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Newsletter December 2003
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Contents of this Newsletter:
(1) Holiday Greetings
(2) Web site links
(3) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(4) DNA project update
(5) Featured Bassett: Charles Edwin Bassett, baseball player
(6) Death of one of our members
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Section 1 - Happy Holidays
I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Look for an upcoming article in the Spring edition of the New England Ancestors
Magazine detailing information regarding my Bassett DNA project.
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Section 2 - Web site links
This is just a reminder that the new 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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Section 3 - New family lines combined or added since the last
newsletter
The following family lines were combined into other families based on DNA
evidence and new research:
#121B Rev. John Bassett (b. 1764) combined with family #19B Michael Bassett
of New York.
#171B Rose & Augusta Bassett combined with family of #40B Nelson Bassett
Family of Michigan
The following family lines have been added since the last newsletter.
233B. Thomas Bassett of Rotherfield, Sussex, England
234B. The Bassetts of North Hill, Cornwall & Australia
235B. The Bassetts of Dover, Strafford County, New Hampshire
236B. Walter John Bassett of Chicago (b. 1885 Wisconsin)
237B. The Bassetts of St. Cleer, Cornwall
238B. Benjamin Bassett of Bury, Lancashire, England (b. 1827)
239B. Alfred Bassett of Kendall, Orleans County, New York (b. 1846)
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(4) DNA project update.
Outstanding tests as of today are:
Kit # 11887 #34B Bassetts of County Down, Ireland
Kit #13274 #39B Bassetts of Norfolk, England
Kit #13826 #46B Isaac Bassett of Kentucky
We got results back from several DNA tests during the past month that have
proved to be interesting.
A) Possible ancestral home of John Bassett and William Bassett of Connecticut
identified.
A Bassett descendant from the #130B Bassetts of Claybrooke, Leicester, England
family line matched on 12/12 markers to both the #1B John Bassett of Connecticut
family and the #6B William Bassett of Connecticut family as well as the #43B
Truman Bassett of Connecticut family. This Bassett line of Leicester is traced
back to 1600 in Claybrooke. Some online family trees list #1B John Bassett
as being the John Bassett born 17 May 1589 in Heyshott, Sussex, England but
I have not yet seen any proof of this being our John.
B) Family #57B William Bassett of Georgia/Arkansas related to the #2B Thomas
Bassett of Virginia family.
A Bassett descendant of #57B William Bassett of Arkansas matches 11/12 markers
to both the #2B Thomas Bassett family of Virginia and the #75B Charles Bassett
family of Kentucky. An old family history mentions that this William was from
Georgia. There is a very good possibility that our William Bassett from Arkansas
is the William Bassett found living on the Tensaw River living not too far
from the Thomas Bassett family who settled on the Tombigbee River. My current
thought is that William Bassett is either a brother or son of the Thomas Bassett
listed below. More research needs to be done on this line, but at least we
now know where to look based on our DNA results!
2B112.5. Thomas Bassett, son of Thomas Bassett
Thomas Bassett, son of Thomas and Lydia (Howle) Bassett, was born in 1737
in Virginia. He married Lucy Thomas about 1761. She was possibly from Richmond,
Augusta County, Georgia. They moved to Washington County, Alabama in the 1760's.
He received a Land Grant from the Governor at Pensacola, Florida in 1776 for
lands near the River Tombigbee. This was later changed to a Spanish patent
and then reverted to a United States grant after that portion of Alabama was
made a part of the Mississippi Territory. He was killed by Indians in 1781
at Bassett's Creek in Clarke County, Alabama. His home was on Bassett's Creek
in Washington County, Alabama. Both creeks were named for him. According to
Carter's American State Papers, Lucy and son Thomas were living in New Orleans
in 1794. The 750 acre plot mentioned below is the 750 acres tract at McIntosh
Bluff also called Thomas Bluff. The other 1,050 acres tract was situated on
the Tombigbee River, on Bassetts Bayou, called Bassetts Creek.
2B11251. Nathaniel Bassett - born in Georgia, found in New Orleans in 1800,
died sometime after 1800 in either New Orleans or Washington County, Alabama.
* 2B11252. Thomas Bassett - born 1762 in Georgia, married Sarah. Sarah was
born in 1766.
"Claim: Of seven hundred and fifty
acres, as administrator of Nathaniel Bassett, deceased, who was son and heir
of Thomas Bassett, deceased, under a British Grant, confirmed by a Spanish
warrant of survey, under the first section of the act.
The claimant exhibited his claim, together
with a surveyor's plot of the land claimed, in the following words and figures,
towit: To the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the act of Congress,
passed the 3rd day of March, 1803, for surveying and adjusting the claims
to lands south of the Tennessee and east of Pearl river.
Please to take notice that the following
tract of lands, situated on the river Tombigbee, in the county of Washington,
beginning at a sassafras, running thence north, eighty-two degrees west, one
hundred and twenty-five chains and seventy-five links, to a pine corner; thence,
south, eighty degrees west, fifty-nine chains and twenty eight links, to a
black jack; thence, south eighty-two degrees east, ninety-two chains, to a
white ash on the river; thence, with the river, to the beginning; containing
seven hundred and fifty acres, is claimed by Thomas Bassett, administrator
of Nathaniel Bassett, in and by virtue of a British and Spanish grant, having
giveth shape, form and marks, both natural and artificial, are fully represented
in the plot annexed, and is now exhibiited ot the register of the land office,
to be recorded as directed by said act. To all which he begs leave to (aver?),
as also to a copy of the plot herewith filed.
THOMAS BASSETT,
Administrator of Nathaniel Bassett, March 19, 1804
C) #208B William George Bassett of Canada matches #112B Joseph Bassett of
Warwick.
A descendant of William George Bassett of Madoc, Hastings, Ontario, Canada
matches the family of #112B Joseph Bassett of Warwick, England. This Joseph
Bassett of Warwick emmigrated to Canada in the 1860's, moved to Illinois about
1871 then on to Custer County, Nebraska where his family settled in and around
Arnold, Nebraska. It is possible that William George Bassett is a son of Joseph
Bassett since two of his children are still unaccounted for based on the information
provided in the 1900 census of Custer County, Nebraska.
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(5) Featured Bassett in this issue:
Charles Edwin Bassett, member of the 1884 World Champion Providence Grays
The following article is copyrighted by Rick Stattler and
is used with his permission. Rick is the historian for the Providence Grays
Baseball team and an employee of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Charley Bassett, Ball-Player
Charles Edwin Bassett was born on February
9 1863 in the industrial village of Central Falls (which was then located
in the town of Smithfield, Rhode Island). He was the son of William H. Bassett
and Frances (Smith) Bassett, but his mother died three years later of "insanity"
at Butler Hospital. Although his father remarried and worked steadily as a
carpenter, he was apparently unable to care for young Charley properly.
Charley lived with his grandparents Thomas
and Eliza Bassett in Central Falls. Grandpa Bassett died in 1877, and Charlie
was soon working as a machinist to help support his grandmother. He began
playing baseball with various amateur teams in Pawtucket from 1877 to 1881,
and then enrolled at Brown University in Providence. 1
Bassett quickly established himself as
a star for the school's baseball team. He played third base and batted third
in the lineup. Even after a long professional career, Bassett remembered these
college games against Harvard and Yale days as the high point: "There
was a thrill and a romance to them that I never obtained years later, even
in the world series games. We were playing for the love of it, for the sport,
and money never entered into it." His .448 batting average was the best
of all college players in the country in 1883, and he reluctantly signed a
contract with the major-league Providence Grays in mid-November, with the
understanding that he would remain in school and play for the Brown team through
the end of the 1884 spring semester. 2
After the school year was over, Bassett
played major-league ball for the 1884 Grays as their rarely used twelfth man.
At 5'10", Bassett was one of the tallest men on the team, but rail-thin
at 150 pounds. His first official game was on July 22, filling in for the
regular second baseman.
This debut was a controversial game. A
Providence player, Charley Sweeney, stormed off the field in the eighth inning,
forcing the team to finish the game with only two outfielders. While the rest
of the team crumbled, one sharply hit ball "was cleverly stopped by Bassett
behind second, before reaching the unprotected centre field." 3
The Grays recovered to win the pennant
on the strength of Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn's 60-win season,
then they won the first world championship series that October against the
New York Metropolitans.
Bassett did little to contribute to this
glory, however, finishing with a weak batting average of .139 in 27 games.
He never did return to the university for his senior year. Instead, he married
Ethel Gertrude Esten of Lincoln, R.I. in November of 1884. He went on to a
nine-year career as a major league infielder with Providence, Kansas City
(where he met famous outlaw Frank James), Indianapolis, New York, and Cleveland.
During his team's Boston trips, Bassett often commuted down to Pawtucket and
Central Falls after the games to spend time with his wife and family, and
even to watch local minor-league games on his days off.4
During the off-seasons, Bassett and his
wife continued to live in Central Falls with his aged grandmother Eliza Bassett.
However, she died in September of 1889. Her obituary mentioned her grandson
"the well-known base ball player." She left an estate worth more
than eight thousand dollars, but no will, so everything was divided between
Charlie's father and aunts and uncles. Charlie got nothing, and had to find
a new place to live.5
He was voted the best third baseman in
the National League that year, for which he received a floral wreath inscribed
"Boss of Third" in a pre-game ceremony. Bassett spent five years
playing minor league baseball from 1893 to 1897, and then retired from the
game.6
Charlie found permanent employment as
a Pawtucket police officer shortly after his playing career came an end, and
enjoyed regaling members of the force with stories of his baseball days. After
receiving his pension from the force in 1924, Bassett worked as a bank guard
at Rhode Island Hospital Trust in Providence.
Bassett retired in 1932. His wife Florence
purchased a house on 364 Power Road in Pawtucket, in the quiet suburban neighborhood
of Fairlawn. Charley remained a baseball fan to the end, attending games at
Brown on a regular basis, and using his free major-league lifetime pass to
visit Fenway Park on occasion, although he was no longer able to drive. He
was interviewed in 1940, and stated that his only complaint about the modern
game was the size of the fielder's gloves. He showed the reporter "his
strong, broad hands, of which almost every finger has been broken, attesting
to the uncounted times they stopped whizzing horsehide spheres with no protection
other than rugged skin."7
Bassett died of heart and kidney problems
at Memorial Hospital on May 28 1942, aged 80 years old. He was buried in the
Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls. Three years after his death, he was
named to the all-time all-Rhode Island all-star team by the Providence Journal.
Bassett's widow Florence died in 1961. Charley Bassett's only child Francis
worked as an inspector for the railroad, and settled in the Auburn neighborhood
of Cranston, raising a son named Charles Warren Bassett (1929-1999) and a
dau daughter named Marion Sprague.8
1 1865 R.I. Census, volume 10, page 217; 1870 U.S. Census, North
Providence district 1, page 345 (William H. Bassett without Charles); 1875
R.I. Census, Lincoln district 2, page 45; (Charles with grandparents); 1880
U.S. Census, Rhode Island E.D. 117, page 8 (with grandmother); Rhode Island
marriages, 1862 page 556, 1866 page 556; Rhode Island deaths, 1866 page 944
(insanity of mother); Pawtucket / Central Falls directories, 1869-1878; Providence
Evening Telegram, May 5 1893 (early career, 1877-1880); Historical
Catalog of Brown University, 1764-1904 (Providence: Brown University,
1905). Rick Harris was helpful in sharing some of his own Charley Bassett
research.
2 "Pawtucket's Diamond Veteran in First World Series,"
clipping from a Rhode Island newspaper dated spring of 1924, in Bassett's
file at the Brown University Archives; Richard V. Reynolds, "When Providence
Won the First World's Championship," Providence Sunday Journal,
May 26, 1940, VI-3 (based on an interview with Bassett); Sporting Life,
July 8 (average), November 21 (signing) 1883; Providence Journal,
February 25 1884 (report date).
3 Providence Journal, July 23 1884
4 Rhode Island Marriage Records, (get citation); Reynolds, ibid
(Frank James).; Pawtucket Evening Times, November 1 1886 (back in
Rhode Island), August 9 1888 (visits); Pawtucket Evening Tribune,
June 23 1890 (watching games).
5 Pawtucket / Central Falls directories, 1882-1890; 1885 Rhode
Island Census, town of Lincoln (alphabetical, shows Charles E. and grandmother
Eliza Bassett together); Pawtucket Evening Times, September 26 1889
(Eliza Bassett obit); Central Falls probate records, volume 18, pages 104,
276-277, and volume 20, pages 24, 213-214, in Central Falls City Hall.
6 Reynolds, ibid (Boss of Third)
7 Reynolds (quote); Providence and Pawtucket directories; "Brown
University Graduate Records"survey filled out by Bassett's widow on June
13 1942 at the Brown University Archives (son's birth); 1905 R.I. Census;
Pawtucket deeds at Pawtucket City Hall, 317:2 (364 Power); obituary of Mrs.
Florence Bassett, Pawtucket Times, October 30 1961.
8 Death certificate at R.I. State Archives, May 1942 #320; "Brown
University Graduate Records" survey, ibid; obituary in Brown Alumni
Monthly , Summer 1942; Pawtucket Times, May 28, 1942, page 1
(obit), October 30 1961 (widow's obit); Providence Sunday Journal,
April 13 1945, VI-2 (all-star); 1930 U.S. Census, Rhode Island E.D. 11, page
1 (Francis and family); Providence Journal-Bulletin, January 29 1999
(grandson's obituary).
To read more about the baseball statistics of Charlie Bassett, click on the
link below.
http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/bassett.htm
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Section 6 - Death of Gary Bassett
I am sad to report the death of one of our fellow Bassett DNA project participants
earlier this month. My thoughts and prayers are with his family during this
Christmas season.
The North Platte Telegraph Gary Joe Bassett
ARNOLD - Gary Joe Bassett, 70, died Dec. 2, 2003, at WaKeeney, Kan., as
the result of an auto accident. He and his wife Shirley were traveling back
from Texas, where they had spent Thanksgiving with their son Randall, and
his family when they were hit by another car. He was born April 4, 1933, to
Clarence and Verel McCandless Bassett at Pleasant Hill. He graduated from
Arnold High School in 1951 and then attended Kearney State Teachers College.
He served in the U.S. Army for two years, mostly in Korea.
On Nov. 19, 1955, he married Shirley Ann
Nansel at the Garfield Church. They farmed at Pleasant Hill for 12 years.
Mr. Bassett accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in 1966. In 1968,
the couple joined New Tribes Mission. He was baptized that year at the New
Tribes Mission Institute in Fredonia, Wis. When they completed the New Tribes'
training, they served as dorm parents for seven years in Panama. He was also
the field bookkeeper
In 1978, they returned to the United States
and served on staff at the New Tribes Language Institute for 23 years. They
retired in July 2001. They spent the past two years in their hometown of Arnold.
He served as a deacon at First Baptist Church.
He was a loving hsuband and wonderful father. He loved his Lord and enjoyed
serving Him. His family will miss him but are so thankful they will see him
again in heaven.
Surviving him is his wife; their six children,
Trace (Mike) Jarvis of Portland, Ore., Randall (Diana) Bassett of Killeen,
Texas, Ann Bassett (Joel) Emerson of Nashville, Tenn., Holly (Steve) Robertston
of Kansas City, Kan., Eir (Holly) Bassett of Columbia, Mo., Russell Bassett
of Newport News, Va., and grandchildrdn, Krista (Dean) Miller, Denae (Jonathan)
Deward, Shavon, Ryan, Allen, Lauren, Callie, Brooke Bassett, and Justin, Travis,
Preston and Nachary Robertson; and two stepbrothers, Dean (Galey) Chrisp of
North Platte and Don (Ellen) Chrisp of Arnold. He was preceded in death by
his parents; his stepfather, Alvie Chrisp; four stepbrothers, Emmett, Everett,
Mervin and Glenn Chrisp; and a grandson, Ian Bassett.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested
that memorials be made to the First Baptist Church building fund of Arnold.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday with the Rev. Irving Jennings officiating.
His family asks that his funeral be a celebration of the goodness of the Lord
in and throug his life.
Burial will be in the Arnold Cemetery,
with military honors by the American Legion Post 130 and the Veterans of Foreigh
Wars Post 6157 of Arnold.
Visitation will be from 1 to 8 p.m. today at the home at 200 E. Jackson Street
in Arnold. Arnold Funeral Home is in charge.
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Have a safe and healthy holiday.
Jeffrey Bassett
520 Salceda Drive
Mundelein, IL 60060 USA
bassettgenealogy@hotmail.com
(home)
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