Giles family

James Bascom Giles (known as Bascom Giles) was born September 21, 1900, on a farm near Manor, Travis County, Texas. He was the great-grandson of Samuel Bolivar Giles, who settled in Travis County in the mid-1800s. His parents were Banton White Giles and Leora Norwood and Bascom was one of seven children born to the couple.

Bascom Giles married Effie Dean Rogan in 1921 and the couple had two children, James Bascom Giles, Jr. (b. 1922) and Rogan Banton Giles (b. 1925). The couple settled in Austin Effie Dean was born to Sallie B. and William Rogan in approximately 1902 in Williamson County, Texas. Her father, William Rogan, was from Scotland and her mother's family, the Flinns, were originally from Tennessee but moved to Texas in the 1870s. William Rogan lived with the Giles family in Austin in his later years.

James Bascom Giles was first employed at the General Land Office in 1919 as a draftsman and continued to advance until he resigned in 1938 to run for Commissioner of the General Land Office. He was first elected to the post in 1938, resigned in 1955 and was later convicted in the Veterans' Land Board Scandal and sentenced to six years imprisonment.