Bassett Family Association Database

Frank A. Bassett

Male 1865 - 1948  (83 years)


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  • Name Frank A. Bassett 
    Born 6 Jul 1865  Cohoes, Albany County, New York Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID 51229A53C2A7CF49A29B4627C76749B4B6E8 
    Died Sep 1948  New York Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • New York Herald
      Sunday, January 20, 1900
      Ninth Arrest For Wrecking Canal
      Frank Bassett - Now in Jail in Rome, New York
      Because of Recent Trouble in Forestport
      Rome, New York - Saturday - Frank Bassett of Forestport, was arrested today in connection with the Forestport canal dam break. He is the ninth man ot be taken into custody on the charge of being concerned in wrecking the dam. Bassett was employed as a lock tender last year.

      Excerpt from:
      The Forestport Breaks: A Nineteenth Century Conspiracy Along the Black River
      Frank Bassett was thirty-six years old, a canal bank watchman and occasional sawmill laborer with five children and a wife named May. He was of modest height and weighed about 175 pounds. A black-mustachioed, tobacco-using, eighteen-year resident of Forestport, he was regarded by his neighbors as honest and straitforward. He was trusted enough, after all, to have been named canal bank watchman. The Saturday evening arrest of Frank Bassett near his home on the Alder Creek road proved especially “heart-rending”, in the words of one reporter. His children were young and his wife, May, was vulnerable to trauma. Though not everyone knew it, her death records would show she was epileptic and could have a seizure in trying times. The distraught family watched helplessly in a driving rainstorm as Wetmore and a Pinkerton man put Bassett aboard a double sleigh led by two white ponies and took him away to jail. Everyone was miserably soaked by the time they arrived in Rome three hours later. Jailers placed Bassett in his jail cell and told him he was charged with causing the 1899 Forestport break.
      On Monday, Utica attorney William Townsend sought a $5,000 bail for Bassett. Curtin agreed to it. Bassett was brought from Rome to Utica in anticipation of his release, and several propertied Forestport men indicated they would go his bail.
      But then Bassett informed them Monday that he had already confessed to the Pinkertons, With that intelligence, Bassett’s ostensible friends, the lumbermen George Ainsworth and James Gallagher, turned around and returned to Forestport without him. If Bassett were spilling the beans, he could take care of his own affairs. Ainsworth and Gallagher, the Rome Daily Sentinel stated on 22 January, concluded that in light of his confession, “they had better keep their unencumbered property for the bonds of any others who might be arrested and from whom a confession could not be pumped.”
      Forestport was closing ranks against outsiders. That night, a forlorn Bassett lamented to one of the Pinkerton detectives about the perversions of the bail system. Why was it that someone manly enough to confess his sins was not able to secure bail?

      The Rome Daily Sentinel
      Tuesday Evening, November 27, 1900
      Bassett Goes to Prison
      Frank Bassett, the Forestport feeder breaker, who was on Monday sentenced to Auburn prison for one year, was taken to the 11:09 train this morning by Deputy Sheriff Hugh P. Owens and turned over to Sheriff Buckley of Utica, who accompanied him to Auburn. Bassett was down-hearted and appeared to feel his position keenly. Before boarding the train he shook hands with Sheriff Owens and said: “I am going up there to behave myself so that I can get out as soon as possible and take care of my family.” Bassett has a wife and five children who are dependent on him for support.
      Chief Detective H.W. Bearce of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who has so ably assisted District Attorney Curtin in bringing the Forestport feeder breakers to justice, has earned a deserved promotion, having been appointed over the agency in Philadelphia, as superintendent of the office in that city.

      Rome Sentinel
      New York
      Monday Evening, September 20, 1948
      Forestport
      F.A. Bassett Expires at 83
      FORESTPORT - Frank A. Bassett, 83, proprietor of the Forestport Hotel for many years, died Friday night at the Hines Nursing Home, Boonville. He had been ill for some time, and seriously ill for the past two months.
      A native of Cohoes, he was born July 6, 1865, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Bassett, and came to Forestport as a young man.
      On January 8, 1888, he married the former May Agnes Rockwell, Forestport. She died October 20, 1932.
      After his arrival in Forestport, he followed the occupation of lumbering, and later conducted the Alder Creek Hotel for several years. After selling this property, he conducted the local hotel.
      Surviving are four sons, Elmer F., George J. and Clarence E., Forestport, and F. Wade, Fulton; two daughters, Mrs. Lena L. Wickham and Mrs. Laura G. Rogers, Utica; and a sister, Mrs. Rose Demarest, Green Island.
      Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at the home of his son, Clarence E., Forestport. Burial, in charge of C.W. Trainor, will be in Alder Creek Cemetery.

      1880 Federal Census of Cohoes, Albany County, New York (June 11, 1880)
      Anthony Bassett - 42 - Male - CN-IR-VT - Head - Laborer
      Mary - 36 - Female - NY-IR-VT - Wife - Housekeeper
      James - 20 - Male - CN-IR-VT - Son - Laborer
      Frank - 16 - Male - NY-IR-VT - Son - Laborer
      Schuyler - 14 - Male - NY-IR-VT - Son - Work Cotton Mill
      Rosa - 10 - Female - NY-IR-VT - Daughter - At School
      George - 7 - Male - NY-IR-VT - Son - At School
      John - 6 - Male - NY-IR-VT - Son
      Exiana - 5 - Female - NY-IR-VT - Daughter
      (IR - Ireland, CN - Canada)

      1910 Federal Census of Forestport, Oneida County, New York (April 15, 1910)
      Frank Bassett - 44 - Male - NY-CF-UN- Head - Laborer Saw Mill
      Mary - 39 - Female - NY-NY-NY - Wife
      Elmer - 20 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son - Laborer Car Shop
      George - 18 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son - Laborer Saw Mill
      Wade - 16 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son
      Lena - 14 - Female - NY-NY-NY - Daughter
      Laura - 11 - Female - NY-NY-NY - Daughter
      Stuart - 7 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son
      Clarence - 4 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son
      Warren - 2 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son
      (Married 21 years, 8 children, 8 living)
      (CF - French Canadian, UN - Unknown)

      1930 Federal Census of Forestport, Oneida County, New York (April 24, 1930)
      Frank Bassett - 65 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Head - Laborer Hotel
      Mary A. - 60 - Female - NY-NY-NY - Wife
      Clarence - 25 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son - Laborer Common
      Warren - 23 - Male - NY-NY-NY - Son - Laborer Common
      (Living on East River Road)
      (Married at 25 and 19)

      1940 Federal Census of Forestport, Oneida County, New York (April 9, 1940)
      Frank Bassett (Widow) - 74 - Male - Head - Cohoes, New York - Retired Hotel Keeper
    Person ID I4  119B Frank Bassett of Forestport, Oneida County, New York
    Last Modified 15 Sep 2017 

    Father Anthony Bassett,   b. Abt 1738, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother Mary,   b. Abt 1744, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family May Agnes Rockwell,   b. 23 May 1870, Forestport, Oneida County, New York Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 20 Oct 1932, New York Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 62 years) 
    Married 8 Jan 1888 
    Children 
     1. Elmer Francis Bassett,   b. 30 Aug 1889, Forestport, Oneida County, New York Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Apr 1962, New York Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 72 years)
     2. George Lenard Bassett,   b. 6 Sep 1891, Forestport, Oneida County, New York Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Feb 1972, New York Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 80 years)
    +3. F. Wade Bassett,   b. Jan 1894, Forestport, Oneida County, New York Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Nov 1975, Fulton, Oswego County, New York Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 81 years)
     4. Lena Bassett,   b. Jan/Jun 1896, New York Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Jan 1975, New Hartford, New York Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 79 years)
     5. Laura D. Bassett,   b. Aug 1898, New York Find all individuals with events at this location
     6. Stewart Bassett,   b. Abt 1902, New York Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Oct 1930, New York Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 28 years)
     7. Clarence Bassett,   b. Abt 1906, New York Find all individuals with events at this location
     8. Warren E. Bassett,   b. 28 Sep 1907, Alder Creek, New York Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 2 Aug 1944, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 36 years)
     9. Nila Bassett,   b. Abt 1910,   d. 1943  (Age ~ 33 years)
    Last Modified 17 Sep 2017 
    Family ID F2  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart