Bassett Family Association Database

Frank Houston Bassett, Jr.

Male 1906 - 1985  (78 years)


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  • Name Frank Houston Bassett 
    Suffix Jr. 
    Born 15 Aug 1906  Hopkinsville, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID 9960F127EC26D84491B151907728BCE6A3A6 
    Died Apr 1985  Hopkinsville, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Riverside Cemetery Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Frank Houston Bassett Jr. was an officer in Radford-Bassett Motor Co., and the Bassett Coal Co., and auditor and public accountant, Deputy Marshall District Court for Balboa, the Canal Zone. He was a graduate of Branham & Hughes Military Academy; a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives (1944-1946); served in the Kentucky State Senate (1958-1960); and was the Majority Leader of the Senate in 1958.

      Frank H. Bassett
      History of Kentucky Volume V
      1922
      Frank H. Bassett, M.D. From the earliest period of statehood to the present the Bassett family has been a prominent one in the western counties of Kentucky. Several of the name have lived in Hopkinsville, which is the home of Dr. Frank H. Bassett, formerly a merchant of that city, in later years a practicing physician, and now the vigorous and capable mayor of the city.
      Doctor Bassett, was born at Stephensport, Kentucky, November 1, 1872. His paternal ancestors were Welsh and Colonial Americans. His grandfather, Jeremiah Vardeman Bassett, was born in 1797 at Cynthiana, Kentucky, this date establishing the fact that the family's settlement in Kentucky was some years before the close of the eighteenth century. Grandfather Bassett was a saddler by trade, spent most of his active life at Cynthiana, but finally moved out to Northwest Missouri and died at Plattsburg in 1887. His wife, Tryphenia Wellesley Birch also died at Plattsburg, in 1889.
      James H. Bassett, father of Doctor Bassett, was born in Cynthiana in 1828. He spent his early life in his native town, and after his marriage in Breckinridge County lived on his farm there for a number of years. He was a graduate of Transylvania College at Lexington, and on leaving college went to work in the Louisville post office and some years later, in 1877, he returned to Louisville and again resumed work in the post office. That was his business connection until 1890, when he was appointed postmaster of Parkland, now part of the City of Louisville. He held that post of responsibility four years, and then removed to a farm in Grayson County, and was active in the agricultural affairs of that vicinity until his death, which occurred near Litchfield in 1914. He was a staunch Democrat of the old school. James H. Bassett married Georgia Houston, who was born in Washington, D.C., in 1832 and died at Litchfield in Grayson County, Kentucky, in 1904. She was closely related to the same family that produced Sam Houston, a governor of Texas. Her mother, Mary (Frank) Houston, was the State of Georgia's official flower girl delegated to strew flowers in front of General Lafayette on his second visit to the United States in 1825. Mary S. Bassett, oldest of the children of James H. Bassett and wife, is a resident of Litchfield, Kentucky, and is the widow of John H. Kenny, who was a dentist practicing at Paducah for many years and who died in 1896. Julia B. Bassett, the next in the family, lives at Louisville and is the widow of Carroll C. Chick, who was owner and operator of a flour mill at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Georgia B. Bassett lives at Birmingham, Alabama, widow of Samuel R. Dent, who for many years was engaged in merchandising at Litchfield, Kentucky. Robert J. Bassett is president of the Grayson County State Bank at Litchfield. James H. Bassett, Jr., who was born in 1863, had only one business association in all his active life, spending thirty-three years with the Hegan Mantle Company, and while traveling representative of that house he was killed, being hit by an automobile, and he died at Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1913. Edmund Ruffin Bassett, who was a retired banker when he died at Louisville in 1918, a victim of the influenza, was named for Edmund Ruffin, the Confederate soldier who fired the first shot at Fort Sumter at the beginning of the Civil war. The seventh of the Bassett children is Col. Erskine B. Bassett, the oldest merchant of Hopkinsville in point of continuous service, and who was an active member of the Kentucky State Bar from 1884 until he was mustered into the National Army at the beginning of the World war, and was colonel of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Infantry in France. Florence B. Bassett, who died at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1903, was the wife of J.Y. Johnson, who now lives in St. Louis, Missouri, being a civil engineer with the St. Louis Street Railway Company.
      Frank H. Bassett was the tenth and youngest of this notable family. He spent most of his boyhood in Louisville, attending the Sacred Heart parochial school and graduating from St. Xavier's College in Louisville in 1887. For four years he was employed in the dry goods department of Colonel Bassett's store, and from 1891 was employed for two years by J.M. Robinson & Company at Louisville. In 1893, returning to Hopkinsville, he resumed work in his brother's dry goods business until 1898. and following that was an associate member of the hardware firm of Thompson & Bassett until 1905, when he sold out and used his means to carry out along the cherished purpose of becoming a physician. He entered the medical depatment of the University of Nashville, and received his M.D. degree in 1910. For one year he practiced as an interne in the Tennessee Hospital of Nashville, and then carried on a general practice at Hopklnsville six years. Since then his work has been largely as a specialist in anesthesia and as medical examiner for various insurance companies. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical associations.
      Doctor Bassett has always been a staunch Democrat, but his political work has been entirely confined to the government of his home city. When Hopkinsville was given a new charter under the commission form of government he was one of the first city commissioners elected in 1915, beginning his duties in 1916. In that year he announced his intention of becoming a candidate for mayor in November, 1917, two years away, and when his name was presented as candidate for that office there was no opposition and he entered upon his career as mayor in January, 1918, and during the past two years has done much to dignify the office in the eyes of citizens and has given an administration of municipal affairs efficient and competent in every respect.
      Doctor Bassett is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a past exalted ruler of Hopkinsville Lodge No. 545 of the Elks. He has been duly prospered in his business and professional career, and is owner of four business houses and several dwellings in Hopkinsville, his own home at 145 Alumni Avenue being one of the best residences in Western Kentucky.
      On February 23, 1898, at Hopkinsville, Doctor Bassett married Miss Mamie Elizabeth Thompson. Her father, the late Charles A. Thompson, was one of the early hardware merchants of Hopkinsville. Mrs. Bassett finished her education in the Mary Sharp College of Winchester, Tennessee. To their union were born three children: Charles Thompson, who died at the age of sixteen; Florence Marshall, born November 1, 1902, now a student in an eastern college, and Frank H. Jr., who was born August 15, 1906.
    Person ID I1283  8B John Bassett of Hunterdon County, New Jersey
    Last Modified 10 Jun 2012 

    Father Doctor Frank Houston Bassett, Sr.,   b. 1 Nov 1873, Stephensport, Breckinridge County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Aug 1950, Hopkinsville, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 76 years) 
    Mother Mamie Elizabeth Thompson 
    Married 23 Feb 1898 
    Family ID F349  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Living 
    Children 
    +1. Doctor Frank Houston Bassett, III,   b. 19 Nov 1928, Hopkinsville, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 6 Mar 2007, Durham, Durham County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 78 years)
    +2. Elizabeth June Bassett,   b. 14 Jul 1933, Hopkinsville, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 7 Sep 2019  (Age 86 years)
    Family ID F442  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart