Benjamin Harrison Bassett descends from #5B William Bassett of Virginia as follows:<\/p>\n
William Bassett (b. 1604) and wife Bridget Cary
\nWilliam Bassett (b. 1671) and wife Joanna Burwell
\nWilliam Bassett (b. 1709) and wife Elizabeth Churchill
\nPriscilla Bassett (presumed Great grandmother based on all current evidence)
\nBenjamin Carter Bassett and wife Martha Davis
\nWilliam Henry Bassett (b. 1796) and wife Eleanor O\u2019Neill
\nBenjamin Harrison Bassett and wife Mary Burnett Bassett<\/p>\n
Mary Burnett Bassett\u2019s line is as follows:
\nWilliam Bassett (b. 1709) and wife Elizabeth Churchill
\nBurwell Bassett (b. 1734) and wife Anna Maria Dandridge
\nJohn Bassett (b. 1765) and wife Betty Carter Browne
\nGeorge Washington Bassett (b. 1800) and wife Betty Burnet Lewis
\nMary Burnett Bassett (b. 1839)<\/p>\n
Last month I featured the Benjamin Harrison Bassett Diary. This month I include a Synopsis of the diary provided by Carol Williams.<\/p>\n
Synopsis of Benjamin Harrison Bassett\u2019s Diary from 1853-1855 Benjamin Harrison Bassett\u2019s diary is written in two parts. Part One is from January 1, 1853, to February 24, 1854, and Part Two is from February 25, 1854, to October 28, 1855. At the beginning of Part One Ben is not yet 22 years old and he and his brother Jeff (Thomas Jefferson Bassett) are in their final semester at Yale Law School.<\/p>\n Ben writes about attending services at the various churches in and around New Haven and critiques the style and ability of the ministers he hears. Most do not measure up to his standards. \u201cA sermon of unwarrantable length.\u201d \u2026 \u201cI heard a sermon from Dr. Croswell in Trinity Church this afternoon, it had at least one merit, that of brevity.\u201d He also provides insight into his classmates and professors, including Henry Dutton and Clark Bissell, both governors of Connecticut. And at a meeting of the Theological Rhetorical Society led by a professor Taylor of the Yale Divinity School a lively impromptu discussion of Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin <\/em>occurs, and Ben records his thoughts on it as well. He also records the news of the day as well as receipt of letters from family members. The letters received and sent are almost numberless, and particularly important to Ben are letters from his fianc\u00e9 and cousin Ella of the Clover Lea Bassetts in Virginia. And also important to Ben is his performance in moot court and his debating societies. He often writes about the goings-on in moot court, critiquing\u00a0 not only his performance but also that of Jeff and their classmates.<\/p>\n In March 1853 Ben discusses with Professor Dutton the prospects of graduating at the end of the current term. It is revealed that if the brothers are willing to pay the tuition for a period of 18 months attendance (they arrived in May 1852), they will be allowed to graduate in July. Their father, William Henry Bassett of Big Bend, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, agrees to the proposition and in July both Ben and Jeff pass their oral exams and graduate.<\/p>\n In June 1853 Ben begins a series of entries about his classmates. He writes about his beliefs about their potential lawyerly abilities as well as his personal interactions and reflections. In the latter part of the month, Ben and Jeff\u2019s older brother Carter arrives in New Haven from Louisiana to witness their graduation and travel home with them. In late July, however, during what Ben describes as \u201cthe grand Fireman\u2019s Celebration,\u201d Jeff is talking to a young lady and several men take objection and Jeff has to leave town immediately and begin his trip home alone. Ben stays and attends the commencement and obtains their diplomas before he and Carter begin their own trip home.<\/p>\n Ben and Carter\u2019s trip home begins August 1, 1853. They travel to New York City where they plan to meet up with Ella and her brother George Washington Bassett Jr. While awaiting news of Ella and George\u2019s arrival at their hotel, the two brothers travel up the Hudson River on a steamship \u201cto view its celebrated scenery,\u201d and they also visit the Crystal Palace, a cutting-edge iron-and-glass building erected for \u201cthe Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations\u201d to be held in New York City. On August 6 Ben and Carter arrive in Washington, D.C. They visit many of the sites and a cousin of their mother\u2019s, a Georgetown nun that Ben refers to as \u201cAunt Fulton.\u201d A few days later we find the brothers in Richmond, Virginia, arranging transport to Clover Lea some 12 miles away. Ben revels in the time he spends with Ella, but also admits she is ometimes more reserved than before. He writes about their long talks and about their visits with other family members and neighbors.<\/p>\n On August 22 Ben and Carter travel back to Washington to make arrangements for their travel home via a visit to the home of another set of cousins \u2013 the Harrisons — including future President Benjamin Harrison and the widow of President William Henry Harrison. After travelling to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), they board a steamer on the Ohio River bound for Cincinnati. They arrive in Cincinnati shortly before 9 p.m. August 26, walk up to what Ben describes as \u201cthe Bassett House\u201d but, hearing nothing of \u201cthe whereabouts of cousin Ben Harrison,\u201d decide to return to the boat for the night, where the mosquitoes treat them \u201crather badly.\u201d The next day, August 27, they receive \u201ca nice hospitable welcome\u201d from \u201ctheir charming cousins\u201d after crossing the river on a flat boat and making their way to Longview, the home of their cousin John Scott Harrison, a newly minted United States congressman and the son of President of William Henry Harrison. They learn that \u201cCousin Sallie\u201d has been sick with the mumps and that \u201c[the infection] does not add to her appearance.\u201d Ben writes that to his delight all their Harrison cousins are \u201creally close.\u201d Then in Cincinnati before day\u2019s end Ben and Carter finally see the future president, \u201cCousin Ben Harrison,\u201d and \u201chis eldest sister Mrs. Billie Eaton\u201d (Elizabeth Short Harrison). And on the next day, the 28th, they see still more Harrison cousins \u2013 the Thorntons and the Taylors. Then back to Longview they go, where they have another \u201cglorious chat with the girls.\u201d<\/p>\n On August 30 they visit still more Harrisons, including President William Henry Harrison\u2019s daughter cousin Anna Tuthill Harrison and her daughter \u2013 a baby named Little Eleanor, after Ben and Carter\u2019s \u201csainted mother.\u201d Then on Wednesday, August 31st, Ben reports, \u201cTrouble in the camp!\u201d And it becomes clear his brother Carter had been planning to ask their cousin Jennie, the future president\u2019s full sister Mary Jane Harrison, to marry him, but Ben reports that \u201cCarter\u2019s case looks at this time decidedly gloomy \u2026 as he meets opposition from everyone.\u201d And it is the future president that discusses the matter with Carter, apparently squelching the possibility of marriage.<\/p>\n On September 1 Ben and Carter walk with a number of their Harrison cousins \u201cto the tomb of the General,\u201d President William Henry Harrison, and gather \u201csome keepsakes\u201d that Ben intends to \u201cpreserve very carefully as precious relics,\u201d and among the keepsakes Ben receives is one \u201cfrom old Mrs. Harrison,\u201d President William Henry Harrison\u2019s wife, who Ben sometimes refers to as \u201cAunt Harrison.\u201d Then on the 2nd of September in advance of their departure both Ben\u00a0 and Carter kiss \u201cAunt Harrison\u201d good night and from Ben\u2019s tone it is clear he is already nostalgic even before their leave-taking, as he writes: \u201cIt may be, probably it will be, our last meeting here! She is a dear good old lady and though our acquaintance is short, yet I love her.\u201d Then the next morning, Saturday, September 3, \u201cnotwithstanding the pouring rain,\u201d Ben and Carter take passage in the Omnibus for Cincinnati \u201cafter a very affectionate parting from [their] Cousins at the Bend.\u201d Ben writes, \u201cThey waved their handkerchiefs as long as we were in sight and again when we came down on the Louisville Packet \u2018Granite State\u2019 although the storm of rain had not abated, yet they came on the abut and saluted us again and again.\u201d The trip back to Louisiana is by riverboat and painfully slow and not a little nerve-racking as Ben and Carter\u2019s supply of money is rapidly dwindling. Ben writes often of the beautiful sunsets as well as the issues with yellow fever in ports they pass by. They finally arrive home on September 17 and much of the next several months are spent visiting family members in the area.<\/p>\n In October Ben negotiates with local gentlemen to establish a school for boys. The school opens October 24. And Ben continues to teach his \u201cyoung scholars\u201d through December. In late October we learn that Jeff has established himself in Brenham, Texas. Jeff informs Ben that it would be less expensive if he arrived in Texas with a license already in hand rather than go through the process in Texas. Ben begins the process of obtaining his license in Louisiana by approaching the state Supreme Court in New Orleans. That does not work, as there is not enough time to complete the examination. He learns through an acquaintance that he can obtain a license in Mississippi by being introduced to the judges there. Ben and his new best friend travel to Jackson where he is presented to the Supreme Court of Mississippi and is granted a license to practice law straightway for the price of $50 versus a price of $150 and a six-month wait in Texas. Then on January 24, 1854, license in hand, Ben returns to New Orleans and boards a steamer bound for Galveston to begin his new life in Texas.<\/p>\n On February 4 Ben lands in Galveston. Two days later, in Houston, he is admitted to the Texas Bar and is now licensed to practice before all courts of the state. After taking care of a couple of business items and several mishaps, he arrives in Brenham on February 10 thrilled to be reunited with Jeff. He immediately dives into life in Brenham, familiarizing himself with the city, meeting fellow inhabitants, joining debating clubs and the Good Samaritans. He returns to his pastime of critiquing the sermons of local ministers, including those of Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, founder of Baylor University. Then Part One of the diary ends on Ben\u2019s 24th birthday, on February 24, 1854.<\/p>\n Part Two of the diary opens with Ben commenting on the weather as well as his and Jeff\u2019s practice of reading the laws of Texas and other legal texts. He also continues his comments on the debating clubs and Good Samaritan meetings. He also continues to chronicle the letters he and Jeff receive from home and elsewhere.<\/p>\n In one letter that spring they learn their father has remarried. Ben is not excited about the news, \u201cTo say that I am pleased to hear it, would be to write what I am very far from feeling and yet it does look selfish in us to ask that he should, in his old age, and when he most needs the solicitous kindness of a wife that he should forego all the pleasure of female society is too much to require of him.\u201d Then, after receiving a letter of rebuke from his father for his silence on the matter, Ben promptly writes a proper welcome-to-the-family letter to his new mother and a proper letter of congratulations to his father.<\/p>\n Also that spring Ben begins to travel to other cities in Washington County to promote his and Jeff\u2019s budding law firm in Brenham. With the opening of the new courthouse, Ben and Jeff take office space in the old district clerk\u2019s office. On April 15 Ben and Jeff attend an address by General Sam Houston. Ben, it appears, is less than impressed. \u201cHis design was to explain away the dissatisfaction of his constituents, which his course on the Nebraska Bill had aroused. As a defence, the effort was a failure. People will not be put off with quibble when they feel strongly upon any subject, and the speech we listened to today, was a quibble throughout. As a specimen of oratory, the speech was likewise a lame one. I do not think there was one sentence in the whole of it that would deserve to be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n On April 30 Ben joins other lawyers to ride the circuit. He returns June 5. In his diary he recounts the events in the various cities and courts that they visit. Throughout the summer Ben writes about meetings of the Good Samaritans, debate club meetings, church meetings and parties attended with the young people of Brenham and traveling to several towns around Washington County. He also writes about his and Jeff\u2019s court experiences and reading law texts. Ben is chosen to speak to a meeting of county denizens for their approaching Fourth of July celebration. He spends a considerable amount of time and practice putting the speech together and receives many favorable comments after he delivers it.<\/p>\n In early 1855 Ben celebrates his first year of living in Brenham and continues his commentary on the events and court appearances around Washington County. Ben and Jeff continue to increase their account collecting and court appearances. And then on Sunday, July 22, 1855, after a prolonged period with no entries about Ella in his diary, Ben pens a terse note in it making it clear their relationship has come to an end: \u201cWrote also a curt epistle to Ella, enclosing her ring, and requesting her to forward mine to Brenham. Also to burn any letters of mine she might have, and requesting directions as to the disposition to be made of hers.\u201d But nothing else does he write about her and the reader is left at a loss as to what happened.<\/p>\n On August 1 Ben writes with displeasure about the rise of the Know-Nothing Party, an American nativist movement hostile to immigrants, particularly Catholics and Jews.<\/p>\n On October 25 he leaves Washington-on-the-Brazos at half after 9 and reaches Independence in time for dinner. He remains there an hour or more and then calls on General Houston while he is packing to leave for Huntsville. Part Two of the diary ends October 28, 1855, with no indication that after almost three years there\u2019ll be no more entries in his diary. The final entry could be any entry: \u201cTook a notion of going to Independence, and carried it out. Jim Pressly and Patty and I started from here quite late, and made very good time to Independence, where a large crowd had assembled to the Baptist Convention. A very good sermon was preached by Mr. Stribling, a very poor one by Mr. Caruth. Saw the sacrament administered, saw the baptizing, and saw a good many acquaintances, saw some fun, came home at night late.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Benjamin Harrison Bassett descends from #5B William Bassett of Virginia as follows: William Bassett (b. 1604) and wife Bridget Cary William Bassett (b. 1671) and wife Joanna Burwell William Bassett (b. 1709) and wife Elizabeth Churchill Priscilla Bassett (presumed Great … Continue reading
\n<\/strong>By Carol Williams<\/p>\n