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

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Splinters From The Tree April 2009

(1) Welcome
(2) President Obama and his Bassett ancestor
(3) Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, diplomat
(4) William Laudius Bassett and wife of Neshoba County, Mississippi
(5) Civil War Soldier Edward Henry Bassett of Minnesota
(6) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(7) DNA project update

Section 1 - Welcome

I want to thank the volunteers that came forward to help input Bassett data into our website. We have added several thousand new Bassetts to the names database and have new names going in each week. We are currently concentrating on English branches of the family and descendants of William Bassett of Plymouth (Fortune 1621). If you would like to help enter data for any of the major branches of American Bassetts, just let me know. I will forward you the information and will get you in contact with Pat Newton who is in charge of updating the database.

I am looking for a volunteer that lives near Claverton, England (just outside of Bath) that would be willing to take a picture of a monument dedicated to a branch of Bassets with a digital camera and forward me the picture for inclusion in a future newsletter.

I am looking for someone living near Gulgong, New South Wales, Australia that would be willing to call or contact the Gulgong Pioneers Museum and Historical Society and get contact information to help me purchase a booklet on the Bassetts of Timsbury

A donation of $300 was made to the project to upgrade several of the DNA tests from the #14B Jean Besset family of Quebec. These upgrades will be ordered shortly hopefully along with two new kits for members of this family.

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: President Obama's Bassett connection

Newly elected president Barack Obama is related to the Bassetts of England. I have so far been unable to determine anything about the family of Phillis Bassett.

Barack Obama descends from the Bassetts of England as follows.

President Barack Obama Jr. (b. 1961)
Stanley Ann Dunham married Barack Obama
Stanley Armour Dunham married Madelyn Lee Payne
Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham married Ruth Lucille Armour
Jacob William Dunham married Mary Ann Kearney
Jacob Mackey Dunham married Louise Eliza Stroup
Jacob Dunham married Catherine Goodnight
Samuel Dunham married Hannah
Jonathan Dunham married Mary Smith
Benjamin Dunham and Mary Rolfe
John Rolfe and Mary Scullard
Samuel Scullard and Rebecca Kent
Richard Kent
Thomas Kent and Ellen Pyle
Richard Pyle and Phillis Bassett

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, diplomat

A new book (Hero of Hispaniola: America's First Black Diplomat, Ebenezer D. Bassett) is out on the life of Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett. Details of the book are found below. If you are interested in ordering a copy, here are links to two places: Amazon and Greenwood.

Ebenezer Bassett
Bassett’s student photograph, c. 1855, Connecticut Normal School, Central Connecticut State University.

Hero of Hispialo book coverDescription:
We know Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as two of today's most high-profile African American political figures, but who paved the way for these notable diplomats? More than one hundred and thirty years ago, Ebenezer D. Bassett served as the first black United States ambassador. In the midst of the aftermath of the Civil War, the U.S. government broke the color barrier by naming this leading educator, abolitionist, and activist to the controversial post of ambassador to the hemisphere's Black Republic - Haiti. For the first time, a nation founded on the principle that "all men are created equal" would have as its representative abroad someone previously less than equal under the law. This movement toward equality proved to be a force impossible to turn back, leading to a wider acceptance of blacks in U.S. foreign policy. This book lays bare the struggles Bassett faced as a pioneer of one the most controversial subjects in America's history: racial integration.

This book highlights Bassett's achievements, which directly contributed to the racial revolution in the U.S. These include being appointed the first African American diplomat and chief of a U.S. diplomatic mission, leading the integration of public schools, and fighting for equal rights alongside revolutionaries such as Frederick Douglass. Bassett played a critical role in foreign affairs during the late 19th century, the formative years of American expansionism in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of Bassett's death. Though he is long forgotten by history, his legacy as an innovator, activist, and diplomat lives on, and his life story--a tale of intelligence, integrity, and bravery--serves as an inspiration to patriotic Americans of all races and backgrounds. Hero of Hispaniola secures Bassett's legacy as the first African American political figure, a man who not only altered the American political structure, but led the way for all future civil rights advocates to follow.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Under Siege
Chapter 2: Horns of a Dilemma
Chapter 3: Recognition at Last
Chapter 4: The Bassetts of Connecticut
Chapter 5: Black Activist in Philadelphia
Chapter 6: Minister Resident
Chapter 7: Annexation Vexation
Chapter 8: Diplomatic Immunity
Chapter 9: De'ye' mo'n gen mo'n
Chapter 10: Lover of Justice
Chapter 11: Leaving Hayti
Chapter 12: Mr. Consul General
Chapter 13: A Heros Return?
Chapter 14: Final Homecoming
Chapter 15: Conclusion
Bibliography

Here is an obituary for a son of Ebenezer D. Bassett.

The New York Times, Thursday, December 17, 1942
Ulysses S.G. Bassett
Teacher in Washington Schools for Many Years Dies
Special to the New York Times.

        WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 15 - Ulysses Simpson Grant Bassett, for many years a teacher in Washington High Schools, died here yesterday, at the age of 70.
        Mr. Bassett came here last week from his home in New Haven, Conn., suffering from a stroke, and rapidly became worse. A funeral service will be held here tomorrow. Burial will be in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, on Friday.
        Mr. Bassett was born on July 7, 1872, in Haiti, where his father, Ebenezer Don C. Bassett, had been United States Minister under President Hayes. His father later was Consul General of Haiti in New York for fourteen years. Before teaching in Washington, Ulysses Bassett taught in Philadelphia and New York. He prepared for college at Hopkins Grammar School, New Haven. He was not married. A brother, Ebenezer Don C. Bassett Jr. was a member of the Yale class of '85.

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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: William Laudius Bassett and wife

James E. Bassett (b. 1814) and wife Eliza Thompson
William Laudius Bassett (b. 1835) and wife Lucy Jeroline Crockett 


William Laudius Bassett and wife Lucy Jeroline Crockett circa 1890s

William Laudius Bassett and family circa 1906
Pictures courtesy of William Glenn Bassett, great-grandson of William Laudius Bassett (click to enlarge)

49B21. William Laudius Bassett, son of James Bassett

        William Laudius Bassett, son of James and Elisa Bassett, was born 16 Dec 1835 in Macon, Georgia. He died 9 Dec 1908 in Neshoba County, Mississippi (NCR). He married Lucy Jeroline Crockett, daughter of Nathaniel and Eliza Crockett, on 7 Feb 1865 in Neshoba County, Mississippi. Lucy was born 8 May 1839. She died 1 Jun 1898.
        He enlisted in May 1861 as a private in Company D 11th Mississippi Infantry and was discharged from Service in Nov 1861 to raise another company. He enlisted Company F. 40th Mississippi regiment in May 1862 and was elected 1st Lieutenant at organization of the company. He was promoted to Captain on 20 Sep 1862. He was in active command of M. Company in the battle of Iuka, Corinth, Siege of Vicksburg and Big Black River Mississippi, Decatur, Alabama, Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee and the entire Georgia campaign. He was wounded three times but was never disabled. He surrounded command at Greensborough, North Carolina in May 1865, General Joseph E. Johnson in command.
        William served in the lower house of the Mississippi legislature from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1886 and was a member of the Constitutional Convention in the year 1890. Also, on 16 Jul 1896 in the Neshoba Democrat he is listed as Sheriff being elected in 1895 for a term of 4 years.
(NCR - Neshoba Church Records).

Below is an updated list of Bassetts from this #49B family and the other Bassett lines they match, all most likely descendants of #48B Francis Bassett of South Carolina. 

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Section 5 - Featured Bassett: Edward Henry Bassett of Minnesota

Edward Henry Bassett descends 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
Isaac Bassett (b. 1760) and wife Desire Hotchkiss
Isaac Bassett (b. 1785) and wife Jane Elizabeth Way
Henry Bassett (b. 1815) and wife Minerva Lines
Edward Henry Bassett (b. 1841) 

Edward Henry Bassett
Edward Henry Bassett 1841-1896

        Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars (St. Paul, 1891)

        Edward H. Bassett was born in New Haven, Connecticut, December 21, 1841, the son of Henry and Minerva (Linds) Bassett. The Bassett family moved to Morristown, Minnesota in 1855. On April 29, 1861, Edward H. Bassett enlisted in Company G of the First Regiment of Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, served for three years, and re-enlisted in Battalion L of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. He was mustered out of service in September of 1865. After the Civil War, he lived in Redwood County, in Faribault, where he married Hattie A. King in 1871, and Lesueuv County. In 1875 he moved to Nobles County, when he lived as a farmer until his death on April 9, 1897.

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Section 6 - New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter

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

123B.   Stephen Bessette of Colchester, Vermont into the #14B Jean Besset of Quebec Family
319B.   John Isaac Bassett into the #6B William Bassett of Connecticut family.

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

 314B.  Reuben Bassett (b. 1796) of Meare, Somerset, England

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Section 7 - DNA project update.

I have results from several new tests that will be featured in upcoming newsletters.

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