William Bassett descends from #300B Thomas Bassett of Okehampton, Devonshire, England as follows:
Thomas Bassett and wife Charity Lane
Thomas Bassett (b. 1740) and wife Ann
Francis Bassett (b. 1768) and wife Elizabeth Macey.
William Bassett (b. 1810) and wife Mary (Syms) Rooks
Bassett Family Gathering – New Zealand
17 August 2014
Waitangi Week-end in 2015, 6-8 February, will see descendants of William and Mary Bassett in Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand celebrating the 175th anniversary of their arrival in Petone on 8 February 1840 on the “Duke of Roxburgh”. This, the third ship of the Wakefield fleet, sailed from Plymouth, England on 5 October 1839, and landed passengers on the Petone foreshore on 8 February 1840, bringing the number of settlers there to about 500. Their voyage had a tragic end when the Captain, James Thomson, was lost overboard in a gale off Stephen’s Island in Cook Strait. “The Duke” was brought in by Colonel Wakefield who went out to the heads on the 7th February in the “Cuba.”
Mary and William brought Mary’s daughter Emma Jane Rooks from a previous marriage with them and Mary gave birth to their first child, Thomas about three weeks before arrival. William and Mary had nine more children: 3 sons and six daughters.
Following flooding of the Hutt River in early March they, along with seventeen other settlers from Cornwall settled on ‘The Rise’, a shingle ridge nicknamed “Cornish Row”, until a fire burnt down their tents in May. This is now Emerson Street. Although a number of the settlers moved to Thorndon, the Bassetts remained in Petone. They named a later home in Hutt Road, “Devonshire Cottage”, after the county of their birth.
According to a granddaughter of Emma Jane Rooks, William Bassett became the leader of the group, taking “charge of food, grog, and tobacco. One of the Wakefields, Plimmer and others took exception to this and was the real cause of the break away of some of them and shifting to Pipitea now known as Wellington. Bassett and the majority stayed at Petone.
Bassett got in touch with Maoris and cultivated their friendship. Te Puni was the paramount chief. Bassett was the first pakeha [there] to learn the Maori language.”
William, whose occupations were shoemaker then farmer, served in the garrison during the troubles in the Hutt Valley.
Mary died in 1877 and in 1879 William remarried. In 1883 he left for Cornwall on the “s.s. British King” after which he returned to New Zealand. He died in 1889. His obituary refers to his prowess as a wrestler in his younger years, and that he was “well-known throughout the district to both Europeans and natives, and very much respected. Being a Maori linguist, he interpreted for one of the early Governors on several occasions.” He was buried beside Mary in the Bridge street Cemetery, Lower Hutt.
Their eldest son Thomas, born on the “Duke”, lived to a ripe old age and during an interview with the New Zealand Times in June 1925, spoke of his experiences as a boy.
“There was no schooling in those days and as soon as Tom was old enough he took his share of the work in camp, later forming part of the garrison for the protection of the women and children. He also joined the volunteer cavalry in which he served for ten years. His first job was fruit picking for a Mr Ridler at a wage of 6s a week, great wealth at that time. He afterwards worked on the land farming and clearing, and when about forty, entered the service of the Hutt county council for whom he worked for 22 years at 6s a day”
He remembered the earthquakes of 1848 and 1855, particularly the latter as printed in the Auckland star, 18 June 1925. He was in a house with a young servant girl when “Suddenly there came a terrific shake, the chimneys came tumbling down and the doors jammed. Young Bassett went to the girl and they tried to find their clothes, but could get nothing beyond what they were wearing. They tried to escape by the window, but were prevented by the fallen chimney. Both were terrified by the experience they were undergoing when the window blew open. To add to their terror came another violent shake, and blinded by tears they essayed to climb through the window. On looking through the lad found a great fissure had opened in the ground below it, but he believes the subsequent shake partially opened the door, and they escaped from the house by squeezing through. The huge crack in the ground was so wide that they were unable to cross it, so they followed it down the road towards the river. While crossing the garden the lad fell into the crack some feet deep, and was unable to get out. The girl went down and assisted him up, and lying at full length on the ground she was just able to reach his fingers and pull him up. Smothered in mud and fear and trembling they managed to make the Whitewood Hotel, which was nearby. This place had been tossed about like a shuttlecock, and whisky, rum, and beer were running all over the ground, everything having been smashed. They went further on to the shop by the Hutt bridge, only to find it had fallen in.”
Descendants of William and Mary include the children of Emma Jane ROOKS and her husbands Edward HUMPHREY and JOSE LEAL Silva De SIMAS; Thomas BASSETT and Sarah Jessica HUDSON; Elizabeth BASSETT and Joseph GIGGER; William BASSETT and Mary Ann VOLLER/MARSH; Francis BASSETT and Sarah MAIDMENT/PARKIN; Annie BASSETT and her husbands William BASSETT and William WOOD; Naomi BASSETT and her husbands William Eden JUDD, Richard PERRY and William LAWRY; Martha BASSETT and John WRIGHT; Mary BASSETT and George CHIGNELL; and Ruth BASSETT and Isaac SAWARD.
Email contact enquiries:gsthom@xtra.co.nz