| Notes |
- Fifth Congressional District
Thomas J. Bassett
Thomas J. Bassett, A.M., of Asbury University, Greencastle, was born August 9, 1848, near Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York. He is the sone of Ira Norton Bassett and Betsey Ann Bassett, whose maiden name was Babcock. His
His opportunities for early education were extremely limited. When but six years of age, his parents moved from New York to the then wilds of Wisconsin, settling in Brotherton, Calumet County. When a mere boy he was compelled to do hard work upon a new farm, as his parents were farmers of small means. He attended school for a few years in the winter time, and worked upon the farm in summer. His progress in his books was very rapid. At the age of twenty, he left home and taught school for one term, and then engaged for a time as raftsman upon the Mississippi. In the fall of 1869, he went to his old home Western New York, where he attended during one term the Rushville union school, taking three of the four cash prizes offered. One was for oratory, one was for general excellence in all studies, and one was for spelling. In the spring he again came West, but with a determination to obtain an education at whatever sacrifice. During the summer he worked on a farm near Hillsboro, Illinois, and in the fall of 1870 entered the junior preparatory class of Indiana Asbury University. He completed the six years' course in five years, and took the classical honor of the class, numbering thirty-five members. Moreover, he literally worked his way through, earning all of the money required during the first two years by sawing wood, gardening, etc., working every day while others studied, and studying while they slept. Afterward he canvassed for books, and gave lessons in Latin and Greek. Upon graduating, in the class of 1875, he was immediately elected instructor of Latin and Greek in the preparatory department, Indiana Asbury University, where he remained at least five years. In October of 1871 he united with the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in Asbury. In 1876 he became a member of Greencastle Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. In April of 1879 he united with the Knights of Honor. During his junior and senior years he was one of the editors of the Asbury Review, a paper published by the literary societies of Asbury, which achieved a considerable reputation during those years, but was afterward discontinued. In the fall of 1878 he began the publication of the Asbury Monthly, a magazine of about fifty pages, devoted to the interests of Indiana Asbury University, and to education and literature. During its first volume it assumed a high rank among college journals. During the summer vacation of 1879, he attended Doctor L. Sauveur's summer school of languages at Amherst, Massachusetts, and during the summer of 1880 taught Latin and Greek in a summer normal of languages at Grinnell, Iowa. He and his wife are both Methodists. In politics he is a Republican. He was married, September 14, 1874, to Miss Anna E. Ridpath, daughter of Abraham Ridpath, and sister of Professor J.C. Ridpath, of Asbury University, and they have a family of three children.
|
Bassett Family Association Database
1848 - 1922 (74 years)
[1]