Notes |
- The Bassett's of Chetopa, Kansas
August 22, 2007
by Mark Clopton
Many of us here reading this lame excuse for writing were raised in towns or cities of various sizes. I was raised in Chetopa, KS which was supposed to be populated by near 800-1000 folks. This little town on the Neosho River was my domain for many years of my very young life. I have many memories from that dried up, depression soaked town. It is now mostly in ruins. I've got a picture of it from the 1880's and it was bustling and energetic. When I found breath there, it was on the back-end of a downhill slide to near absolute obscurity./This place was the place of my most remembered childhood. In those days, there was only 'one' black family who lived on the 'east side' of the tracks. The Bassett's, a large family, who lived kitty-cornered from my great-grand father and great-grand mother, where my mother was raised, and then afterwards where we all lived after my mom and dad got divorced. My mother, back in her junior high, and high school days spent many a night with her good friends in the Bassett house. As I have aged, having put myself through university while trying to raise three children and mostly support a wife, and even graduated with a BA in History, and since those days continued to read more and more about our society, I must take a pause and consider what it meant for my mother to spend nights as a guest in the Bassett house. Actually, I think more of the Bassett's. To be the only black family who staked a claim in an otherwise all white section of town (this was in the 1960's) was more than remarkable. Yet, there, they made a home full of laughing children. From my earliest memories, the Bassett kids, Mrs. Bassett were just part of our neighborhood. As a child, I had no comprehension of what lay all around the Bassett's, or us. For us kids, it was just fun, play time. Perhaps my earliest memories of black and white kids playing together is what so makes me today. Through most of my childhood, our childhood games and fun were mixed with both black and white kids. We did not think a damned thing about it. Now, as a much older adult, and having read and experienced much more, I do tend to think of the raw courage of the Bassett family. A big, two-story house, full of kids, the ONLY black family in the white part of town, the Bassett's must have been quite a symbol in our little more or less racist town. Whatever Mr. or Mrs. Bassett, or their children felt in this situation was never passed down to us kids. Damn, this story should be told. Can you imagine? I do recall that Ms. Bassett was a rather large woman, friendly, jovial even, who looked me in the eye and treated me and everyone else I know with respect. I find myself thinking about her as a human being now. What motivated her and her husband to go so against the segregationist flow of this small town, racial, reality? Whatever stories she might still tell, if she is alive, would not be those of racism, but those stories of common humanity, the way she raised her kids, how she treated me as a young boy. I cannot even think to approach the courage she had to raise her family in our little town. Perhaps the older I get, the more I see some saints. They are not those saints put by some religious bureaucracy, but those human beings who actually make a difference everyday with no recognition at all. Have a day!
1900 Federal Census of Chetopa, Labette County, Kansas (20 Jun 1900)
Phillip Bassett - B - 28 - M - Nov 1871 - TX-TX-TX - Head - Day Laborer
Anna R. - B - 27 - F - Sep 1872 - IL-IL-IL - Wife
Edgar R. - B - 4 - M - Nov 1895 - KS-TX-IL - Son
Leola - B - 4/12 - F - Feb 1900 - KS-TX-IL - Daughter
(Married 7 years, 4 children, 2 living)
Living next door
James Bassett - B - 27 - M - Mar 1873 - TX-TX-TX - Head - Day Laborer
Carrie - B - 25 - F - Jun 1875 - TX-TX-TX - Wife
(Married 3 years, 1 child, 1 living)
1910 Federal Census of Chetopa, Labette County, Kansas (27 Apr 1910)
Phillip Bassett - Colored - 39 - M - TX-TX-TX - Head
Anne - Colored - 36 - F- IL-IL-IL - Wife
Edgar - Colored - 14 - M- KS-TX-IL - Son
Lela - Colored - 10 - F - KS-TX-IL - Daughter
Hellen - Colored - 8 - F - KS-TX-IL - Daughter
Evert - Colored - 6 - M - KS-TX-IL - Son
Robert - Colored - 4 - M - KS-TX-IL - Son
(Married 16 years, 7 children, 5 living)
1920 Federal Census of Chetopa, Labette County, Kansas (1 Apr 1920)
Philip H. Bassett - B - 49 - M - TX-TN-TN - Head - Keeper Lunch Room
Anna - B - 47 - F - IL-IL-IL - Wife
Helen - B - 17 - F - KS-TX-IL - Daughter
Everett - B - 15 - M - KS-TX-IL - Son
Robert - B - 13 - M - KS-TX-IL - Son
Bernice - B - 7 - F - KS-TX-IL - Daughter
Edgar - B - 22 - M - KS-TX-IL - Head - Laborer Steam Road
Ada - B - 20 - F - MO-MO-MO - Wife
Mildred L. - B - 1/12 - F - KS-KS-MO - Daughter
1930 Federal Census of Chetopa, Labette County, Kansas (11 Apr 1930)
P.H. Bassett - Negro - 59 - M - TX-TX-TX - Head - Operator Restaurant
Mrs. - Negro - 56 - F - IL-IL-IL - Wife
Helen - Negro - 28 - F - KS-TX-IL - Daughter
Robert - Negro - 24 - M - KS-TX-IL - Son
Bernice - Negro - 18 - F - KS-TX-IL - Daughter
Edgar - Negro - 34 - M - KS-TX-IL - Son - Laborer Section
Ada - Negro - 29 - F- MO-MO-MO - DaughterL
Mildred - Negro - 10 - F - KS-KS-MO - Granddaughter
Edgar - Negro - 8 - M - KS-KS-MO - Grandson
Hubert - Negro - 7 - M - KS-KS-MO - Grandson
Richard - Negro - 5 - M - KS-KS-MO - Grandson
Lela - Negro - 2 - F - KS-KS-MO - Granddaughter
Helen - Negro - 1 - F - KS-KS-MO - Granddaughter
(Married at 22 and 20)
(Edgar and Ada - married at 21 and 17)
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