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- Topeka Weekly Capital, Kansas, Tuesday, July 21, 1896
Judge Bassett Dead
Funeral Will Be Held in Lawrence Today by the Masons
Special to the Capital
Lawrence, Kan., July 20. ? The funeral of Judge Owen A. Bassett, whose death occurred at Ellsworth, yesterday at noon, will take place in Lawrence tomorrow afternoon at 4 o?clock on the arrival of the remains from Ellsworth.
Judge Bassett?s old home was in this city and he lived here for many years, which is the reason the interment is in this city. The funeral will be in charge of the Kansas Grand Lodge of Masons, and the Grand Lodge will be convened in Ellsworth tomorrow morning, take charge of the remains and escort them in state to Lawrence, where they will be buried by the grand lodge. All the Masonic bodies of the city, the local G.A.R. posts, and the bar association will meet as organizations to attend the funeral.
Topeka Weekly Capital, Kansas, Friday, July 24, 1896
Judge Bassett Buried
Laid to Rest in Oak Hill Cemetery at Lawrence ? Masonic Rites
Special to the Capital
Lawrence, Kan., July 21.- The funeral of Judge Owen A. Bassett that took palce on the arrival of the remains from Ellsworth this afternoon, was one of the largest attended that has been held in this city for a long time. The entire Masonic fraternity and kindred organizations turned out in bodies to take part, as well as the members of the local bar association. The services were conducted at the train and at Oak Hill cemetery by the Kansas grand lodge of Masons, most of the grand lodge officers being here for the occasion. There was a very large turn-out of the older residents of the city, to pay their respects to one of the old-time resident of Lawrence.
1880 Federal Census of 2nd Ward, Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas
Owen A. Bassett 45 M PA NY RI Head Lawyer
Josephine E. 42 F MD EN EN Wife Keeping House
May V. 13 F KS PA MD Daughter Student
Thomas B. 9 M KS PA MD Son At school
Frederick L. 7 M KS PA MD Son At school
Josephine E. 4 F KS PA MD Daughter At home
Mary A. Barnwell 15 F IL IR IR Other Servant
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY KANSAS VOLUME (1879)
Judge Owen Abbott Bassett - Lawrence
Owen A. Bassett, son of Samuel Kellogg and Jane Augusta Bassett, was
born at Troy, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 1834, the second of a
family of six, viz: Jane Augusta, Owen Abbott, Samuel Bradford, Mary
Josephine, Leonard Jarvis, and Charles Francis, all now living but the third
named who died in 1869, then a first lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry Unit
States Army.
His father, Samuel Kellogg, son of John and Clarissa Bassett, was born
at Spencer, New York, in 1805; was by trade a wheelwright, the inventor of
several useful machines, one being a steam plow, and died in 1878. His mother,
Jane Augusta, daughter of Daniel and Sarah Bradford, was born at Bristo
Rhode Island, in 1810, the sixth descendant of Governor Bradford, and is now
living. His parents were married in Smithfield, Pennsylvania in 183
His grandfather, John Bassett, was born at Coventry, Rhode Island, in
1770, was by trade a wheelwright, and died in 1842. His grandmother, Clarissa,
daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Rogers) Kellogg was born at Poultney, Vermont,
in 1782, and is now living. His grandfather, Daniel, son of Daniel and Susann
(Jarvis) Bradford, was born at Attleborough, Massachusetts, in 1778; was by
profession a lawyer, and died in 1821. His grandmother, Sarah, daughter of
Joseph and Sarah (Cox) Reynolds, was born at Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1782,
and died in 1833.
On November 19, 1857, at New London, Iowa, he married Miss Josephine
Eliza Butland, only child of Richard and Mary Butland, who was born at
Baltimore, Maryland, on November 27, 1835, and educated at Denmark Academy,
Iowa. Her father, Richard, son of Richard and Eliza Butland, was born at
London, England, in 1800; was a professor of languages. Her mother, Mar
daughter of Sampson and Mary (Gillard) Crocker, was born in Devonshire county,
England, in 1819, and is now living. Her parents were married at Baltimore,
Maryland, in 1834.
His wife, Josephine Eliza, has borne to him five children, all born at
Lawrence, Kansas, viz: Anna Gertrude, September 4, 1858; Mary Viele, August 2,
1866; Thomas Butland, October 21, 1870; Frederick Leonard, May 19, 1873; and
Josephine Edson, September 28, 1875- all now living except the first named
who died January 10, 1860. Her mother removed from Baltimore to Jacksonville,
Illinois, in 1838, thence to Henry county, Iowa, in 1840, and to Lee county,
Iowa, in 1844. She was confirmed and united with the Protestant Episcop
church at Lawrence, Kansas, in 1868. Her mother was re-married to Philo G.
Fox, and now resides in California.
His father removed with his family from Pennsylvania to Hancock
county, Illinois, in 1837, thence to Lee county, Iowa, in 1839, residing first
at Fort Madison, and afterward at Denmark. He received the rudiments of an
education at a school taught by his mother for the purpose of educating her
own children, and afterward pursued his studies at Denmark Academy, Iow
where he completed the academic course. After leaving the academy he pursued
his studies with a view to qualifying himself for a civil engineer, and soon
afterward entered upon the study of the law, to qualify himself for the bar.
At the age of sixteen he was engaged for five months in teaching one
of the public schools at Fort Madison, Iowa. (with an average attendance of
over ninety pupils,) which he conducted successfully. In 1855 he was employed
in a subordinate position in the United States land office at Fort Des Moines,
Iowa, but having been educated a Whig, and refusing to support the Democratic
administration of Mr. Pierce, he did no long remain. Soon afterward he formed
a partnership with Stillman H. Blood and George C. Brackett, to enga
business in the new Territory of Kansas, and in the spring of 1856 started
with Mr. Brackett for that Territory, their objective point being Lecompton,
the territorial capital.
On arriving at Leavenworth via the Missouri river April 5, 1856, he
first realized the true political situation by being called up at midnight by
a mob intent on learning who he was, whence he came, and what was his purpose.
At first he demurred to this public demonstration at so unseasonable an hour,
but finally yielded to the importunate invitation conveyed by the mayor and
marshall in person, and responded to the clamorous call from the steps of the
Leavenworth Hotel, thanking those assembled for their hearty welcome, assuring
them that as a private citizen, coming among them a stranger, he had not
anticipated such a reception, and in this manner disarmed the
Soon after his arrival at Lecompton occurred the wounding of Sheriff
Jones at Lawrence, while engaged in making arrests of certain free-state men,
and having given free expression to his opinions and made some effort to
secure the release of the prisoners, he was "spotted," and in the evening was,
while on the street, surrounded by a mob from which he was rescued by General
Joseph C. Anderson, representative in the Kansas Legislature and formerly from
Lexington, Missouri, who declared that Bassett was a gentleman and his friend,
that they had drank together, but, adopting his friend Anderson's advice, he
went to Lawrence the next day, and concluded to devote his attention
thenceforth to the free-state cause in Kansas.
A congressional committee was then engaged in an investigation of the
political troubles in Kansas, and he attended its sessions as a reporter for
the press. While so engaged at Leavenworth it was definitely understood that
an attack was to be made on Lawrence by the border ruffians, and that the town
would be defended. With zeal for the cause in which he enlisted he proceeded
alone and on foot to Lawrence, two days before the attack, for the purpose of
assisting in the defense, but those in authority decided to submit and
Lawrence was delivered over to the enemy to be pillaged, burned and humbled.
The sack of Lawrence on May 21, 1856, would not have been had the counsels of
her young men prevailed.
After the sack of Lawrence, in company with Mr. Brackett, he went to
Leavenworth, and, at the request of parties interested, they underto
escort ex-Governor Reeder out of the Territory. The Governor had come to
Kansas as a witness before the investigating committee, and being threatened
with arrest under a bogus indictment, demanded the protection of the
committee, and being refused it was necessary for an immediate departur
Accordingly the Governor was taken up at a wood yard, incognito, as a wood-
chopper, by a steamboat, and with his escort landed at another wood-yard below
St. Charles on the Missouri river, going thence across the country to t
Mississippi, he was safely landed on the Illinois shore, rejoicing that he had
escaped the vengeance of a border-ruffian mob.
He again returned to Kansas by what was termed the "overland route"
through Iowa and Nebraska, and reached Ropka on July 4, 1856, in time to
witness the dispersal of the Topeka Legislature by federal bayonets, instead
of being permitted to stand with the free-state men in their defense of the
right. On August 12, 1856, he joined the "Stubbs," a military company at
Lawrence, and that night was in the battle, so called, at Franklin, where a
six-pounder brass field piece and some small arms were captured. He was also
at the taking of Fort Saunders, August 15, a bloodless victory, and at the
capture of Colonel Titus and party, August 16. From this time he was constantly
engaged in the service of the free-state army of Kansas, holding the important
positions of engineer and quartermaster.
In December, 1856, he removed to Leavenworth county, and engaged as
engineer of the Quindaro Town Company. In the fall of 1857 he was elected to
the Territorial Legislature and served in the special session of 1857, and in
the regular session of 1858. He was the youngest member of that body, but none
served more faithfully or labored more diligently. In his canvass he pledged
himself to work for the repeal of every general law enacted by the bogus
Legislature, and introduced a bill at an early day for that purpose, and at
the close of the session the bogus laws were publicly burned on Massachusetts
Street, in the city of Lawrence, and Kansas was proclaimed a free Territory
for all mankind. This was substantially the close of the struggle for dominion
between freedom and slavery in Kansas.
In the spring of 1858 he removed to Franklin county, and for a time
edited and published a newspaper, the "Kansas Statesman." This was a temporary
enterprise and soon abandoned, when he returned again to Lawrence in July,
1858, where his home has ever since been.
In October, 1858, he was admitted to the bar of Douglas county, and at
once entered upon the practice of the law, his chosen profession. From this
time he was an adherent of the conservative, or anti-Lane party, in politics,
and, although not an active politician, was always out-spoken and positive in
his convictions and expressions of opinion. In 1860 he was engaged as counsel
for the heirs of Gaius Jenkins, on the re-hearing of the Lane and Jenki
contested land case, involving the title to one hundred and sixty acres of
land near the city of Lawrence.
At the breaking out of the war, in 1861, he tendered his services to
the Governor, and rendered some assistance in organizing the first Kans
regiments, and early in August undertook the hazardous enterprise of
traversing the enemies' country as a bearer of dispatches from Colonel Weer at
Fort Scott, to General Lyon at Springfield, Missouri, but before reaching the
latter place he learned the result of the battle of Wilson's Creek, and
overtook the retreating Union forces at Rolla, where he delivered his
despatches to Major Sturgis, then in command. He returned to Kansas via St.
Louis, and soon afterward received the appointment of first lieutenant under
Colonel Root, who was authorized to raise a regiment of cavalry, and at the
organization of Colonel Davis' regiment in November, 1861, then known as the
96h Regiment of Kansas Cavalry, he was commissioned lieutenant-colone
In the spring of 1862, under a general order from the Governor, the
several skeleton regiments were re-organized, the 9th, Colonel Davis, w
consolidated with the 2nd, Colonel Mitchell, under command of the latter. Soon
afterward Colonel Mitchell was commissioned a brigadier-general of Volunteers,
and by order of the Secretary of War, W.F. Cloud was appointed to succeed to
the command, notwithstanding the Governor's commission to Colonel Bassett.
This was one of the petty usurpations at the behest of a politician which the
War Department was constantly indulging in, and the result in this case was
that the lawful successor to the colonelcy of the 2nd Kansas Cavalry, carried
his colonel's commission for three years in his pocket, appealing in vain for
a just recognition of his claims. The act of Congress expressly vested the
appointment in the Governor, but the law was disregarded and justice failed.
Notwithstanding this he rode at the head of his regiment and commanded
it in every important action in which it was engaged. At Fort Wayne, in the
Indian Territory, October 22, 1862, with his regiment unsupported and in the
face of vastly superior numbers, he captured a four-gun battery. At Cane Hill,
Van Buren, Reeds Mountain, Prarie Grove, and the Fourche he led the advance,
and at Prairie de Anne, then commanding a cavalry brigade, he covered t
retreat of the 7th Army Corps to Camden. With a well-drilled and thoroughly
disciplined regiment, he was almost without exception assigned to the first
post of honor, the front in the advance and the rear in the retreat. During
the winter of 1863-4, he commanded a brigade at Waldron, Arkansas, a
General Steele's Camden expedition he commanded a cavalry brigade, and from
May, 1864, until he left the service in January, 1865, he was chief of staff
for the frontier division at Fort Smith, Arkansas.
While in the army he made himself familiar with the details of the
service in all its branches, and he became, as it were, authority upon all
matters in the division in which he served, excepting in the medical
department, concerning which at all times he disclaimed having any knowledge,
although conversant with the regulations for its government. This service gave
opportunity for, and brought out, his special characteristic - that of
endeavoring to ascertain the reason for the existence of a fact, and never
leaving the subject half learned. Near the close of the war General Steele, at
Little Rock, commanding the Department and 7th Army Corps, offered him the
position of chief of staff, but this was declined for the reason that he
believed he could be of more service to the country, and especially to his own
regiment, by accepting the same position on the staff of General Thayer, at
Fort Smith, commanding the district and frontier divisions, which had been
offered to him and which he was strongly urged to accept.
At the close of the war he returned again to Lawrence, and engaged in
the business of prosecuting claims against the Government, growing out of the
war, and in 1868, after a sharp contest was nominated by the Republican party
and elected to the office of district judge. He entered upon the duties of
this office in January, 1869, and served with such credit, and so much to the
satisfaction of the people, that he was re-elected in 1872 with little
opposition. In 1876 he declined to run for a third term, although strongly
solicited, and though it was generally conceded that he could be successful as
a candidate, he chose rather to resume the practice of his profession, and is
now engaged in his chosen work. As a judicial officer he maintained an
enviable reputation for integrity and impartiality, and ranked high among the
judicial officers of the State, and at the organization of the State Judicial
Association, in January, 1876, he was chosen as its first presiding officer.
He was made a Mason in Belle Point Lodge No. 10, Fort Smith, Arkansas,
in December, 1864. He assisted in the organization as junior warden, of Acacia
Lodge No. 9, Kansas, in January, 1867, and served as master of that lodge in
1870. In 1867 he was appointed by the grand master one of the custodians of
the work, and in 1868 was elected by the Grand Lodge of Kansas to the office
of custodian of the work for six years, and was appointed grand lecturer. In
1873 he was elected grand master of Masons for Kansas, and was re-elected in
1874.
He was exalted to the degree of royal arch Mason in Bellyue Chapter
No. 8, Fort Smith, Arkansas, in January, 1865. He organized Lawrence Chapter
No. 4, in 1866, and presided as high priest therein three years. He assisted
in the organization of the Grand Chapter of Kansas in 1866, and was its first
grand marshal. He was appointed also to the office of grand lecturer, which he
held three years. He was elected deputy grand high priest in 1868, and grand
high priest in 1869, and re-elected in 1870 and 1871.
He passed the circle in Leavenworth Council No. 1, in August, 1866. He
organized Lawrence Council No. 4, in 1867, and presided as thrice illustrious
master therein two years. He assisted in the organization of the Grand Council
of Kansas in 1867 and was elected grand conductor of the work, and in 1878
most illustrious grand master.
He was created a Knight Templar in Leavenworth Commandery No. 1, in
February, 1868. He organized DeMolay Commandery No. 4, at Lawrence, Kansas, in
March, 1868, and presided as eminent commander therein five years. He assisted
in the organization of the grand commandery of Kansas in 1868, and was its
first grand captain-general. He was elected grand generalissimo in 1869,
deputy grand commander in 1874, and grand commander in 1877. He is a prominent
member of the society of Free Masons, having a reputation extending beyond the
limits of the jurisdiction in which he lives.
A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, by William E. Connelley
Owen A. Bassett (1918)
Owen A. Bassett was one of the ablest and most energetic actors in the
Border troubles, the Civil war and the civil affairs of the Reconstruction
period. A Pennsylvanian by birth, his father moved to Illinois in 1837 and two
years later to Iowa. The family home was first in Lee County. The son's
original intention was to be a civil engineer, but he finally decided in favor
of the law, although the stirring and compelling affairs which entered his
life prevented him for many years from utilizing the legal training which he
acquired. In 1855 he was employed in the United States land office at Fort Des
Moines, Iowa, but in the spring of 1856 resigned to engage in busine
Lecompton. Soon afterward he entered heartily into the free-state cause,
joined the military company known as the Lawrence Stubbs, and was engaged both
in the battle of Franklin and the capture of Fort Saunders. Subsequently he
held the positions of engineer and quartermaster with the free-state army of
Kansas, and in December, 1856, moved to Leavenworth. There he engaged as
engineer for the Quindaro Town Company, and in 1857 and 1858 served in the
Territorial Legislature. In the latter year he moved to Franklin County,
published the Kansas Freeman a few months, returned to Lawrence and was
admitted to the bar. At the outbreak of the Civil war he assisted in the
organization of the First Kansas Infantry, but later was commissioned
lieutenant colonel of the Ninth Kansas, which later became the Second Cavalry,
and with which he served until 1865. Colonel Bassett was elected distri
judge in 1868 and, by re-election, held that office until 1876. He was a
prominent Mason and died at Ellsworth, July 19, 1896.
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