread, and J.B. work for Larry Jones, Feed the Children. He drives a truck and distributes food and clothing to many places.
Robert, the youngest, lives in Levelland, Texas. He drives each day to Littlefield where he is a partner in a dealership. They boys all come to see me as often as they can.
I have been in the Good Samaritan Home for three years as of May 7th. I like it here, and everyone is good to me. It really is a home away from home!
Beckham County, Oklahoma
Provided by David Morgan
Ruby Bassett was born south of Texola, Oklahoma Territory September 15, 1905 in what is now Beckham County, Oklahoma. She married E.E. Baldock. They lived in the Dallas, Texas area for many years, Irving and Richardson, for the most part, where they raised their family. She was the last of the children of John Robert (Bob) Bassett and Lydia Agnes (Graves) Bassett to die. Her sisters Verna Vay Bassett Hudgins died in 1992 and Rebecca Mae Bassett Markham Morgan died in 1989. The oldest sister, Pearl Bassett Bruner, died many years earlier. Their baby brother, Dennis Fleet Bassett, died in the 1980s. They had one brother, Hugh, that died as a toddler.
1920 Federal Census of Erick, Beckham County, Oklahoma (5 Jan 1920)
John R. Bassett - 45 - M - MO-MO-IL - Head - Blacksmith Shop
Lydia - 42 - F - IL-TN-IL - Wife
Mary - 15 - F - OK-MO-IL - Daughter
Ruby - 14 - F - OK-MO-IL - Daughter
Verna - 11 - F - OK-MO-IL - Daughter
Dennis - 8 - M - OK-MO-IL - Son
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Bassett Family Association Database
1904 - 1989 (84 years)