William Henry Bassett descends from #7B John Bassett of New Jersey as follows:
John Bassett
Amos Bassett (b. 1760) and wife Susan Stout
Jonathan Stout Bassett (b. 1880) and wife Elizabeth Helm Disher
William Henry Bassett (b. 1832)
County of Douglas, Illinois (1884)
William H. Bassett, County Judge, was born January 12, 1832, in Harrison County, Ky. He graduated at Bartlett’s Commercial College in 1854. He came to Coles (now Douglas) County in 1857, and farmed until he enlisted, July 21, 1862, Company K, Seventy-ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry (Co. Buckner). He held all the offices from Corporal to Captain. While he was in rebel prison, he was commissioned as Captain, but was not mustered in. He took part in the battles of Stone River, Liberty Gap and Chickamauga. At the latter battle, September 19, 1863, he was captured, and spent eighteen months in prison; he was in Libby eight months, Macon four months, in Charleston under fire of our guns one month; was then taken to Columbia, where he remained until two days before Sherman’s army came; thence removed to Raleigh, later to Goldsboro, and through our lines March 1, 1865. He then went to Benton Barracks, Mo., and remained there until the fall of Richmond; then, realizing that the war was over, he resigned, and returned to Arcola, his home. He has lived here most of the time since, and has been engaged in mercantile pursuits. He has frequently been honored by his fellow-citizens with office; he was Assessor of the township several terms, and held the office of Justice of the Peace from 1873 to 1882, when he was elected County Judge, which office he still holds. It is generally acknowledged that his official record has been marked by honesty, promptness and ability. He was married, in 1860, to Nellie M. Gruelle, from Kentucky; Jonathan H. and Hezekiah M. are their children. Both parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Bassett united with the church in Arocla by letter in 1858; he is now the only surviving member here who was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in this place at that time. The Judge has been an Odd Fellow for a number of years. Politically, he is a Republican. Jonathan, his son, was married on his twenty-first birthday to Miss Nora, daughter of Rev. J.W. and Mollie Perkins, of Arcola; Nellie is their only child. Jonathan is editor of the Arcola Record, one of the leading papers of the county.
Wedding certificate signed by William H. Bassett
Picture provided by Daniel L. Carpenter