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Bassett Family Association - , Modern Founder (originally founded in 1897)

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Newsletter July 2005

(1) Welcome
(2) Bassett's Restuarant, Angola, Indiana: update
(3) The Bassetts of Minneapolis, Minnesota
(4) Bassett Media Family of Canada
(5) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(6) DNA project update

Section 1 - Welcome

Thank you to several people who sent in donations to be used for our DNA project. We once again have a positive balance in the account. I am willing to fund two new tests for any male Bassett that belongs to a family line that has not yet participated in our project and can't afford to participate.

Also for anyone living in the Chicago area, I will be presenting the Bassett DNA project at an upcoming meeting of the Elgin Genealogical Society on Thursday, August 18th, 2005. Contact me if you need more information about this talk.

You may want to check out the following issue of Time magazine which has an article about genetic genealogy.

Source: Time, July 11, 2005 v166 i2 p49.

Title: Can DNA Reveal Your Roots? Yes, to some degree. And for many
seeking their ancestry, that's good enough.

Author: Anita Hamilton

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: Update on Bassett's Restaurant, Angola, Indiana

In a previous newsletter, I pulished a picture of a postcard of Bassett's Restaurant in Angola, Steuben County, Indiana. I stopped in Angola last month and found the following information about this Bassett family.

Ollie A. Bassett is descended from #1B John Bassett of Connecticut as follows:

John Bassett and wife Margery
Robert Bassett and wife Mary
Robert Bassett (b. 1640) and wife Elizabeth Riggs
Samuel Bassett (b. 1692) and wife Deborah Bennett
Samuel Bassett (b. 1719) and wife Sarah Botsford
Abraham Bassett (b. 1753) and wife Mary Baldwin
Abijah Bassett (b. 1782) and wife Mary P. Durand
Russell Bassett (b. 1805) and wife Betsey Stubbell
James Riley Bassett (b. 1833) and wife Mary J. French
Burton R. Bassett (b. 1873) and wife Florence Smith
Ollie A. Bassett (b. 1900) and wife Esther.

Ollie A. Bassett
(September 1, 1900 - March 18, 1979)

Ollie A. Bassett, 78, of 407 East South Street, Angola, and 1545 North Ocean Boulevard, Ocean Ridge, Florida, died Sunday, March 18, in Bethesda Memorial Hospital, Boynton Beach, Florida. He was spending the winter in Florida.

Owner of Bassett Restaurant in Angola for 57 years, Bassett was born September 1, 1900, to Burton and Florence (Smith) Bassett.

He was a member of the Angola Lions Club, Angola Masonic Ldoge No. 236, and Mizpah Shrine and Scottish Rite, both of Fort Wayne.

Surviving are his wife, Winifred; two daughters, Bettie Holland, of Angola, and Billie Lake, of Grand Lodge, Michigan; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Thursday, march 22, in the Weicht Funeral Home, Angola, with Dr. J. Glenn Radcliffe officiating. Masonic rites will be held at the funeral home at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Interment will follow in Circle Hill Cemetery.

Friends may call at the funeral home from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday.

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Section 3 - Featured Bassett: The Bassetts of Minneapolis, Minnesota

Several sons of Daniel and Abigail (Bean) Bassett moved from Wolfeborough, New Hampshire to Minneapolis. This family descends from William Bassett (#4B) of Lynn, Massachusetts as follows:

Roger Bassett and wife Ann Holland
William Bassett (b. 1624) and wife Sarah Burt
William Bassett (b. 1647) and wife Sarah Hood
John Bassett (b. 1682) and wife Abigail Berry
Daniel Bassett (b. 1716) and wife Lydia Hood
John Bassett (b. 1739) and wife Ruth Newhall
Daniel Bassett (b. 1773) and wife Abigail Bean
Sons Daniel Bassett and Joel Bean Bassett highlighted below.

4B146.21. Daniel Bassett, son of John Bassett

Daniel Bassett, son of John and Ruth (Newhall) Bassett, was born 31 Mar 1773 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts. He married (1) Abigail Bean, daughter of Joel and Mary (Bean) Bean, on 29 Dec 1808 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire (DMM). She was born 18 Aug 1785. She died 1 Mar 1838. He married (2) Susanna Jones, daughter of Richard Jones, on 2 Jan 1840 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He moved with his parents to Wolfeborough, New Hampshire in 1790. He accompanied his son Daniel Bassett Jr. to Minnesota later in life.
(DMM - Friends Records, Dover New Hampshire Monthly Meeting)

+ 4B146211. John Bassett - born 14 Jan 1812, died 23 Apr 1891, married Amelia McCormick.

4B146212. Hannah Bean Bassett - born 18 Mar 1816, married (1) Amos Jones of Gilmanton (2) Moses Sawyer, son of John and Eunice Sawyer, on 23 Jun 1852 in Dover, New Hampshire (DMM).

+ 4B146213. Joel Bean Bassett - born 14 Mar 1817, west to Minneapolis and accumulated a large property.

4B146214. Daniel Bassett - born 10 Jan 1819, married Jane Campney. They had Abbie Susan Bassett, born 14 Feb 1846 and Maria Jane Bassett, born 22 Sep 1849. He died in 1899. He lived in Wolfeborough, New Hampshire, until middle age. He then went to Minneapolis and became wealthy.

+ 4B146215. Philip C. Bassett - born 15 Dec 1821, married Mary Berry and moved to Minnesota.

4B146216. Ursula Bassett - born 23 Feb 1824, married Joseph Canney of Dover.

4B146217. Mary Ann Bassett - born 9 Nov 1826, died 19 Feb 1827.

History of Wolfeborough, New Hampshire
Parker (1901)

John Bassett came from Lynn, Mass., in 1790, and settled on a lot of land which has ever since been known as the Bassett farm. The buildings were erected at a considerable distance from the main road, the location where they stood being now approached by Mill Street, which has been somewhat recently opened. During the management of affairs by his grandson, Daniel Bassett Jr., the two-story part of the house was removed to North Main Street, and is now, with a portion of the farm, owned and occupied by the heirs of the late Abel Haley. The one-story part still remains with another portion of the farm where the buildings were first erected. Mr. Bassett's children were: Daniel, married Abigail Bean; John, married Ruth Wiggin; Lydia, married Samuel Newell; Hannah, married Joseph Varney; Sally, married Jonathan Buffum; Rebecca, married William Lyons.
Daniel, the eldest son, succeeded his father in the management of the farm, becoming a successful farmer. He spent most of his active life in Wolfeborough, but in old age accompanied his son, Daniel Basestt, Jr., to Minnesota, whither some of his children had previously emigrated. Following is a list of his children: John, went west when a young man; Hannah, married Amos Jones, of Gilmanton; Joel, went to Minneapolis and accumulated a large property; Daniel, married Jane Campney; Philip, went west; Ursula, married Joseph Canney, of Dover.

Daniel Bassett Jr.'s children were Abbie Susan, born Feb. 14, 1846, and Maria Jane, born Sept. 22, 1849. Mr. Bassett remained in Wolfeborough until middle age, and was thrifty; he then went to Minneapolis, and became wealthy. He was quite active in his adopted home politically and financially. His decease occurred in 1899.
John Bassett, second son of John the settler, was a farmer and school-teacher. For twenty-eight successive years he had charge of winter district schools, and during that period taught a few terms in the summer. He became the owner of a farm on the borders of Wolfeborough and Tuftonborough, the dividing line between the two towns passing through his house. Here he resided a number of years, but afterwards purchased the Thomas-Townsend-Fox-Tuttle farm, now occupied by his son George W. Bassett. His son John Newell Bassett then took possession of the Wolfeborough-Tuftonborough farm, where he reared a family consisting of one son, Charles S., who now lives on the farm, and two daughers. Mr. Bassett married Ruth Wiggin, a daughter of James Wiggin, and had children as follows: Daniel W., born Feb. 5, 1812, died young; John N., born March 2, 1815, married Lydia Langley; Charles D., born May 13, 1816, went west; Ruth, born May 7, 1820, married Isaac Lovering, of Freedom; Gulielma, born Jan. 28, 1822, married Jacob K. Purington, of Dover; James, born Sept. 23, 1825, west to Boston; George W., born March 28, 1829, married Roxanna Fullerton. George W. Bassett has three children, James A., Emma, and Clara.

From "Minneapolis, Portrait of the Past", collected and compiled by Edward A. Bromley. Voygeuer Press 1890

BASSETT, Daniel - Daniel Bassett, who has been identified with the lumber and banking business of the city since the early days arrived here in April, 1855, from Wolfboro, New Hampshire. He has been twice honored with a seat in the Legislature, was appointed postmaster in 1865, has been a county commissioner, member of the school board and of the board of equalization. During the Indian war he, with other volunteers, marched to the rescue of the garrison the refugees at Fort Ripley. governor Ramsey, after the Indians were conqueered, appointed him and Capt. Peter Berkey, of St. Paul, as commissioners to appraise damages and afford relief to settlers who had suffered from Indian depredations. He has been an active participator in many local enterprises that were instrumental in developing the business interests in the city.

Bassett Creek (Golden Valley, Minnesota)

Bassett Creek, flowing through the village area of Golden Valley and the city of Minneapolis, was named for Joel Bean Bassett, an early settler and lumberman, who was born in Wolfborough, N.H., March 17, 1817, and died in Los Angeles, Calif., February 1, 1912. He came to Minnesota in 1849, settling in St. Paul, but soon preempted a tract adjoining the Mississippi in Minneapolis, near the mouth of this creek; removed there in 1852 and afterward engaged in lumbering and flour milling; was a member of the territorial council, 1857; was Indian agent for Minnesota 1865-69.

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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Bassett Media Family of Canada
This family descends as follows:

Edward Bassett of Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland
John Bassett Sr. (b. 1886) and wife Marion Wright Avery (see obituary below)
John White Hughes Bassett (b. 1915) and wife Eleanor Moira (see obituary below)
John F. Bassett (see obituary below)

Toronto Daily Star, Thursday, Feb. 13, 1958
Montreal Gazette Chief John Bassett, 72, Dead

Montreal, Feb. 13 - (CP) - John Bassett, 72, chairman of the board of directors of the Gazette Printing Co. Ltd., died last night in hospital. He had been chairman of the board since March, 1956, and president from 1937.

Mr. Bassett won success as readily as he won friends. A cub reporter for the Montreal Gazette in 1910, he was Ottawa correspondent for the paper a year later. In 1913, at the age of 27, he was named to the board of directors of the Gazette Printing Co.

He interrupted his newspaper career to serve overseas during World War I, rising to the rank of major and winning the Belgian governments Ordre de Reconneissance.

Was Ottawa Correspondent - During 15 years as Ottawa correspondent he became president of the parliamentary press gallery in 1925-26 and was Canadian delegate to the third imperial press conference in Australia in 1925. As president of the Gazette Co. he steered it through the difficult late depression years and World War II, and into rapid expansion since the war.

Shortly after he became president, an automobile accident complicated a serious hip ailment and forced him to use a wheelchair and crutches for the rest of his life.

Born at Omagh, county Tyrone, Northern Ireland, Feb. 7, 1886, he was one of eight children. He came to Canada in 1909 and joined the Gazette after a stint as teacher in a French-speaking school to make him bilingual.

Friend of Laurier - In 1936, Mr. Bassett personally acquired controlling interest in the Sherbrooke Record, which he sold to his son, John Jr., in 1946. His son went on to become chairman and publisher of the Toronto Telegram.

Other survivors include his wife, formerly Marion Wright Avery of Ottawa, whom he married in 1914, and his daughter, Elizabeth, Mrs. Baldwin Smith of Buffalo.

Funeral service is to be held here tomorrow at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, at 2 p.m.

His friends and close acquaintances ranged from Sir Wilfrid Laurier to Premier Maurice Duplessis of Quebec, whom he described as "one of Canada's greatest sons."

John W. H. Bassett, photo courtesy
of the National Archives of Canada

John Bassett Sr.

Chicago Tribune, 29 Apr 1998
John Bassett, 82, who ran Canadian Broadcasting Firm

John Bassett, a Canadian media baron who shifted from newspaper publishing to broadcasting, died Monday at age 82.

Mr. Bassett, chairman of Baton Broadcasting Inc., had been in failing health for some time.

His first news job was with the Toronto Globe and Mail. After World War II, he took over from his father as publisher of the Sherbrooke Record and in 1952 bought the Toronto Telegram.

By the time the Telegram ceased publication in 1971, he had won the first license for a privately owned television station in Toronto -- CFTO-TV, flagship of the CTV network. He later became chairman of Baton Broadcasting, Canada's largest broadcaster.

Mr. Bassett, who at one point owned part of the Toronto Maple Leafs professional hockey team, was the father of the late sports entrepreneur John F. Bassett and grandfather of tennis star Carling Bassett.

He is survived by his wife, Isabel, and five children.


Chicago Tribune, 16 May 1986
USFL Pioneer John Bassett Dies

John F. Bassett, an early investor in the World Football League and United States Football League and the father of teen-age tennis star Carling Bassett, died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 47.

In 1976, Bassett underwent an operation for melanoma, a malignant form of skin cancer and it changed his competitive love of sports. "All of a sudden I didn't care," he recalled at the time. "I realized I had a beautiful wife, four great kids and winning or losing games wasn't life and death any more." About two years ago, doctors discovered two malignant tumors in his brain.

He recently sold his interests in the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits. Bassett previously owned an interest in the Canadian League's Toronto Argonauts and the WFL's Memphis Southmen. He also put together a group of investors in 1973 that bought the Ottawa Nationals of the World Hockey Association and moved the team to Toronto. But the team eventually moved to Birmingham, Ala, and later went out of business when the National Hockey League absorbed four WHA teams in 1979.

Bassett was known as "Johnny F" to distinguish him from his father, media magnate John W. Bassett, chairman of Baton Broadcasting Inc. which controls the CTV network.

Tennis was Bassett's best sport, and at age 15 he won the Canadian Open junior doubles championships. But his prowess was later surpassed by his daughter Carling, at age 18 a top-ranked international player.

Bassett was an early investor in the WFL with the Toronto Northmen. He quickly made an impact with a $3.5 million package that lured three mainstays from the NFL champion Miami Dolphins -- Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield -- to jump to the new league in 1974. The signing of the three Miami stars created such turmoil with the Canadian government and the CFL that the club was eventually forced to move to Memphis. The WFL folded in 1975, and Bassett's U.S. ties eventually took him to Florida, where he invested heavily in real estate and, later, in the Bandits. Mr. Bassett is survived by his wife, children Carling, John, 25, Vicky, 23, and Heidi, 16, as well as his father and his mother, Moira Bassett.

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Section 5 - New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter

The following family lines have been combined/eliminated since the last newsletter.

257B. The Bassetts of Cloquet, Minnesota into the William Bassett of Plymouth family

The following family lines have been added since the last newsletter.

321B. John Bassett of Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire, England (b. 1823)
322B. William Bassett of Oklahoma (b. 1865 in Tennessee)
323B. Oliver Howard Bassett of Galveston, Texas (b. 1865 in Ohio)

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Section 5 - DNA project update.

DNA kits from the following family lines were received back by FamilyTreeDNA this month.

#1A William Bassett of Plymouth
#1B John Bassett of Connecticut

General Fund Scholarship total as of 07/17/05 = $110.00. Donations since the last newsletter: $345.00

Donations of any amount can be made to the Bassett DNA project by clicking on the link below. Any funds donated will be used to fund select Bassett DNA tests that will further our project as a whole and benefit all Bassetts worldwide.

http://www.familytreedna.com/contribution.html

This is just a reminder that the DNA website can be found at:

http://www.bassettbranches.org/dna/

A current spreadsheet of results can be found at:

http://www.bassettbranches.org/dna/BassettDNA.xls


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Jeffrey Bassett
520 Salceda Drive
Mundelein, IL 60060 USA
(847) 949-1443
bassettgenealogy@hotmail.com (home)