ABOUT THE COMPILER
The compiler, Marjorie Carole (Bass) Bright, of BASSE/BASS and BRECHT/BRIGHT FAMILY HISTORY - A HODGEPODGE OF PEOPLE - PLACES - EVENTS, a fourth generation Floridian, was born in Gainesville, Alachua, Florida, the daughter of Son Leslie and Sally (Durham) Bass. At the time of her birth the family was living on Payne's Prairie where her dad was working for Camp Brother's Cattle Ranch. She grew up loving the country life with it's cattle, horses, open spaces, beautiful sunsets and family togetherness.
As she sat on the wooden steps of her paternal grandfather's, Augustus Everett "Gus" Bass, home in Kenansville, Osceola, Florida listening to the many stories of people and events her mind would envision the families thru time. In her teens she began taking notes and interviewing some of the older generation. This became her passion and it has never waned. When she married her high school sweetheart, Glenn Ray Bright, son of Thomas Edgar and Violet (Ellis) Bright, her family lines were extended into West Virginia, his home state. More people were interviewed, more records searched, more headstones found, more trails to follow and more states to visit following leads.
She is a past vice regent of the Joshua Stevens Chapter of the DAR in Osceola County and was the first director of the Osceola County Genealogical Society. She was the only woman in the first graduating class of the Kissimmee Police Academy when the graduation ceremony was held Monday, 9 December 1968.
Glenn and Marjorie are parents of two sons, Glenn Ray, Jr. and Thomas Leslie Bright. They have eight grandchildren: Jessica Renae, Kimberly Elaine, Travis Ray, Makaylen Lesley, and Thomas Jacob Bright, and Kristin, Michael and Lauren Velsor (the latter three becoming part of the family through marriage) and one great grandson, Bode Glenn Bright.
Over the ensuing years other families have been interviewed, places have been recalled and events have occurred that became a part of BASSE/BASS and BRECHT/BRIGHT FAMILY HISTORY. These became the hodgepodge which could not be forgotten. Dr. Dana R. Dorsey, Ph.D., who lived in Logan, West Virginia was an expert genealogist, most notably on the Hatfield line. In September 1989 he invited the compiler and her husband to his home where he opened his vast files. They spent hours pouring over the records and exchanging copies as Dr. Dorsey revealed other paths to follow. On different visits Glenn's maternal grandfather, James George Ellis, took them to several family cemeteries, some abundant with poison ivy, others pitifully neglected. They copied names and dates as he spoke of his yesterdays and of those long gone. Grandpa Ellis, the son of Lewis and Martha Jane (Hatfield) Ellis, had been a deep seam coal miner and opened up a whole new world to Marjorie. In August 1973 he took his first and only trip out of West Virginia. He and his son, Eddie, flew from West Virginia to Glenn and Marjorie's home in Florida. The lure of his beloved mountains quickly returned him home.
Originally BASSE/BASS and BRECHT/BRIGHT FAMILY HISTORY - A HODGEPODGE OF PEOPLE - PLACES - EVENTS was to be a compilation of Marjorie's attempts to keep alive some of the people, places and events that were of interest to her, and to preserve the information and pictures for her husband, sons and grandchildren. Time marched on and at the urging of her husband and sons it became apparent the book had to been printed.
It has been an exciting, fascinating journey and Marjorie is grateful to the many people she came to know, both those living and those who left their footprints; to the record keepers; to the many county clerks and librarians who allowed her to examine dusty old files and books; to those men and women who battled the harsh elements and mankind to open unfamiliar territory, and the sacrifices they made to secure the freedom we now enjoy in this great land, the United States of America.