Bassett Family Gathering/Jubilee
On 7 February 2015 seventy-nine descendants of William and Mary Bassett gathered at the Angus Inn in Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand to celebrate the 175th anniversary of their arrival on Petone Beach, Lower Hutt on 8 February 1840. And to pay homage to two people who, two months after marrying in August 1839 sailed from Plymouth, Cornwall to New Zealand on the barque the “Duke of Roxburgh”. William and Mary’s first accommodation in their new home was a tent. In short order they were to flooding, fire and earthquake.
William and Mary arrived two days after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The Treaty was first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand. It established a British Governor of New Zealand, recognised Māori ownership of their lands and gave them the rights of British subjects.
The Jubilee commenced with an informal dinner for the forty “out of towners” on the evening of Waitangi Day. The following day, there was a photo session, a speech by author David McGill, an opportunity to check and update the genealogy on scrolls that had been prepared for the purpose and to check the results of Bassett Y-DNA tests carried out through the Bassett Family Association DNA Project, and meeting new family members. The formal part of the Jubilee concluded with a Buffet Dinner and presentation to the organiser.
On Waitangi Day, 6 February, and on Sunday 8 February a number of town family members took the opportunity to visit the Bridge Street Cemetery, Lower Hutt where William and Mary were buried; Emerson Street (Cornish Row) where they settled until 25 May 1840 when their hut and the huts of the other Cornish settlers were burnt down; Riddler’s Crescent (then the Hutt Road) where William and Mary had lived (now a Powerco site); and the Settlers’ Museum on Petone Beach.
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 in New Zealand. They had nine more children: 3 sons and six daughters, all of whom grew to adulthood.
Of their eleven children, nine had children of their own. Their first child to die, John, was shot as a young man while out hunting with a friend. A daughter, Ruth SAWARD, adopted a baby girl. Of the other nine who had children of their own seven were represented at the Jubilee.
Descendants of William and Mary include the children of Emma Jane ROOKS and her two 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 two husbands William BASSETT and William WOOD; Naomi BASSETT and her three husbands William Eden JUDD, Richard PERRY and William LAWRY; Martha BASSETT and John WRIGHT; Mary BASSETT and George CHIGNELL.
About 1800 descendants have been identified by name although there may be twice that number. Some have moved to Australia and one of Thomas BASSETT’S daughters, Mary Jessica (Jessie) and her husband Niels Madsen CHRISTENSEN moved to the United States in the early years of the 20th Century.
Email contact enquiries: gsthom@xtra.co.nz