Logo

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

Home >

Splinters From The Tree May 2008

(1) Welcome
(2) Bassett Bean Company of Edgewood, New Mexico
(3) Bassett Brothers Stage Lines
(4) Hubert Otto Bassett of Minocqua, Wisconsin
(5) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(6) DNA project update

Section 1 - Welcome

Under the tab "Major Family Branches" at our Bassett website (http://bassettbranches.org) we have added two new screens. This first is called "Main Page" where you can do a name search for Bassetts currently loaded into the website. The second is a new page for the #184 Bassetts of Chiddingston and Edenbridge
showing all known Bassetts from that line. We are currently working on loading several other larger lines of the family to this section of the website.

* * * * *

Section 2 - Featured Bassett: Bassett Bean Company of Edgewood, New Mexico

This section contains information about the Bassett Bean Co. and Bassett Ranch of Edgewood, New Mexico.

George Ray Bassett is descended from #3B Thomas Bassett of Connecticut as follows:

Thomas Bassett (b. 1598) and wife Joanna Beardsley
Thomas Bassett (b. 1660) and wife Sarah Baldwin
Josiah Bassett (b. 1690) and wife Alice Canfield
Samuel Bassett (b. 1723) and wife Susannah Morris
Samuel Bassett (b. 1756) and wife Jerusha Hotchkiss
William Bassett (b. 1803) and wife Margaret Reed
Leland Bassett (b. 1830) and wife nancy Priscilla Hughes
George Leland Bassett (b. 1864) and wife Elizabeth Selina Eads
George Ray Bassett (b. 1905) and wife Evelyn L. Gloss 


Bassett Bean Company warehouse, Edgewood, constructed in 1940s. Courtesy of the Bassett Family.

The Independent, July 31, 2002 (Condensed)
The Bassetts: Their story is the town's, By Theresa M. Oderman

        The history of Edgewood in the past century is a story of families such as the Bassetts, who arrived in 1909 and ever since have stamped Edgewood as farmers, ranchers, businessmen and community leaders.
        Their story is the story of Edgewood, intertwined with its other founding families, with their trials and survival, and now with the town's sometimes daunting growth.
        Early in the last century, George Leland Bassett learned of New Mexico's land from his two eldest sons, Amos and Oscar. The brothers knew a family named Hughes in what was then called Venus and in 1907 took the train from Missouri to visit their friends. They got off the train in Torrance, between Duran and Corona, and walked across country to Venus, which is now Edgewood.
        The young men must have taken a favorable report back to their father in Vienna, Mo., because in 1909 George put his family on an immigrant train to New Mexico. His son Ray described the move in a tape-recorded 1978 interview conducted by Fern Ueckert and Diane Arnett-Stearley.
        Some family members rode in the boxcar to take car of the animals. George Leland brought with him his wife, Serena Elizabeth Eads Bassett, and their children, Amos, Oscar, Ada, James Lee, Ethel, Leslie Donovan (L.D.), Ray and Millie.
        George filed a homestead claim on 160 acres north of what is now Dinkle Road, in Section 14, and his Amos, filed another 160-acres claim in the same section.
        The pioneer dugout, made by digging a cellar-like hole, then covering it with a pinon-pole and dirt roof, was a snug home in winter and cool in summer, but was not big enough for the Bassett family. Soon, a cabin followed for the boys to sleep in, then Serena finally got an above ground two bedroom home for her brood.
        George and his sons began the arduous task of dryland farming with horse-drawn implements.
        But not every year was a good crop. In lean times, the older Bassett brothers, Lee, Oscar and L.D., would walk to Colorado, along with as many as 15 other local men, to take part in the potato harvest. After several years of the annual trek, Lee announced he was tired of walking and stayed in Colorado.
        Facing the Depression, drought, and modern-day development with pioneer toughness, the Bassett family built both a sense of community and the buldings to serve it. The family, after arriving in 1909, has helped shape Edgewood throughout the past century.
         By the 1930s and '40s the farmers had figured out dryland farming and the bean was king of the Estancia Valley.
        In 1933 Ray Bassett left the Moriarty bean business he had begun with a partner in 1927, intending to "stay home and farm," but by the end of the year, he was back in beans. He traded for land on Route 66 in Edgewood with his brother L.D. "I just tore down the highway fence and cleared out the trees and started building the warehouse," Ray said.
        While his brothers farmed and ranched and his sisters married into other farming families in the area, Ray built a thriving business based on pinto beans, including a Case Machinery dealership he started in 1934.
        Ray moved his farm machinery business to Albuquerque but still owned much land in the Edgewood area. Oscar and L.D. continued to farm and work in the community.

To read about the history of Bassett Ranch of Edwwood, New Mexico, click on the link below.
Bassett Ranch Brochure (pdf format)

* * * * *

Section 3 - Featured Bassett William Henry Bassett and the Bassett Bros. Stage Line

William Henry Bassett is descended from #12B Oliver Bassett as follows:
Oliver Bassett and wife Betsey
Elias Bassett (b.1800) and wife Matilda Salter
Charles Henry Bassett (b. 1828)
William Henry Bassett (b. 1858) and brothers Charles and Frank. 



William Henry Bassett
by
William (Bill) Kay Bassett, grandson

William Henry Bassett was the third of nine children born to Charles Henry and his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Knight Bassett.  Little is known of his early years, except that he spent them in Salt Lake City attending whatever schools were available there in the 1860’s.  Like his father before him he became self sufficient at an early age.  He was entrusted to manage a branch ZCM located at Cedar Fort, Utah, a new settlement just East of Lehi (approx. 40 miles Southwest of Salt Lake City.  It must have been a bustling community because of Camp Floyd, and Johnson’s Army, and his father had been posted there by Brigham Young (I don t know why).  In October 1876, at the tender age of 18, he married a local girl, Marette Cook (daughter of Henry Freeman Cook the local Bishop).  He remained at Cedar Fort for the next four years where his first four children were born: Lutie Marette, Wm. Grantly, my father Harry Freeman, and James Clarence.  Cedar Fort was exactly that, a fort, built of rock for the protection of the Saints against Indian raids, about a half acre square and “wide enough for a steer to walk on top the walls”, according to Aunt Lutie.  IN her history she remembered many “Indian Scares” and the children being snatched up in the night and carried into the fort for protection.

Read more about the Bassett Brothers and their Stage company at our website at the following link:
http://bassettbranches.org/stories

* * * * *

Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Hubert Otto Bassett of Minocqua, Wisconsin

Hubert Otto Bassett descends from #1A William Bassett of Plymouth as follows:

William Bassett of Plymouth and wife Elizabeth
Joseph Bassett (b. 1635) and wife Martha Lapham
Jeremiah Bassett and wife Mary Felch
Jeremiah Bassett (b. 1722) and wife Sarah Alger
Jeremiah Bassett (b. 1751) and wife Hannah Woodward
Samuel Bassett (b. 1782) and wife Hannah Stone
Samuel Washington Bassett (b. 1812) and wife Jane A. Dunham
Edwin A. Bassett (b. 1856) and wife Permilia Ann Marks
Hubert Otto Bassett (b. 1879) 


Bassett's Auto Thermometer purchased on e-bay (click to enlarge).

History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties, Wisconsin  (1924)

        Burt O. Bassett, a prominent citizen of Minocqua, was born at DeSoto, Vernon County, Wis., Oct. 21, 1879, son of Edward and Anna (Marx) Bassett. The father, born at Taunton, Mass., and the mother, a native of Brdigeport, Conn., came west in their youth and were married in Vernon County, this state in 1877, remaining there until 1897. They then removed to Monroe County and settled on a farm near Tomah, where the father is still living; the mother passed away there in September, 1906. Six children were born to these parents: Burt O., subject of this sketch; Hattie M., now Mrs. Wesley Hunt, of Tomah; Louis, who died in 1905; Ella M., who is Mrs. Fred Cain and lives in Mexico; Clarence, of Minocqua; and Lol, living at Tomah, the wife of Richard Williams. Burt O. Bassett attended school in Vernon County and remained at home until he was 18 years old. He then came to Minocqua, and this village has ever since been his home. On first coming here he worked in the woods as a scaler until 1901, when he entered the mill of the Waykey-Bissell Lumber Co. as a setter, remaining for one year. He then followed various occupations until 1908, in which year he established a livery and sales stable. In 1914 he took over the Ford agency, and two years later he sold his other interests in order to be able to devote his entire attention to the automobile business. He built a garage in 1918, the building being 50x150 feet in dimensions, constructed of brick and concrete blocks, and being the first fireproof building erected in Minocqua. He carries a complete line of accessories and his business is so extensive that he employs 15 men during the summer months. Mr. Bassett is a thoroughly capable business man, and he has promoted some of the largest interests of Minocqua. He was one of the organizers of the Security State Bank, and is a stockholder and director in this institution. He also helped to organize the Minocqua Co-operative Creamery, and is one of the director in this enterprise. He owns a 160-acre farm in the town of Minocqua known as Riverview Farm, on which he has erected a fine set of buildings and which is now operated as a sheep ranch, and with R.C. Wassenburger he owns 4 1/2 miles of very desirable lake frontage. He erected a 7-room house, modern throughout, in Minocqua in 1911, and in this he and his family now make their home. Mr. Bassett was married at Minocqua, Oct. 17, 1904, to Daisy Mae Annis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Annis, of which parents the mother is now deceased and the father is residing in Oneida County. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bassett, as follows: Edward J., born Aug. 3, 1905, now bookkeeper for his father; Francis, born March 9, 1907, who is attending high school at Minocqua, and Dorothea Mae, born Nov. 16, 1919. The family belong to the Methodist church, and are highly respected in the community, a respect will-merited in view of Mr. Bassett's fine record of service to the welfare and future of Minocqua.

        From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
        Minocqua Times, August 12, 1909
        BASSETT BUYS LIVERY STABLE

        B.O. Bassett purchased the Geo. M. Cator livery stable and stageline yesterday. Mr. and Mrs. Cator expect to leave shortly for Chicago where they will visit a short time before deciding on where they will locate and may decide to return to their farm at this place.
       
        From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
        Minocqua Times, August 8, 1912
        AMERICAN LIVERY AUTOMOBILE

        The American Livery now has a five-passenger touring car to handle the trade with. People desiring to make a trip to resorts or to any of the lakes in the Minocqua locality or tributaries will do well by calling up the American Livery. Rates reasonable. - B.B. Bassett, Minocqua, Wis.

        From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
        Minocqua Times, June 25, 1914
        NEW FORD CAR

        B.O. Bassett recieved his new Ford automobile Sunday. Clarence Bassett accompanied by James McFarland drove the car up Sunday morning. They made the trip in two hours and twenty minutes from Rhinelander.

        From EARLY TIMES, By Daniel D. Scrobell
        Minocqua Times, June 24, 1915
        THE PASSING OF THE STAGECOACH

        The American Livery & Garage have replaced the stage that runs between Minocqua and Woodruff by a big Pierce Arrow seven-passenger car. The trip can be made quicker and with much more comfort. The passing of the stage marks another epoch in the progress of Minocqua.

* * * * *

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

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

 415B. The Bassetts of Atherstone, Warwickshire, England    

 * * * * *

Section 6 - DNA project update.

Several new participants joined the DNA project, but no new results are back from the lab to report on this month.

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