Bassett Family Association Database

Donald M. Bassett

Male 1888 - 1973  (85 years)


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  • Name Donald M. Bassett 
    Born 17 Jul 1888  Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID D28BBD49FFFA284B864683146EDAF42F9D22 
    Died Dec 1973  [1
    Notes 
    • From the World War I Draft Registration of Donald M. Bassett he was in Maricopa County, Phoenix, Arizona, on June 5, 1917, working as an electrician for the Arizona Eastern Railroad. His birthplace is given as Dunbar, Pennsylvania. He served four years in the United States Navy as First Electrician, his address was 1004 North Second, Phoenix, Arizona.
      From Phoenix, Arizona it is presumed that he moved to Oklahoma to drill oil wells for his brother, Arthur M. Bassett.

      All of the Bassett family, Donald, Josephine and Arthur graduated from Perkiomen Seminary in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. Ada Bassett worked there as a matron after her husband died. Many of the Potter and Spatz families graduated and also taught there.

      Sometime during the 1930's, Arthur Bassett and Dorothy Brodie divorced. Arthur moved with his children, Ada and Charles, and for some time these two children lived with their uncle Donald Bassett in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. Later on these children returned to Texas to live with their mother. When Arthur Bassett remarried Allie they lived in Tyler, Smith County, Texas.

      Berks County Democrat
      Volume 60, Number 8
      September 16, 1916
      Mr. and Mrs. Bassett Off On Honeymoon
      The wedding ceremony took place under locust boughs, at Earlville, Saturday. At Locust Grove Cottage, at Earlville, on Saturday afternoon, under the shade of huge locust boughs, Reverend A.M. Webee, pastor of St. Johns Lutheran Church, Boyertown, united in marriage Miss Flora Spatz, eldest daughter of Charles B. Spatz and wife, of Boyertown, and Donald M. Bassett, of Phoenix, Arizona.
      Mr. and Mrs. Bassett are now enjoying their honeymoon at Great Lakes, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls. After the honeymoon they will locate at Phoenix, Arizona, where Mr. Bassett is an electrical engineer, employed by the Pacific Railroad Company.
      Mrs. Bassett is an accomplished musician and until recently was engaged in teaching in Herbert Green's Studio, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. She also taught singing at Perkiomen Seminary one term.
      Mr. Bassett is the son of the late Dr. and Mrs. A.M. Bassett, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He served several enlistments in the United States Navy and has traveled all over the world.
      The couple received many handsome gifts. Those present at the ceremony were Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Spatz; Dr. and Mrs. William A. Bennet, of Holmsburg, Pennsylvania; Professor and Mrs. Charles Welrich and son Charles of Pennsburg; Mrs. Virginia Potter of Philadelphia; the grandmother of Mr. Bassett; Ruth Spatz; Ann Spatz; and Fredrick Spatz.

      Pitman Man, 85, Has a Way With Bikes
      August 18, 1972
      (Article includes three pictures)
      By Mary T. Wiser of the Times Staff
      Pitman - Donald M. Bassett claims he's not a successful loafer. That's the reason he has mastered five trades in his lifetime and, at the age of 85, has re-opened his bicycle shop on Holly Avenue.
      The senior citizen who went back into the bicycle business a year ago has some mighty new ideas about the "booming bicycle interest" and some new inventions for the industry.
      "When I had a heart attack back in the '60's, I wanted to sell out all my supplies but no one was interested. So I packed everything up in boxes and kept them in the cellar. When I wanted to open up again, I called some of my old suppliers and they wouldn't even talk to me. They said they are too busy and have a back log on their regular customers. They can't be bothered with me now that the bicycle business was blown up," Bassett said.
      In his cellar repair shop, he had created several inventions meant to make the repair of bicycle wheels easier. He has a patent pending on one and is planning to show another at the bicycle dealers' convention in Florida this winter.
      "I figure I can sell this one for over a million. When you think of how many millions of bicycles there are now and how the number of repair shops is growing, that wouldn't be much. After all, rebuilding wheels is the biggest part," Bassett said.
      His new shop is meant to center on a new idea in repair work. That is, he feels someone coming to him ought to be able to leave his shop in fifteen minutes with the bike in working condition. So he created the bicycle wheel exchange, which is the name he has given his shop.
      "But I've been too busy to really do it right. But we'll work into it more," he said. Bassett figures he could provide rebuilt wheels to replace broken ones at about the same price it would cost to repair a wheel and the customer wouldn't have to wait to use his bike.
      Bassett didn't get into the bicycle repair business until after he retired in 1953 from the PTC in Philadelphia where he was an electrician.
      "I sold real estate for about four years, then mortgages became hard to get and I wasn't ready to work for nothing," the octogenarian said. "I loafed for a few years until my daughter got me started fixing a bicycle," he said. "My daughter had taken a bicycle to be repaired and thought the price was outrageous. She said I could do it and so I got started," he added.
      Bassett said the first trade he mastered was that of a miller. He said he was 16 years old when he started helping his grandfather in a grain mill in central Pennsylvania. "By the time I was 15, I was a qualified miller," he said. The thin senior citizen said he was lucky when he was young and went to work for the railroad until the depression in 1907. He joined the Navy and went to a naval electrical school. He became an electrician for the railroad again after the war.
      "Then I got in debt and my brother was bragging about his oil wells out West, so I wrote and asked him for money. He told me to come work for him and he'd pay me $18 a day. That was good, so I went and became an oil well driller for three or four years," he said. After oil drilling came fruit farming in Glasboro where he bought a twenty acre farm. "I kept it during the depression and still sold some real estate," he added.
      Bassett said his repair business is interesting. "It's a matter of improving everyday because it's difficult to get parts sometimes but I like people and I get along with people," he said.
      The shop was enlarged to handle the new business. It is located adjacent to his home. His wife, Flora, who is 84, sometimes stops in the shop. The couple has two daughters, Mrs. Flora Yockel and Mrs. Ann Parke.
      Bassett said he's very thankful for help received from the M&S Store, Western Auto and Peddlers. They supply him with many items and, "without them and their great kindnesses, I couldn't be in business," he said.

      1900 Federal Census of East Buffalo Township, Union County, Pennsylvania (18 Jun 1900)
      Samuel H. Potter - 65 - M - Jan 1835 - PA-PA-PA - Head - Farmer
      Sophia E. - 60 - F - Jul 1839 - PA-PA-MA - Wife
      Donald M. Bassett - 11 - M - Jul 1888 - PA-DC-PA - Grandson - At School
      Josephine V. - 10 - F - Mar 1890 - PA-DC-PA - Granddau - At School
      (Married 40 years, 5 children, 4 living)

      1910 Federal Census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (15 Apr 1910)
      A. Bassett (Wd) - 41 - F - PA-PA-PA - Head - Keeper Apartment House
      Donald M. - 21 - M - PA-DC-PA - Son
      Josephine - 20 - F - PA-DC-PA - Daughter - Music Teacher Piano
      Leah H. Potter - 23 - F - PA-PA-PA - Boarder - Nurse Hospital
      (Living on Walnut Street)
      (3 children, 3 living)
      (Donald M. Bassett is listed with family but then crossed off)

      1910 Federal Census of USS Pennsylvania, United States Navy (16 Apr 1910)
      Donald M. Bassett - 21 - M - PA-IR-IR - E2C (Ensign Second Class) - Sailor Navy

      1930 Federal Census of Glassboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey (14 Apr 1930)
      Donald M. Bassett - 41 - M - PA-DC-PA - Head - Signal Maintainer PRJ
      Flora S. - 40 - F - PA-PA-PA - Wife
      Flora E. - 12 - F - PA-PA-Pa - Daughter
      Anne - 11 - F - PA-PA-PA - Daughter
      (Living at 410 Green Tree Road)
      (Married at 28 & 27)
    Person ID I2858  1B John Bassett of Connecticut
    Last Modified 11 Jan 2013 

    Father Doctor Simpson Overton Bassett,   b. 22 Jun 1859, Maryland or Washington D.C. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Mar 1892, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 32 years) 
    Mother Ada Potter,   b. Sep 1864, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F790  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Flora Spatz,   b. Abt 1890, Pennsylvania Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married Sep 1916 
    Children 
    +1. Living
    +2. Living
     3. Bassett,   d. Abt 1927
    Family ID F1266  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Sources 
    1. [S14] SSDI.