John Joseph Bassett descends from #380B John A. Bassett of Greta, NSW, Australia as follows:
John A. Bassett (m 1885) and wife Jane Shanahan
John Joseph Bassett (b. 1886) and wife Sarah Ann Parsons
Cecil Thomas Bassett (b. 1910)
John Joseph Bassett widow and children including Cecil Thomas Bassett
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, Friday, 9 February 1912
Drowned At Swansea
Evidence At The Inquest
Mr. C. Hibble, the district coroner, held an inquest at the Swansea Hotel, Swansea, yesterday, into the death of John Joseph Bassett. Constable Cullip represented the police.
John A. Bassett, a miner, living at Mine Camp, Catherine Hill Bay, said the deceased was his son. He was also a miner, and left a wife and three children. Witness last saw him alive between 4 and 5 p.m. on Saturday last. He was in the habit of going to Swansea fishing.
Leslie Gilmour, a miner, said he knew the deceased well. At 10.30 a.m. on Sunday last, he saw Bassett fishing on the sands at Swansea, on the Belmont side of the channel. Witness was going to Camm’s wharf in the steamer at 11.30 a.m. that day, and anticipated that deceased would come too. He did not go in the steamer, however, and witness saw nothing more of him.
William John Campbell, a miner, said he was the deceased on the Swansea side of the channel at 11 a.m. on Sunday. He had a fishing-rod and a bag at the time, and was apparently going to try for fish higher up the channel.
Constable Cullip, stationed at Belmont, said that at 1.30 p.m. on Wednesday last, in company with Constable Riordan and Asprey, he recovered the body of the deceased on a sandspit near Swansea Heads. The body had evidently been stranded there, and he conveyed it to Swansea. Deceased’s fishing-rod and bag were found in the Swansea channel the day he was last seen alive.
Dr. John Harris said he examined the body at Swansea. It was much decomposed, and all external signs of drowning were obliterated; yet the appearances would all be quite consistent with death by drowning.
A verdict of accidentally drowned whilst fishing was returned.