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

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Newsletter February 2006

(1) Welcome
(2) Bassetts of Beaupre Castle, St. Hilary, Glamorgan, Wales
(3) Francis Marion Bassett General Store
(4) Bassett Healthcare DNA update
(5) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(6) DNA project update


Section 1 - Welcome

Things have really picked up this winter with research and interest in the DNA project. We have had several people from new lines agree to participate in the project and I have been in contact with several others from families that can trace back to before 1700 that possibly might also join the project. Each of these new families that join add a small piece to the puzzle of the complete history of the Bassetts.

We have the first of several possibly significant DNA results back this week. The results back for the first documented descendant of the Bassett family of Beaupre (St. Hilary) in Wales giving us a match to 11 other Bassetts all with roots in Wales. See section #2 for more details. Look for more DNA stories next month.

Given the new findings about the Bassetts of Wales, I am actively searching for two participants for the DNA project, one from the #117 Bassetts of St. Mary Hill, Glamorgan, and any male from one of the half dozen or so Bassett groups from Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales.

For those living in the Chicago or Milwaukee areas, I will be presenting my talk "Genetic Genealogy: A Case Study of the Bassett Family" on Monday, 20 Mar 2006 for the Zion (Illinois) Genealogical Society. The meeting will take place at Kenneth Murphy School, 11315 W. Wadsworth Rd., Beach Park, IL at 7 pm.

Also, for anyone living in the Boston area, I will be in town on Wednesday and Thursday March 22nd & 23rd and will be spending some time at the NEHGS library on Newberry Street. Send me an e-mail if you are interested in meeting.

Thank you very much to the following who donated money towards the DNA project since the last newsletter.

- Lynn Arnold $75 (Australia)
- Frank Zunno $50 (United States)
- Jeffrey Bassett $100 (United States)
- Nate Carter $100 (United States)
- David Attride $100 (United States)

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: Bassetts of Wales

The following table of the Bassets of Beaupre has been provided by James Terzian. It highlights many of the different branches of Bassetts from Wales.

We have our first documented Bassett related to the Bassets of Beaupre. Test kit# 47974 matches the other Bassetts of Wales (on 11 out of 12 markers).

What this means is that all Bassetts falling into the families listed below descend from Sir Elias Basset of St. Hilary seen in the chart above.

The line of descent for kit #47974 is as follows. From the chart above, he is a descendant of the Bassets of Havod.

Thurstine Basset
John Basset married Matilda de Bretouil
Sir Richard Basset (born 1100) married Cynnidda
Richard Basset (born 1135) married Eva
Sir Philip Basset (born 1180)
Sir Alexander Basset (born 1220) (Crusader in the Holy Land)
William Basset (born 1255)
Thomas Basset (born 1290)
Sir Elias Basset (born 1320) married Margaret Delabeare
John Basset
Thomas Basset (born 1380) married Alice Marcross
John Basset (born 1410) married Gwenllian
Jenkin Basset (born 1445)
William Basset (born 1477) ----- brother to James Basset of Beaupre
Christopher Basset (born 1514)
Thomas Basset of St. Athan
William Basset of Miskin
Thomas Basset (born 1641)
George Bassett
Christopher Bassett
Thomas Bassett
George Bassett (born 1760)
William Bassett (born 1805)
Azariah Bassett (born 1846)
Thomas Morgan Bassett (born 1890 in Australia)

The Beaupre estates passed to James Basset, eldest son of Jenkin Basset and brother to William Basset (born 1477). Below is an obituary for one of the Bassetts from the Beaupre line.

The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume XX, 1843
Captain R. Basset

Nov. 8. At Beaupre, Glamorganshire, in his 52nd year, Richard Basset, esq. Captain in the Royal Artillery, a Deputy Lieutenant of that county.

He was born on the 6th Dec. 1797, the elder son of the late Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Basset, some time Governor of the Military Knights of Windsor,* by Elizabeth, daughter of the late Alexander Cruikshanks, esq. of the co. Aberdee. He entered the Royal Artillery as Second Lieutenant, Dec. 11, 1815; was promoted to be 1st Lieutenant Nov. 24, 1826; 2nd Captain, Jan. 10, 1837; and Adjutant of the 2nd battalion on the 22nd of the same month.

During the contest in Spain between the Queen and Don Carlos in 1836 and 1837, Captain Basset was employed in raising the siege of Bilboa; took part in the field actions of the 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th, and 16th March, assisted at the assault of the town of Hernani, and was present at the capitulation of Fontarabia.

We believe the circumstances under which Captain Basset succeeded to the estate of Beaupre were of a very unexpected nature. His father, as we have already stated, was one of the poor knights of Windsor; the third son of a Lieut-Colonel; who was the son of Major Basset of Sir John Brull's regiment; the younger son of Sir Richard Basset, of Beaupre, who was knighted in 1681. (The genealogy of the family may be seen in Burke's Landed Gentry.).

The estate of Beaupre had passed by sale to the family of Jones. Not very long before death of his father, Captain Basset was visiting Wales, and accidentally fell under the notice of Mr. Jones, then the owner of the property. That gentleman was so pleased with his new acquaintance, that, having no immediate heir, he came to the determination that he could not do better than restore the estate of Beaupre to the race of its ancient possessors. He died very soon after, and Lieut.-Colonel Basset became lord of Beaupre for a single day, and then transferred it to his son.

Captain Basset married, Oct. 24, 1843, Ann-Maria, youngest daughter of John Homfray, esq. of Llandaff House.

* Lieut.-Colonel Basset died Jan. 7, 1842, aged 84, and is briefly noticed in our vol. XVII. p. 224. A tablet in the Cloisters at Windsor bears the following inscription:

"In memory of Lt. Colonel Basset, of Beaupre, who died the 7th January, 1842, aged 84 years. And Elizabeth, his wife, who died the 4th of December, 1835. This tablet is erected to the best of parents by their affectionate children."

Beaupre Castle of St. Hilary, Glamorgan, Wales

To read more about Beaupre Castle, click on the link below.

http://www.castlewales.com/beaupre.html

Beaupre Castle is located near St. Hilary, Glamorgan, Wales

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Section 3 - Featured Bassett: Francis Marion Bassett

Francis Marion Bassett descends from William Bassett of Plymouth as follows:

William Bassett and wife Elizabeth
Nathaniel Bassett (born 1628) and wife Dorcas Joyce
Nathan Bassett (born 1677) and wife Mary Crowell
Thomas Bassett (born 1710) and wife Deborah Godfrey
Benjamin Bassett (born 1758 ) and wife Azuba Hamilton
Joseph Bassett (born 1786) and wife Ruby Beeman
Andrew Beeman Bassett (born 1814) and wife Caroline Williams
Amos Emerson Bassett (born 1847) and wife Alice Matson
Francis Marion Bassett - born 26 Jan 1870 in Lineville, Missouri


Picture Postcard of the F.M. Bassett General Store
located in Granville Center, Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

39172161. Francis Marion Bassett - born 26 Jan 1870 in Lineville, Missouri, married Ina McElroy and had Helen B. Bassett, born Aug 1892. He ran the F.M. Bassett General Store in Granville Center,
Pennsylvania.

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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Update on Bassett Healthcare

You may recall that in the August 2005 issue of the Bassett newsletter, the family of Benjamin Bassett of New York and his descendants was featured. After that article appeared, I found a male Bassett from that family willing to take part in the DNA project. Results of his test #43060 are below.

The county history from New York said that Benjamin was from Yorkshire, but no trace of him there has been found. But based on the new DNA results, we have possibly identified him.

The #130B Bassetts of Leicester prove a close match to Benjamin's family so it is very possibly that Benjamin comes from the same area in England.

Looking at parish records, I found a Benjamin Bassett, son of William and Elizabeth, christened 26 Oct 1766 in Slawston, Leicester. This is the same birth year that we have for our Benjamin of New York. More research needs to be done to prove this connection, but at least we now have somewhere in England to look.

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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.

#152B. Moses Bassett of St. Mary Hill, Glamorgan into the #117B Charles Bassett of Glamorgan, Wales
#156B. John Bassett of Rotherfield, Sussex combined into the #224B Bassetts of Rotherfield

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

#133B. Thomas R. Bassett of Ottawa, LaSalle County, IL (b. 1888 in England)
#152B. William H. Bassett of Henry County, Virginia
#160B. Henry Bassett of Sandwich, Kent, England (b. 1725)
#219B. Thomas Bassett of Speldhurst (Descendants in Prince Albert, Sask)
#331B. Henry Bassett of Millington, Michigan (b. 1817 in CT)
#332B. William Bassett of Ireland and Manhattan, NY
#333B. William A. Bassett of Massachusetts (b. 1870 in Bermuda)
#334B. Bassetts of Llangan, Glamorgan, Wales
#335B. Bassett of Datchworth, Hertfordshire

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Section 5 - DNA project update.

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/group-general-fund-contribution.aspx?g=Bassett

This is just a reminder that the DNA portion of the Bassett Family Association 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

If you don't have Excel and can't open the spreadsheet above, you can now see the DNA test results at the following website.

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Bassett/

Jeffrey Bassett
520 Salceda Drive
Mundelein, IL 60060 USA
email address link in header above