Christmas card for 1947 Left to right...Robert, Richard, Clark L. Sr., Clark L. Jr., Thomas Bassett
(1) Welcome
(2) Charles Franklin Bassett, Paper Merchant
(3) Edwin Darwin Bassett of Connecticut, Photographs
(4) Henry Bassett and Bassett McNab & Co.
(5) George Washington Bassett and his plantation Clover Lea, of Hanover County, Virginia
(6) Edward Martin Bassett, Merchant of Mathews Courthouse, Virginia
(7) Benjamin Bassett of Chailey, Sussex, England
(8) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(9) DNA project update
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Section 1 - Welcome
I am featuring a Bassett family Christmas card from 1947 in this month's issue. A family in Detroit was going through their old things and came across the enclosed Christmas card. They forwarded to a friend of theirs with the surname Bassett who sent it on to me to identify. The picture was provided by Sandy Bassett, related to the #3B Thomas Bassett of Connecticut line. The Christmas card is for the family of Clark Lodge Bassett.
The following trees were added to the Bassett website database since the last newsletter:
10B. Richard Bassett of Mathews County, Virginia (148 individuals)
22B. Bassetts of Ashwater, Devonshire, England (1,068 individuals)
56B. Jonathan Bassett of New York (615 individuals)
60B. George Bassett of Hatley, Quebec, & Canaan, Vermont (26 individuals)
77B. Richard Bassett of Mathews County, Virginia (240 individuals)
351B. Edwin Bassett of England & Canada (32 individuals)
352B. Alexander R. Bassett of New Jersey (16 individuals)
353B. Richard Bassett of Buckingham & Cheltenham, Gloucester, England (19 individuals)
354B. James Bassett of St. Stephen Launceston, Cornwall, England (37 individuals)
355B. Burrell Bassett of Charles City County, Virginia (19 individuals)
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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: Charles Franklin Bassett, Paper Merchant
Charles Franklin Bassett descends from William Bassett of Plymouth as follows:
William Bassett and wife Elizabeth
William Bassett (b. 1624) and wife Mary Rainsford
William Bassett (b. 1656) and wife Rachel Williston
William Bassett (b. 1681) and wife Abigail Bourne
Nathaniel Bassett (b. 1719) and wife Hannah Hall
Anselm Bassett (b. 1768) and wife Hannah Dymoke
Ephraim Dymoke Bassett (b. 1798) and wife Eunice Ingersoll
Anselm (b. 1825) Bassett and wife Elizabeth Johnson
Charles Franklin Bassett (b. 1862)
The American Stationer and Office Outfitter
December 30, 1916
Obituary
Charles Franklin Bassett
Charles F. Bassett, member of the New York firm of Bassett & Sutphin, paper merchants, of 54 Lafayette street, died December 27 at his home at Summit, N.J., “Fairview”. Death followed an attack of pneumonia which lasted ten days.
Mr. Bassett was born in Lee, Mass., October 9, 1862. After receiving his education in his native town, he came to this city in 1879, and entered the paper business as an employee of the large paper and supply house of H. C. Hurlbert & Co. In 1890 he became a partner in the firm, and in 1893 married Carolyn Hulbert, daughter of H.C. Hurlbert. For a number of years he made his home at 49 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, of which he was in influential citizen.
In 1900 he was attorney in liquidation for H.C. Hurlbert & Co., and at the same time acquired an interest in M. Plummer & Co. As the result of his efforts the two houses were consolidated, and with his brother-in-law, Joseph H. Sutphin, Mr. Bassett formed the new firm of Bassett & Sutphin.
Besides his wife he is survived by one son, Hulbert D. Bassett, now a Harvard student, and a daughter. The funeral services took place at Summit last Friday. Mr. Bassett was vice-president of the East River Savings Institution and a director of the Importers’ and Traders’ National Bank, the Franklin Trust Company, the United States Life Insurance Company, and the Celluloid Company. He was also a member of the New England Society, the New York Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Association, the Union League Club, the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn, the Highland Club of Summit, the Baltrusol Golf Club and the Society of Colonial Wars.
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Section 3 - Featured Bassett: Edward Darwin Bassett and wife, photographs
Edward Darwin 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
John Bassett (b. 1721) and wife Naomi Wooster
Edward Bassett (b. 1751) and wife Damaris Curtis
Edward Darwin Bassett (b. 1819) and wife Harriet Louisa Taylor
The will of Edward Bassett of Oxford, New Haven County, Connecticut, was written 1 Jun 1836 and proven 23 Feb 1841 in New Haven County District Court. Mentioned in Edward's will and the other pertaining documents were his present wife Damaris Bassett; his daughters Phebe Tomlinson, Aleather Lewis, and Hannah Bassett; his sons Darwin Bassett, Samuel Bassett, Elliott Bassett, Andrew Bassett, William Bassett, and Joseph Bassett; his son-in-law William R. Tomlinson; and Edward D. Bassett. Moses Hawkins of Oxford and Hannah Bassett of Oxford his daughter were named as the executors. Land mentioned included the homestead containing ten acres & two pieces of land in Southbury (40 acres & 1 acre).
Harriet Louisa Taylor
Edward Darwin Bassett
Photos from ancestry.com
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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Henry Bassett and Bassett, McNab & Company
Henry Bassett descends from #298B Henry Bassett as follows:
Henry Bassett (b. 1791 in Switzerland) and wife Sarah Keen
Jacob Keen Bassett (b. 1819) and wife Elizabeth Burt
Henry Bassett (b. 1857) and wife Emma Cecilia Shaw
Henry Bassett (b. 1896) and wife Dorothy Foster Morris
Bassett, McNab & Co. Stationary
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PENNSYLVANIA BIOGRAPHY, by Ernest Spofford (1928)
Bassett, Henry - Business man.
Among widely known business men of Philadelphia must be numbered Henry Bassett, president and director of Bassett, McNab Company, Incorporated. Anything that makes for the advancement of Philadelphia finds in Mr. Bassett a warm supporter, and he is a welcome figure in her club circles.
Henry Bassett, was born in Philadelphia, March 29, 1857, son of Jacob Keen and Elizabeth (Burt) Bassett. He received his education in the schools of Philadelphia and Eastern Maryland. He began the business of life as a farm boy on a farm on the Eastern Shore, Maryland, continuing in this work until the age of sixteen. Henry Bassett, his grandfather, emigrated from Philadelphia, going to Mobile, Alabama, where he entered the shipbuilding business on his own account. Jacob Keen Bassett, father of Henry Bassett, went South and started with his father and was there one year when he and his wife died of yellow fever. Henry Bassett was raised by his grandfather, until the age of nine, when he was sent to Philadelphia, where he lived with his uncle, Clement Keen, finally going to Holmesburg, Philadelphia. Here he remained with Henry Weed for two years and later went to Isaac Overdorf, an uncle, in Burlington, New Jersey, for six months and thence to the farm at Longwood, Maryland, where he remained for seven years, finally taking up his residence with Mrs. Benjamin E. Mahan, his sister, in Wilmington, Delaware, where he remained for four years, then returning to Philadelphia. Here he learned the trade of upholstering, and in 1882 came with the present house, then known as Brown, DeTurck and Company, which name was changed later to DeTurk, Bassett & Company, at which time Mr. Bassett became a partner. In 1902 the firm name was changed again to Bassett, McNab & Company, and was incorporated January 1, 1921, as Bassett, McNab Company, Incorporated, with Mr. Bassett as its first president, and office, with that of director, he still holds. A man of action rather than words, he has ever demonstrated his public spirit by actual achievements that have advanced the wealth and prosperity of his city. The upholstery house which he heads, and has largely aided in making one of the largest of its kind in the United States, has offices in Paris, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, the headquarters being, of course, Philadelphia. Its great growth has been chiefly due to the vision, foresight and aggressiveness of Mr. Bassett.
Politically, Mr. Bassett is a Republican, but has never accepted office. Of genial personality, he holds membership in various clubs, among them the Union League and Philadelphia Country, of Philadelphia; the Ocean City Fishing and Ocean City Yacht, of Ocean City, New Jersey, and the Seaview Gold, of Absecon, New Jersey. Fraternally, he is identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 52, Free and Accepted Masons; Oriental Chapter, No. 183, Royal Arch Masons; Mary Commandery, No. 36, Knights Templar, and a member of Lulu Temple. For a number of years Mr. Bassett was a member of Company C, First Regiment, National Guard, Pennsylvania and is now a member of the First Regiment, Veteran Corps.
The personality of Henry Bassett gives assurance of the force of character and vigor of mentality which his career has shown him to possess. Progressiveness is a part of his being, and he keeps step with all that is new, but no man perceives more clearly the dividing line between courage and rashness. His nature is kindly and genial, he makes friends and holds them, and in appearance and manner he is a true type of the broad-gauge business man of Philadelphia.
On November 25, 1890, in Philadelphia, Mr. Bassett married Emma Cecelia Shaw. Mr. and Mrs. Bassett are the parents of a son: Henry Bassett, Jr.; born May 18, 1896, educated at and a graduate of Episcopal Academy, then attended the Wharton School of Finance, of the University of Pennsylvania; now in business with his father, being secretary and director of Bassett, McNab Company, Incorporated; married Dorothy Fisher Morris, and they are the parents of two sons (twins) and a daughter: Henry Bassett, born May 24, 1922; Robert Morris Bassett, born May 24, 1922; and Ann Bassett, born August 30, 1924.
Henry Bassett's career may be summed up in one word - success - the result of his own unaided efforts. Throughout his career he has been animated by the spirit of progress, ever pressing forward and seeking to make the good better and the better best. Happily gifted in manner, disposition and taste, enterprising and original in ideas, personally liked most by those who know him best, and as frank in declaring his principles as he is sincere in maintaining them, his career has been a well-rounded one, and has added a worthy page to the business annals of Philadelphia. Mr. Bassett's portrait appears with this account.
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Section 5 - Featured Bassett: Clover Lea, Hanover County, Virginia, home of George Washington Bassett
George Washington Bassett descends from the #5B William Bassett of Virginia family as follows:
William Bassett (d. 1646) and wife Mary Roper
William Bassett (b. 1640) and wife Bridget Cary
William Bassett (b. 1671) and wife Joanna Burwell
Col. William Bassett (b. 1709) and wife Elizabeth Churchill
Burwell Bassett (b. 1734) and wife Anna Maria Dandridge
John Bassett (b. 1765) and wife Betty Carter Browne
George Washington Bassett (b. 1800) and wife Betty B. Lewis
George Washington Bassett is related to many of the famous colonial families of Virginia. His grandmother, Anna Maria Dandridge, was a sister to Martha Washington, wife of President George Washington. His great aunt Elizabeth Bassett married Benjamin Harrison and was the mother of President William Henry Harrison. And through his mother he was related to the Carter's and Browne's.
Mary Burnet Bassett, a daughter of George Washington Bassett, married Benjamin Harrison Bassett, a son of #59B William Henry Bassett of Louisiana. at Clover Lea. She moved to Texas and other western states where numerous descendants of the family still live.
Historic Virginia homes and churches, By Robert Alexander Lancaster (1915)
The York River Country
Eltham was long the home of the Bassetts, a family whose emigrant ancestor, Captain William Bassett, had served in the Civil War, in England, and in the English garrison at Tangier. He died in 1672 and was succeeded at Eltham by his son, Hon. William Bassett (1672-1723), who was a member of the Council and whose handsome armorial tomb has now been removed to Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. A third William Bassett, who was a member of the House of Burgesses and died in 1744, was in turn succeeded by his son, Burwell Bassett, who was frequently in the House of Burgesses and died in 1793. This Burwell Bassett was first succeeded by his eldest son, another Burwell Bassett (who was for many years a member of Congress), but as he died without issue, the estate was inherited by his younger brother, John Bassett, who removed to “Farmington,” Hanover County, and afterwards built Clover Lea, in the same county, where he died in 1862. Clover Lea was inherited by his son, George Washington Bassett, who has the last of the family to own the property. The house was beautifully wainscoted in black walnut and the stairs are of the same material. The mantels are of carved white marble. This was one of the handsomest houses in Hanover County. Clover Lea still remains, but Eltham was burned in 1876. Fortunately Mr. Herbert A. Claiborne, or Richmond, a descendant of the Bassetts, owns an excellent drawing of Eltham, which he has kindly allowed to be copied.
Clover Lea picture included in the 1915 book above
Clover Lea, December 2012. Picture provided by the present owner, Mrs. Williams.
New York Times, January 18, 1898
Mrs. E.B. Washington Dead.
Was a Descendant of Washington’s Family
Performed Many Daring Acts During the Civil War
Mrs. Ella Bassett Washington, one of the nearest descendants of George Washington’s family, died of pneumonia yesterday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock at her residence in the Parker apartment house, 123 West Thirty-ninth Street, after a protracted illness.
Mrs. Washington was born fifty-nine years ago in Hanover County, Va., and was the daughter of George Washington Bassett and was related to many of the most distinguished families of America, having the blood of Presidents Washington, Taylor, and the two Harrisons in her veins. She was also a great-granddaughter of William Burnet, one of the Colonial Governors of New York and Massachusetts Bay. She married Col. Lewis William Washington of Jefferson County, West Va., who was the son of George Corbin Washington of Maryland.
Mrs. Washington was an early member of the Ladies’ Mount Vernon Association, which secured and has preserved the home and tomb of Washington. She was the possessor of many valuable relics of Gen. Washington. She was a member of the Society of Colonial Dames of Virginia, of the Mary Washington Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution, of New York, and a Trustee of the National Historical Museum. She was well known in literary circles, having contributed to many of the well-known magazines. Some of her poems, notably, “The Song of the Sea” and “The Ruined Castle” have been widely published.
Being a Southerner by birth, and living at her father’s family place in Virginia, near Richmond, she was within the sound of the guns of seventeen battles, and performed many daring deeds in the way of transmitting information, &c., through the lines. Among the most notable of her acts of bravery as the capture of a Federal officer whom she turned over as a prisoner of war. For this she was voted a gold medal by the Confederate Congress.
Funeral services will be held at 3:30 o’clock this afternoon at St. Ignatius’s Church, Fortieth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The burial will take place at Charles Town, Jefferson county, West Virginia.
Grave of George Washington Bassett at Immanuel Episcopal Church, Old Church, Virginia, just a few miles from Clover Lea.
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Section 6 - Featured Bassett: Edward Martin Bassett of Mathews County, Virginia
Edward Martin Bassett was a double Bassett family descendant. I have not figured out where to place John A. Bassett.
Edward descends from #77B William Bassett as follows:
William Bassett and wife Susan
Richard Bassett (b. 1799) and wife Charlotte Gilbert
Sarah Bassett (b. 1830) and husband John A. Bassett
Edward Martin Bassett
The Mathews Journal, May 30, 1907
Charles G. Snead
Dealer in Dry Goods, Groceries and
General Merchandise
Bohannon, Virginia
We have just received a new Spring line of up-to-date goods to which we call the attention of the public and our patrons. We have as good a stock of Dry Goods, Shoes, Clothing,, Hats, Caps, &c, as has ever been in the county, and we want you to come and examine them before going elsewhere. W e have carefully selected the stock, and as we paid cash for everything we bought we got them at a low figure. Therefore we are able to give our customers goods at considerably less than were we dealing with Baltimore merchants on a sixty or ninety-day basis. All we ask is that you call and examine before going elsewhere. The contents of our establishment are new and up-to-date, and we are convinced they will give you satisfaction.
Martin Bassett, Manager
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Section 7 - Featured Bassett: Benjamin Bassett of Chailey, Sussex, England
Benjamin Bassett descends from #249B Thomas Bassett as follows:
Thomas Bassett (m. 1760) and wife Jane Snell
Henry Bassett (b. 1767) and wife Sarah
Henry Bassett (b. 1792) and wife Ann Smith
Benjamin Bassett (b. 1807) and wife Elizabeth
Benjamin Bassett (b. 1838) and wife Fanny Mary Howell
Benjamin and Fanny Mary (Howell) Bassett, about 1870, Chailey, Sussex, England
From Ancestry.com photos
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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.
253B. Norman Bassett of Nottingham, England into the #299B Oliver Bassett of Randwick, Gloucester, England family.
The following family lines have been added since the last newsletter.
253B. Julius Bassett of Kent, Ontario, Canada
486B. Benjamin Bassett of South Africa
487B. Thomas James Bassett of London, England (b. 1814)
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Section 9 - DNA project update:
No updates for the DNA project this month.
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.
