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

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Splinters From The Tree December 2010

Christmas greetings

(1) Welcome
(2) Death of Bryan Basset
(3) The Honorable John Dowd Bassett of Washington
(4) David Bassett and son Robert N. Bassett of Connecticut
(5) John Bassett editor of the Printing World
(6) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(7) DNA project update

Section 1 - Welcome

Seasons' Greetings come from Bassett's Grocery & Feed Store, Afton, Oklahoma. I purchased this calendar from the 1950's on ebay.

Family Tree DNA has once again come out with holiday pricing for it's DNA tests. The promotional price for the 37 marker y-chromosome DNA test is just $119 (plus a few dollars for postage depending on which country you live in).  To get the promotional price, the kit needs to be ordered and paid for before December 31, 2010. You can either order yourself from the www.FamilyTreeDNA.com website or contact me for more details on how to order your kit.

I have completed work on combining the three different Irish Bassett families that settled in Prince Edward Island, Canada into one family, the #97B Bassetts of PEI.

Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday.

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: Death of Bryan Basset

Bryan Ronald Basset is a son of Ronald Lambert and Lady Elizabeth (Legge) Basset. He is a descendant Francis Basset of Tehidy, Lord de Dunstanville, and is the only surviving male line of Bassets descended from the Bassets of Tehidy, Cornwall that I am aware of.

EDP24, Britain’s Regional Newspaper of the Year
Friday, November 12, 2010

Industrialist Bryan Basset, who was made CBE and also farmed on the Holkham estate in North Norfolk, has died peacefully after a short illness, aged 78.

As chairman of Royal Ordnance, he oversaw the sale of the state-owned business, which had 16 factories and employed 19,000 people, to British Aerospace in April 1987 for £188.5m. After a long career in the city, Mr Basset, of Quarles, near Wells, who was awarded a CBE in the 1988 New Year’s Honours list, had resigned from the board of Royal Ordnance.

His marriage at the parish church of St Withburga, Holkham, to Lady Carey Coke, second daughter of the former Earl and Countess of Leicester, on April 30, 1960, was described as “the wedding of the year”. The wedding vows were exchanged in front of the former Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Percy Herbert, and the witnesses included the Queen Mother. The bridegroom’s mother was a Women of the Bedchamber for the Queen Mother for some 30 years. After a reception for about 500 guests at the hall, the bride and groom left by helicopter for a honeymoon in Beirut.

Educated at Eton and then the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, he became a captain in the Scots Guards. Then Mr Basset joined a stockbrokers in Toronto, Canada, in 1957. After two years, he returned to London and worked for the city stockbrokers, Panmure Gordon & Co until 1972.

Earlier in December 1971, Mr Basset and his wife were fortunate to survive a serious accident on a private road on the Holkham estate. After his Bentley hit an 80ft high obelisk in Holkham Park in thick fog, he broke five ribs and his wife had multiple fractures to her arm. Both were admitted to the Norfolk & Norfolk Hospital.

In 1972, he became managing director of Philip Hill Investment Trust until 1985, when he was appointed to head Royal Ordnance.

A reserved man, who enjoyed shooting and fishing, he had always taken a keen interest in the mainly arable farm at Quarles. He introduced the hardy breed of Sussex cattle to the estate. Particularly interested in pedigree cattle, he also introduced a new pedigree breed, the Saler, which were successfully crossed with his native stock to produce faster-growing and leaner beef animals. In 1996, a home-bred cow, the eight-year-old Quarles Viagere took the first supreme championship in the British Salers at the Royal Norfolk Show and a yearling heifer was reserve junior female. At the 1997 Royal Show at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, his Quarles cattle dominated the breed championships to take supreme titles.
He leaves a widow, Lady Carey Basset, three sons, and four grandchildren.

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Section 3 - Featured Bassett: The Honorable John Down Bassett of Washington

John Dowd Bassett descends from #1B John Bassett of Connecticut as follows:

John Bassett and wife Margery
Robert Bassett and wife Mary
Robert Bassett (b. 1640) and wife Elizabeth Riggs
Samuel Bassett (b. 1692) and wife Deborah Bennett
Benjamin Bassett (b. 1740) and wife Molly Hinman
John Bassett (b. 1799) and wife Nancy Atwater Lee
Rev. William Elliot Bassett (b. 1829) and wife Mary Dowd
John Dowd Bassett, born 1858

An Illustrated History of the Big Bend Country Embracing
Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin Counties
State of Washington (1904)

        Hon. John D. Bassett, one of the most widely known bankers in the State of Washington, now living in Ritzville, was born in Plainfield, Connecticut, January 6, 1858, and is descended from an old English family, which came to Connecticut and settled in Guilford in 1660. His father, William E. Bassett, a Congregational minister, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and his mother, Mary (Dowd) Bassett, was also a native of the "Wooden Nutmeg State," and came of one of the old New England families. The father died in 1881 and the mother five years later in Norfolk, Connecticut.
        For forty years Mr. Bassett lived in the state of his birth, and was educated in the public schools, Williston seminary, the seminary of East Hampton, Massachusetts, and one year in Yale. In Norfolk he was engaged for several years in the mercantile business and silk manufacturing, being at the time and is yet secretary and treasurer of the Aetna Silk Company. In 1891 he came to Washington and established the Snohomish National Bank, Snohomish, and the Adams County Bank, which in 1901 was converted into a national bank at Ritzville, of which he is president. He also at this time organized the First National Bank of Waterville, of which he was cashier some months. He is now president of the First National Bank of Ritzville, the Odessa State Bank, the Bank of Lind, the Presser State Bank and the Farmers' Bank at Hatton, Washington. He is treasurer of the Sprague Mercantile Company, Sprague, Washington; president of the Ritzville Library and Improvement Association: and president of the Chamber of Commerce.
        After leaving school in 1879 Mr. Bassett was for eighteen months employed in the banking house of Cowles & Eldridge, in Norfolk, and in 1881 he went to Minnesota, where he studied law with C.M. Start, now a member of the Minnesota supreme court. He was never admitted to practice, however, but went from Minnesota to Kansas, where he remained two months and returned to the state of his birth. Here he became secretary of the Norfolk Shear Company, and on January 1, 1883, he engaged in the general merchandise business with the firm of Clark & Bassett, in which he was extremely prosperous. In 1890 he sold his interest in business to his partner, and spent the following year in organizing banks at Hartington and Ogalala, Nebraska, and at Dunlap, Iowa.
        John D. Bassett has no brothers, but has one sister, Rebecca B., wife of Dr. Plumb-Brown, Springfield, Massachusetts.
        On September 30, 1896, John D. Bassett was married to Alice W. Case, a native of Barkhamstead, Connecticut. Her father also was born in that state. This union has been blessed with three children, Joseph E., Mary D., and Emma S.
        In fraternity circles Mr. Bassett is affiliated with the Wester Star Lodge, No. 37, Norfolk, Connecticut, A.F. and A.M., and both he and his wife are members of the Eastern Star. They are also prominent spirits in the local Congregational church, of which our subject is a deacon.
        Mr. John D. Bassett has been unusually prominent and active in political circles, both in his native state and the state of his adoption. He represented his district in the Connecticut State legislature in 1886=87, and was active in all educational measures and clerk of the temperance committee. He was superintendent of schools and town treasurer for several years; and was registrar of voters for ten years. He has been a Republican all his life, and in addition to the above offices was chairman of the Republican central committee from the eighteenth senatorial district of his native state.

Hon. J.D. Bassett from the Seattle Republican, November 22, 1907
Hon. J.D. Bassett from the Seattle Republican, November 22, 1907

Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, September 16, 1937
J.D. Bassett Dies at Spokane Home

        J.D. Bassett, first banker in Adams county and deputy state auditor for many years, died Tuesday morning at his home in Spokane.
        Mr. Bassett moved to Ritzville in 1899 and remained here until 1909, establishing the first bank in Adams county with Ben Martin, brother of W. H. Martin.
        During his residence here, Mr. Bassett organized 12 banks at various points in the Inland Empire, being the principal stockholder and president of each.
        He formerly lived in Hartington, Neb., and was "Harry" Martin's Sunday school teacher when he was young.
        For the past 17 years, he was state examiner for the division of municipal corporations at Olympia. He had a long legislative record, serving in the Connecticut legislature in 1887 and in Washington, both in the senate and house many sessions.
        Mr. Bassett was born at Central Village, Conn., Jan. 6, 1858. His father, graduate of Yale, was in the ministry of the Congregational church more than a quarter of a century.
        Funeral services will be held tomorrow at Westminister Congregational church in Spokane with services by the Rev. Joel Harper.
        Mr. Bassett is survived by three children, Joseph Bassett of Okanogan; Mrs. Harold Crawford, Walla Walla; and Mrs. Emma Bassett, at home, and four grandchildren.

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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: David Bassett and son Robert N. Bassett of Connecticut

Robert N. Bassett Bassett descends from #1B John Bassett of Connecticut as follows:

John Bassett and wife Margery
Robert Bassett and wife Mary
Robert Bassett (b. 1640) and wife Elizabeth Riggs
Samuel Bassett (b. 1692) and wife Deborah Bennett
Samuel Bassett (b. 1719) and wife Sarah Botsford
David Bassett (b. 1749) and wife Mable Tomlinson
Deacon David Bassett (b. 1789) and wife Maria Fairchild
Robert N. Bassett (b. 1821)

The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1800
By Samuel Orcutt, Ambrose Beardsley
Further Sketches

        David Bassett was born in Derby, 1789, was a blacksmith by trade, and one of the pioneer manufacturers of the town. He leased the privilege of building a dam on Beaver Brook in 1831, and afterwards built his auger factory at this place, now Ansonia. Prior to this, Walter French, at Humphreysville, a local Methodist preacher, made augers, and is believed to have been the first auger make in Connecticut. In 1836 Mr. Bassett at Birmingham manufactured augers in connection with Eleazor Peck, which he carried on very successfully for many years, when he retired, leaving the business in the hands of his son, Robert N. Bassett. Mr. Bassett also established the coal trade in Derby, and many of our citizens will remember how faithfully he served the public with honest coal at $3 a ton. He was one of the substantial, influential, upright men of the town; was its Representative in the Legislature in 1844, deacon in his church (Congregational) for many years, and died full of honors, deeply lamented, at the advanced age of 83 years.
        Robert N. Bassett, his son, has been one of our stirring, public spirited and liberal men, and was very active in pushing forward the Ousatonic dam, besides being largely interested in many popular movements and enterprises of the day. During the Rebellion no man in Derby was more active and patriotic in the right direction than Robert N. Bassett. In the glow of his financial prosperity, the poor will long remember his liberal donation to them in their necessities, He represented Derby in the Legislature in 1863, besides filling many office of trust.

Robert N. Bassett Co. Postcard
Robert N. Bassett Co. Postcard

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Section 5 - Featured Bassett: John Bassett, editor of the Printing World

John Bassett is a descendant of William Bassett of Redruth, Cornwall as follows:

William Bassett (b. 1680) and wife Ann Ripper
William Bassett (b. 1711) and wife Margery Grenfield
Nicholas Bassett (b. 1749) and wife Caroline Waters
John Bassett (b. 1798) and wife Catherine Bealey
Henry Bassett (b. 1836) and wife Eliza Semmens
John Bassett (b. 1863)

Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 7
Obituary

Bassett – On 14th December, 1892, John Bassett, proprietor and editor of the Printing World, aged 29.

Supplement to the Phonetic Journal for ‘7 Jan., 1893
Obituary
Mr. John Bassett

        Mr. John Bassett, editor and proprietor of the London Phonographer, and of the Printing World, died at his residence at Mortlake, on 13th December, after only forty-eight hours’ illness. The deceased gentleman had long suffered from affection of the lungs and heart, the immediate cause of death being hemorrhage. An industrious and able worker, there is reason to fear that he put too great strain on a constitution which was never very hardy. A career of much promise has thus been brought to an early close, Mr. Bassett’s death occurring when he had but just completed his twenty-ninth year. We are indebted to a notice contributed to the Printing Times and Lithographer a few months since by Mr. E. Whitfield Crofts, for the following biographical particulars: - Mr. Bassett came of an old Cornish family, and was born on 12th December, 1863. After leaving school he was apprenticed to Mr. Frederick Rodda, the leading printer in Penzance, with whom he served his time. Mr. Rodda has remarked to the writer that Mr. Bassett was the best apprentice he ever had, intelligent beyond the average, and always thorough and conscientious. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he took the management of an office at Taunton, from whence he determined to go to London, and here he secured a situation in one of the largest printing establishments in the City. At the end of four years he left to undertake the management of a large magazine and jobbing office in Shoe Lane. Though he had only just passed his majority, he was by this time master of every detail of his business, and had acquired a very considerable knowledge of typography in all its branches. Moreover he was graduating as a practical journalist, and was soon engaged in writing on typographical subjects for several French, American, and English papers, including The Inland Printer, Les Archives de l’Imprimerie, and the Effective Advertiser. He eventually became editor of the last named periodical, and filled this post with great efficiency until the latter part of 1890, when he resigned in order to launch the Printing World. The contemplated  undertaking was considered unwise by many of his friends. He had, however, well calculated the difficulties before him, and his enterprise was rewarded in the success of his journal from the outset. To his genial and cheery manner, his tact and thorough-going business qualities, he was doubtless largely indebted for the success which he achieved. He was a very hard worker, and there is little doubt that during the first few months of his new venture he worked too hard, and his health consequently gave way under the strain. Thus for several months the journal was conducted under great difficulties, but even in the most acute stages of his illness the keen interest which he took in the paper was undiminished. His active mind, apparently, did not find sufficient occupation, as editor of a single paper, and in June, 1891, Mr. Bassett, who was a phonographer, projected a new journal, the London Phonographer, which has become very popular with phonographers and typists. He married in 1891, the eldest daughter of the late Mr. Augustus Aubert, of Regent street, W.

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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.

  28B.  John A. Bassett of Virginia into the #77B. Richard Bassett of Mathews County Virginia family
  70B.  Ellen Basset Hiscock into the #208B Bassetts of Burghclere, Hampshire, England
  98B.  Edward Bassett of PEI into the #97B Bassetts of Prince Edward Island
 194B. William Bassett of PEI into the #97B Bassetts of Prince Edward Island
 210B. Charles Bassett of Pittsburgh into the #65B. George Bassett of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania family
 331B. Paul Bassette of North Adams, Massachusertts into the #14B Jean Besset of Quebec family
 443B. William Bassett of Litherland, England into the #96B William Bassett of Massachusetts family

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

   28B.  George Lott Bassett of Warrington, Lancashire, England (b. 1827)
   70B.  William Henry Bassett of Essex, England and Carroll County, Missouri

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Section 7 - DNA project update

Male Bassetts from the following two families have taken advantage of the special December pricing from Family Tree DNA and have joined the Bassett DNA project. Results will be published in future newsletters once the tests are completed.

#206B Charles Bassett of High Halden, Kent

#30B John Eaton Bassett of Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales

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