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- THE STORY OF IOWA, THE PROGRESS OF AN AMERICAN STATE
Family and Personal History, Volume IV
LAWRENCE ROBERT BASSETT - Executive cashier and major stockholder in
the Nevada National Bank at Nevada, seat of Story County, Lawrence Robe
Bassett ranks high among the bankers of the region. He is a leader in
community activities, public and religious. Formerly a banker at Odebolt, in
Sac County, Mr. Bassett was prominent in the activities of that municipality.
Born at Larned, Kansas, on December 10, 1882, Lawrence Robert Bassett
is the son of Norton Henry and Minerva (Johnson) Bassett. His father was a
merchant. The banker was educated in the rural schools near his Larned home
and in the Wichita Business College at Wichita, Kansas. When he was only
fifteen years old Mr. Bassett began learning the carpenter's trade and also
assisted his father in the operation of a mercantile business in Larned. In
1901, Lawrence Bassett purchased a 160-acre farm which he worked in his spare
time.
Mr. Bassett entered the banking business in 1904, when, at the age of
twenty-one, he became assistant cashier of the Cleo Springs Bank at Cleo
Springs, Oklahoma. Five years later, however, he left the bank to devote
himself full-time to the farm he had bought eight years before. He
concentrated on the farm until 1912, when he sold it and moved to Odebolt,
Iowa. There, upon the recommendation of his former superior, the cashier of
the Cleo Springs Bank, he was appointed cashier of the First National Bank of
Odebolt. He has been in the banking world continuously since that time. In
1912, also, he helped organize the First National Bank of Odebolt at Odebolt,
and during 1915-1918 was assistant cashier, and during 1918-1933, cashier of
this institution.
In 1932, Mr. Bassett left Odebolt and established himself in Nevada,
where he took the leadership in the organization of the Nevada National Bank,
now one of the strongest banks in Story County. He has been executive cashier,
major stockholder and member of the board of directors since the founding day.
The president of the bank is Herbert Erwin Hadley, the prominent attorney of
Nevada and former city and county and Federal official, the story of whose
life and career appears on other pages of this Iowa history. Back in 1917,
when he was still at Odebolt, Mr. Bassett became a member of its school board.
Also he was town clerk of Odebolt for ten years.
In Nevada, Mr. Bassett is treasurer of the Methodist Church and past
president and treasurer of the Rotary Club. He is also a member of the Nevada
School Board and is active in the Nevada Lodge of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons. Gardening is his hobby, while golf is his favorite sport.
On June 1, 1911, at Enid, Oklahoma, Mr. Bassett married Margaret
Helmick, the daughter of Michael and Mary Helmick. Two children have been born
to the marriage: Constance Roberta, now Mrs. R. G. Rector and mother of Robert
Rector; and Carol, now Mrs. Patrick Donovan. Mrs. Rector's husband is a major
in the United States Air Force and is stationed at Omaha, Texas. Mrs.
Donovan's husband is a merchant in Des Moines. Mr. and Mrs. Donovan have no
children.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1882 - Deceased