| Notes |
- Biographical Review, Otsego County, New York (1893)
Mrs. Mary Augusta Bassett, M.D., who was pioneer woman physician of
this part of the country, was born in Albany, N.Y., March 28, 1825. Her
father, Captain William Ostrander, was also born in that city, and was for
many years in active business there. His father, Adam Ostrander, was also a
native of Albany, was of Holland ancestry, and was a soldier in the
Revolutionary War. He died at the advanced age of ninety-five years. Captain
William Ostrander, father of Mrs. Bassett, was the proprietor of the sloop
"Eclipse", the fastest sailing-vessel on the Hudson River at that time. He
commanded this and another vessel on the Hudson for many years, and died at
Albany in 1838. He was a man of uncommon energy and enterprise, and was
recognized by all as one of the leading business men of Albany. The maiden
name of his wife, the mother of Mrs. Bassett, was Harriet Gregory. She was
born in Norwalk, Conn., and was the daughter of Samuel Gregory, a native of
Connecticut, but of English ancestry. He owned and operated boats for many
years on Long Island Sound, and later moved to the State of New York, spending
his last years in New Berlin, dying at ninety years of age, in full possession
of his mental faculties. The mother of Mrs. Bassett died on board the
"Eclipse" in 1832, of cholera. Three of her children were reared to maturity.
The father of Mrs. Bassett had one child by a former marriag
At the time of her father's death Mrs. Bassett was fourteen years old,
and she then went to live with an uncle, Hiram White, Esq., of Garrattsville,
Otsego County, residing in his family until her marriage, at the age of twenty
years. Previous to this time she had given some attention to the stu
medicine, but not with the intention of following it as a profession. In 1865,
however, she attended a course of lectures at the Philadelphia Female College,
and in the following spring graduated at the New England Female College at
Boston. She took a third course in the city of New York, and from that time
until her death was engaged in active practice. She began practice when there
was a strong prejudice against women physicians, and during her practice she
was the means of breaking down that prejudice to a considerable degree and of
opening the way for others of her sex. Her skill as a physician was soon
recognized, and she practiced in every town in Otsego County, sometimes
driving as many as forty miles a day. She aided her husband in many way
being a cool and efficient assistant in surgical operations. She was ve
diligent in the acquisition of professional knowledge and was eminently
successful in her practice. From 1871 until her death, she practice
gratuitously in the Orphan Asylum at Cooperstown, as did her husband during
the same time, and also since her death. Her experience and her success are
among the many evidences of what can be done in the profession of medicine by
women, if they set themselves resolutely to work; and as their success becomes
more evident to the world, more of them will doubtless become practitioners.
Mrs. Bassett died February 26, 1893, and was sincerely mourned by a
large circle of friends as well as by immediate family. She was in every
respect a most worthy woman, a loving wife and mother, kind-hearted and
sympathetic in all cases of trouble or distress. She was well educated, not
only in her profession but also in general literature, and was accomplished
and cultured much beyond the ordinary degree. Her loss even to general society
cannot be filled, to say nothing of her immediate family circle and closer
friends.
Mrs. Bassett was in fact for many years, and up to her death, one of
the leading woman physicians of the State of New York, as well as having been
the pioneer woman physician of Otsego County. There can be no doubt that a
portrait of this superior and most excellent woman will be acceptable to all
who loved her in life, and to all who cherish her memory.
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Bassett Family Association Database
Abt 1821 - Abt 1893 (72 years)
d. Abt 24 Feb 1900, Cooperstown, New York