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

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Splinters From The Tree January 2007

(1) Welcome
(2) Bassett Books included on our website
(3) Thomas Jefferson Bassett of Depauw University, Greencastle, Indiana
(4)  Nantucket Boat Basin, Nantucket, Massachusetts
(5) Bassett Family Reunion to be held August 3, 2007
(6) New website for Isaac Bassett, Senate doorkeeper
(7) DNA results for Bassetts of Helston, Cornwall, England
(8) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(9) DNA project update

Thanks for the following donations made to the project during the past month.

Rhondda Martel $30 (to be used to upgrade family #73B test)
Liz Hicks $59
Timothy Bickerstaff  $60 (to be used for Bassetts of Hampshire, England test)
Jeffrey Bassett $75 (speaking fee from DNA talk)

Section 1 - Welcome

The Bassett DNA project continues to have new breakthroughs each month as new results come back from the lab. 8 new kits were ordered during the last two weeks of December including kits for the Bassetts of Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales, the Bassetts of Hampshire, England, and the Bassetts of Rotherfield, Sussex, England, I can't wait to see the results of these new lines not yet represented in our Bassett DNA database.

This is also the time of the year where I ask for donations to the project. If you enjoy receiving the newsletter or you find the DNA project of a benefit to Bassetts worldwide, please consider sending a $5 voluntary donation for 2007. You can send that to me or make the donation directly to the Bassett DNA fund by using the link at the bottom of the newsletter.

There are also about 10 people who have had a part or all of their test paid for by someone else and had originally said they would contribute to the project. If this includes you, please consider donating to the project this year to keep the project rolling. No amount is too small. I have several others willing to test and am just waiting on funds to get them signed up.

We currently have 19 DNA kits outstanding. If you have one of these kits, please return it to the lab as soon as possible so that we can all benefit from the results. If you ordered a kit but the kit never arrived in the mail, please let me know and I will follow up with the testing company for you.

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: Bassett books included on our website

I have included scans of another dozen or so books written about the Bassett family. If you click on the link below, you will see copies of these books. I hope to get the details of each book included in 2007.

http://www.bassettbranches.org/books/books.shtml

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Section 3 - Featured Bassett: Thomas Jefferson Bassett of Depauw University

Thomas Jefferson Bassett is a descendant of #1A William Bassett of Plymouth as follows:

William Bassett and wife Elizabeth
William Bassett (b. 1624) and wife Mary Raynesford
Nathan Bassett (b. 1667) and wife Mary Huckins
William Bassett (b. 1702) and wife Anna Mayhew
Nathan Bassett (b. 1751) and wife Martha Bassett
William Bassett (b. 1790) and wife Lydia Blood
Ira Norton Bassett (b. 1820) and wife Betsy Ann Babcock
Thomas Jefferson Bassett

177.A71.2. Thomas Jefferson Bassett, son of Ira Bassett

Thomas Jefferson Bassett A.M., son of Ira Norton and Betsy Ann (Babcock) Bassett, was born 9 Aug 1848 near Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York (EPB lists Rushville, Yates County, New York). He died 19 Aug 1922. He married Anna Eliza Ridpath, daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Matthews) Ridpath, on 14 Sep 1874 in Greencastle, Indiana. Anna was born on 18 May 1846, and died 7 Feb 1906. He married (2) Lida Ann Bucher on 7 Nov 1907. She was born 16 Oct 1855 in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. She died 22 May 1940 in Long Beach, California.

His opportunities for early education were extremely limited. When but six years of age, his parents moved from New York to the then wilds of Wisconsin, settling in Brotherton, Calumet County. When a mere boy he was compelled to do hard work upon a new farm, as his parents were farmers of small means. He attended school for a few years in the winter time, and worked upon the farm in summer. His progress in his books was very rapid. At the age of twenty, he left home and taught school for one term, and then engaged for a time as raftsman upon the Mississippi. In the fall of 1869, he went to his old home Western New York, where he attended during one term the Rushville union school, taking three of the four cash prizes offered. One was for oratory, one was for general excellence in all studies, and one was for spelling. In the spring he again came West, but with a determination to obtain and education at whatever sacrifice. During the summer he worked on a farm near Hillsboro, Illinois, and in the fall of 1870 entered the junior preparatory class of Indiana Asbury University. He completed the six years' course in five years, and took the classical honor of the class, numbering thirty-five members. Moreover, he literally worked his way through, earning all of the money required during the first two years by sawing wood, gardening, etc., working every day while others studied, and studying while they slept. Afterward he canvassed for books, and gave lessons in Latin and Greek. Upon graduating, in the class of 1875, he was immediately elected instructor of Latin and Greek in the preparatory department, Indiana Asbury University, where he remained at least five years. In Oct 1871 he united with the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in Asbury. In 1876 he became a member of Greencastle Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. In Apr on 1879 he united with the Knights of Honor. During his junior and senior years he was one of the editors of the Asbury Review, a paper published by the literary societies of Asbury, which achieved a considerable reputation during those years, but was afterward discontinued. In the fall of 1878 he began the publication of the Asbury Monthly, a magazine of about fifty pages, devoted to the interests of Indiana Asbury University, and to education and literature. During its first volume it assumed a high rank among college journals. During the summer vacation of 1879, he attended Doctor L. Sauveur's summer school of languages at Amherst, Massachusetts, and during the summer of 1880 taught Latin and Greek in a summer normal of languages at Grinnell, Iowa. He and his wife are both Methodists. In politics he is a Republican.

177A7121. Lillian Pearl Bassett - born 12 Jul 1875 in Greencastle, Indiana, married Prof. Julius Collins Castleman on 17 Aug 1904. They had Rolland Castleman, born 31 May 1905, Evelyn Castleman, born 2 Dec 1908, Douglas Castleman, born Aug 1911, and Gordon Castleman, born Jan 1913. Evelyn married Willard Thomas in 1928 and had George Thomas, born 1928.

177A7122. Lelia Clyde Bassett - born 19 May 1877 in Greencastle, Indiana, married Prof. Robert B. Walsh on 26 Aug 1905. They lived in Portland, Oregon. They had Charlotte Bright Walsh, born 25 Sep 1907, and Clark Walsh, born 26 Aug 1908.

177A7123. Clarence Cordova Bassett - born 4 Jun 1879 in Aurora, Indiana, married Pauline Woodward on 27 Jun 1900. They had Kathry Eloise Bassett, born 15 Aug 1902, and Eugene Woodward Bassett, born 12 Apr 1905. Eugene married (2) Seth Constable. 

177A7124. Roland Thomas Bassett - born 27 Aug 1883, died 31 Jan 1888. 

177A7125. Bernice Claire Bassett - born 20 Jul 1890 in Greencastle, Indiana, Abel Percival Wyman. They moved to Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, Maine. 


Thomas Jefferson Bassett 

You can read more about the Thomas J. Bassett family papers at the following website:

http://www.depauw.edu/library/archives/dpuinventories/bassett_thomas.htm

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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Nantucket Boat Basin, Nantucket, Massachusetts

George Bassett descends from William Bassett of Plymouth as follows:

William Bassett of Plymouth and wife Elizabeth
William Bassett (b.1624) and wife Mary Rainsford
William Bassett (b.1656) and wife Rachel Willison
William Bassett (b.1681) and wife Abigail Bourne
Nathaniel Bassett (b.1719) and wife Hannah Hall
Joseph Bassett (b.1749) and wife Cynthia Tobey
Edmund Bassett (b.1780) and wife Mary Nye
Edmund Bassett (b.1811) and wife Roxanna S. Goodnow
Charles H. Bassett (b.1842) and wife Julia Ethelinda Staples
Nathaniel Staples Bassett (b. 1879) and wife Mary Agnes O’Keefe
George Henry Bassett
George Bassett

It's never too early to start thinking about summer. If you plan on going to the Bassett family reunion in August of 2007 in Boston, you may want to think about making a side trip to Nantucket Island. If you do, stop in at the Nantucket Boat Basin, managed by George Bassett, a descendant of #1A William Bassett of Plymouth. To read more on the Nantucket Boat Basin, click on the link below.


http://www.nantucketboatbasin.com/

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Section 5 -  Featured Bassett: Bassett Family Reunion Updates

I have heard from several dozen families that said they plan on attending the family reunion in Boston in August of 2007, but so far only two families have made reservations at the hotel. If you are planning on going, go ahead and reserve your room soon so that I have some idea of how many people might be attending. We have until June 30, 2007 to make our reservations before our block of rooms are released.  Click on the link below for updated information on the reunion. It includes hotel information and location. If a large amount of people will be attending, we will probably have a dinner at the hotel on Saturday night. I am looking for a volunteer to handle arrangements for the dinner which includes making arrangements with the hotel for dinner and collecting money for the event.

http://www.bassettbranches.org/reunion

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Section 6 -  Featured Bassett: An Update on Isaac Bassett

You may remember the article back in April of 2004 about Isaac Bassett of the U.S. Senate. You can click on the link below to read this earlier article.

http://www.bassettbranches.org/newsletters/2004/20040418/20040418.shtml


A picture of the author of the newsletter (Jeffrey Bassett) with a portrait of  Isaac Bassett hanging in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. taken in March of 2004.

The United States Senate has completed a new web site featuring more material on Isaac Bassett. Click on the link below to see this new site.

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/special/Bassett/default.cfm

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Section 7 - Featured Bassett: DNA Results for Bassetts of Helston, Cornwall

25 marker DNA results are back for kit #77522 for the Bassetts of Helston. As you can see in the chart below, there is a 24/25 match between this group of Bassetts and the Bassetts of St. Enoder (#44B) as will as two other Bassetts groups with roots in Cornwall. I am looking for Bassetts from other Cornwall families not yet represented in the project to take part in testing as well.

Many of the Bassetts of Helston were butchers. I am looking for someone that can provide me with a picture of a Bassett butcher shop of Helston to include in a future newsletter. Contact me if you have any Bassett Helston related pictures. 

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Section 8 - New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter

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

260B.  James Bassett of Carmarthen, Wales into the 202B.  Bassett of Carmarthen, Wales
261B.  David Bassett of Carmarthen, Wales into the 202B.  Bassett of Carmarthen, Wales
306B.  David Bassett of Carmarthen, Wales into the 202B.  Bassett of Carmarthen, Wales 
   
The following family lines have been added since the last newsletter.

219B.  William Alfred Bassett of Greenwich, Fairfield County, CT
260B.  Bassetts of Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, England
261B.  Bassetts of Meare, Somerset, England
306B.  Bassetts of Helion & Steeple Bumpstead, Essex, England
363B.  Albert E. Bassett of Minnesota (b. 1865 in Massachusetts)
376B.  Thomas Lewis Bassett of Western Australia (b. 1828)

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Kits from the following lines were returned to the testing lab this month.

#4B.   William Bassett of Lynn, Massachusetts  
#53B. Louis Bassett of England
#25B. George W. Bassett of LaGrange County, Indiana

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