| Notes |
The semi-weekly messenger, March 29, 1902
Richard Baxter Bassett was born in Williamsburg, Va., on the 20th of September in 1932, and was, therefore, nearing three-score-and ten. He first came to Goldsboro with George Dudly as a contractor and builder and many of the best buildings of Goldsboro were erected by him. He was first married to Miss Mar E. Sellers, of Alamance county, and was, later, married to Miss May J. Wilson, of Tarboro, by whom he had twelve children, eight of whom with their mother survive him. He was a prominent and faithful member of the Methodist church and led an exemplary life. His friends in Goldsboro as well as elsewhere throughout the state will regret to learn of his death. The funeral will be held from St. Paul?s church tomorrow afternoon at 4 o?clock.
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Just prior to the Civil War, Richard Baxter Bassett removed from Virginia to eastern North Carolina where he became prominent in the construction business. He joined Company A (Edgecombe Guards), First North Carolina Regiment when the Civil War began, but soon after the battle of Big Bethel, he was transferred to the Commisary Department and assigned the duty of manufacturing army supplies.
Willow Dale Cemetery, Goldsboro, North Carolina
Richard Baxter Bassett, son of Richard and Caroline Spencer Bassett, born in Williamsburg, Virginia - 20 Sep 1832 - 25 Mar 1902
Mary Jane Wilson, wife of Richard Baxter Bassett, born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina - 7 Nov 1845 - died in Durham, North Carolina 1 Sep 1903
(Handwritten at top of page - Gift of 21 Oct 1943
Mrs. Bassett, 58 Pomeroy Terrace, Northampton, Massachusetts
Typed as original - misspellings included)
John Spencer Bassett
Soon after the war of 1812, in Virginia two young Bassetts, William and Richard, became heirs of their father's plantation near Williamsburg, called Eltham, and a small property of their mother's, whose maiden surname was Spencer. They decided to divide and settle up their possessions. Richard left the ancestral home, bought a few slave carpenters, and opened a contracting business in Williamsburg. His son, Richard Baxter, continued his father's business for a time, but later moved to North Carolina.
Williamsburg, although the home of one of the oldest societies in America, was then and still is, a place where there is the greatest amount of equality. This mingling of the good people of the town made a deep impression on the plantation-born elder Bassett, and the democratic idea waxed greater in his son.
Richard Baxter Bassett in his building career in North Carolina designed, as well as built, many structures of note in his adopted state. And it was while he was building at Tarboro that his second son, John Spencer Bassett, was born December 19, 1867.
The son has this to say of his father: "My father was unlike anybody else I have ever known. He was as pure-minded as a woman. I never heard him make an improper or profane remark. He was strict in his household, but never unkind. He was deeply religious, absolutely opposed to slavery, charitable, hospitable, industrious, and generous in his expenditure of money."
The mother of John S. Bassett, Mary Jane Wilson, whose father was John Wilson, a Maine yankee, was a woman of remarkably sweet disposition and great personal beauty. I quote "My mother possessed a very quick and retentive mind, a clear Madonna-like face, fine complexion, and handsome, grey eyes."
The earliest education of the boy John was in the neighborhood schools of Richlands, a plantation his father owned in Eastern North Carolina, and at Goldsboro, not far away; the town that became the permanent residence of the Bassett family. It was here that John graduated from the high school in June, 1883. In the high school under the instruction of a man of good spirit and modern educational methods literature came to mean something to the sensitive, impressionable, and somewhat shy boy. At this point, however, a delicate state of health, as the result of a severe attack of pneumonia, interrupted his attendance at school for two years.
(continued under John Spencer Bassett)
1870 Federal Census of Goldsboro Township, Wayne County, North Carolina (3 Aug 1870)
Richard Bassett - 27 - M - Virginia - Farmer 2000 700
Mary G. - 24 - F - North Carolina - Keeping House
Richard B. - 4 - M - North Carolina
John S. - 2 - M - North Carolina
Albert F. - 1 - M - North Carolina
1880 Federal Census of Richlands, Onslow County, North Carolina (11 Jun 1880)
Richard B. Bassett - 47 - M - VA-VA-VA - Head - Farmer
Mary - 37 - F - NC-ME-NC - Wife - Keeps House
Richard B. Jr. - 15 - M - NC-VA-NC - Son - Works on farm
John S. - 13 - M - NC-VA-NC - Son - Works on farm
Albert L. - 11 - M - NC-VA-NC - Son - Works on farm
Mary E. - 9 - F - NC-VA-NC - Daughter
William S. - 6 - M - NC-VA-NC - Son
Lena H. - 4 - F - NC-VA-NC - Daughter
Bessy W. - 1 - F - NC-VA-NC - Daughter
Susan Willson - 70 - F - NC-NC-NC - Mother to Mary Bassett - At home
Janie Foster - 36 - F - NC-NC-NC - Servant
Sallie Foster - 2 - F - NC-NC-NC
1900 Federal Census of Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina (1 Jun 1900)
Robt B. Bassett - 63 - M - Sep 1836 - NC-NC-NC - Head - Contractor
Mary J. - 54 - F - Nov 1845 - NC-NC-NC - Wife
Mary E. - 28 - F - Sep 1871 - NC-NC-NC - Daughter - Clerk
Lena - 27 - F - Jan 1872 - NC-NC-NC - Daughter
Lucy - 17 - F - Dec 1882 - NC-NC-NC - Daughter - At School
Bessie - 11 - F - Feb 1889 - NC-NC-NC - Daughter - At School
(Living on Slocumb) (Married 38 years, 8 children, 8 living)
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Bassett Family Association Database
1832 - 1902 (69 years)