P. L. AND MARTHA BARHAM

The following bio was taken from page 102 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The East Texas oil boom, coupled with the depression, brought P. L. (Arkie) and Martha Barham to the Rusk County area, as it did many others.

In the spring of 1931, after facing a layoff in Seminole, Oklahoma, his company told Arkie he could go to work if he would move to Arp, Texas. He came and went to work the first day here for Sinclair Pipe Line, out of their Arp office, where he was employed until his retirement. His bride of one year followed soon after, as soon, that is, as he could find a place to live.

The first of the Barham’s three children, Fern Lavonne, was born August 12, 1931. Another child, their only son, James Larry, followed two years later, September 8, 1933.

The gasoline shortage which prevailed during World War II caused the family to move from Arp to Wright City. The children enrolled in Gaston School.

As the county’s population increased, so did their family. A third and last baby, Linda Gay, was born to Martha and Arkie on June 30, 1945, in Tyler. Through the years the family’s church, Selman City Christian, became an integral part of their lives.

In view of retirement, the couple moved from Wright City to an acreage near the Pleasant Hill community, where they still reside.

Arkie is the son of the late Newton Jasper Barham, who was born January 19, 1880 in Logan County, Arkansas and Hattie Josephine Burnett Barham, born August 18, 1880, also in Logan County. Pawnee Lee Barham (Arkie) was one of their nine children. He was born at Chismville in Logan County, Arkansas, on November 15, 1903.

Anthony Christian Pederson and Edna Mae Cooley Pederson, now deceased, were the parents of Martha Barham and eleven other children. Anthony was born June 5, 1872 in Skagarock Sindl Sogn, Denmark. He immigrated to the United States in the spring of 1887 and settled in Williamsburg, Kansas. Martha’s mother, Edna, was born in Red Oak, Iowa, March 14, 1880. The couple lived in Belen in New Mexico Territory when Martha was born December 22, 1911.

Martha and Arkie were married October 22, 1830. Their daughter Fern married Howard Leon Woodall of LaJara, Colorado on July 2, 1949, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Son James wedded Shirley Rae Stiles September 12, 1954 at Fair Chapel Methodist Church in Wright City. Linda Gay married Robert Lennox Brown at East Dallas Christian Church in Dallas, July 27, 1973.

Children of Fern and Howard Woodall are Howard Woodall, Jr., born June 15, 1951, in Overton; James Hubert Woodall, born March 8, 1953, in Hays, Kansas; and Lisa Gay Woodall Reid, born August 25, 1956, also in Hays, Kansas. Fern and Howard now reside in Grand Saline, Texas.

James and Shirley Barham have two children, Harold Lee Barham, born June 25, 1955 in Limestone, Maine, and Carol Ann Barham, born in Kilgore June 30, 1962. They live a stone’s throw from Martha and Arkie.

Linda Gay and Robert Brown have twin daughters, Amy Fern and Stacy Marie, born March 19, 1975, in Dallas. The Browns have made their home in Garland.

The family of Martha and Arkie Barham also includes three great-grandchildren – Joshua David Woodall, Anna Catherine Woodall, and Holly Meagan Reid.

Submitted by Mrs. P. L. Barham