Logo

Bassett Family Association - , Modern Founder (originally founded in 1897)

Home >

Newsletter January 2006

(1) Welcome
(2) The Bassetts of Leighton Buzzard. Bedfordshire, England
(3) Julian Marcus Bassett and nephew Marcus G. Bassett
(4) Questions about DNA testing
(5) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(6) DNA project update

Section 1 - Welcome

We have two new interesting participants to the DNA project that should prove helpful to the project as a whole. The first is a documented descendant of Elias Bassett of Wales, founder of the Bassetts of Beaupre. If DNA testing on this new family line matches others in the Wales group, look for a detailed article about this family in an upcoming newsletter. This test kit has already been returned to the lab. The second is a descendant of Sir Francis Bassett, Lord de Dustanville of Tehidy and Lord Bassett of Stratton of Cornwall. We also have many Bassetts of Cornwall in our DNA study, but so far none have been linked to any of the Cornwall families traced back before 1600. This kit has not yet been returned to the lab.

In addition to these two tests, we have kits out for our first Bassett family from Sussex, England, our third Bassett family from Ireland, and our first Bassett family from Yorkshire, England.

I apologize to anyone that is waiting to hear back from me about research. I tore a tendon in my finger and my hand has been splinted for the past four weeks. I have been typing one handed since then. Hopefully everything will be healed by the end of January and I can get back to entering new information and returning e-mails in a more timely manner.

Thank you very much to the following who donated money towards the DNA project since the last newsletter.

- Charles Bassett $50
- Everett Bassett $50

=======================================

Section 2 - Featured Bassett: The Bassetts of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England

The Bassetts of Leighton Buzzard were started by Peter Bassett, a younger son of Daniel and Mary Bassett of Northamptonshire. Little is known of Daniel and Mary at this time. Peter was born in Sibbertoft on 10 Nov 1745.
Peter arrived in Leighton Buzzard in the 1770's and opened a draper's shop on High Street. Peter's family became Quakers. Each one of Peter 's children married into established Quaker families. John Dollin Bassett was the only suriving son of Peter and Ann Bassett.


John Dollin Bassett

John Dollin Bassett was born 14 Apr 1786 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England. He attended the Quaker school at Hitchin. He was on of the five Quaker tradesmen who founded Bassett Bank in 1812. At his father's death in 1821, John Dollin Bassett became the major shareholder in the bank partnership. This bank grew to number eight branches.

Francis Bassett, son of John Dollin Bassett, took over running of the bank after the death of his father. In 1896, the Bassett family sold their holdings to Barclays. The June 1896 Journal of the Institute of Bankers says:

This is not the case of a small bank or banks becoming absorbed by a larger institution, but is rather an agreement between relatives and friends to unite their various businesses, and so to conduct them in some respects more on the methods of the larger joint stock banks, while at the same enabling them to retain the distinctive private management which is so much appreciated in many quarters.

Francis Bassett was given a seat on the London Board of the new bank called Barclays & Company. He remained a national Director until his death. Francis Bassett died in 1899 and is buried in the Friends (Quaker) burial ground on North Street in Leighton Buzzard. His son Frederick Bassett, and then his grandson, Theodore Bromhead Bassett, followed by his great grandson Roger Bassett kept the Bassett interest in Barclays well into the 20th century.

For anyone wanting to read more about this family, I suggest reading "The Bassetts, Leighton Buzzard's First Family" by Maureen Brown & June Masters (1989).

A picture of Cedars House in Leighton Buzzard. Bedfordshire, England can be seen at:
http://leighton-linslade.com/tours/other/lb_cedars_photo001.html
(apologies to photographer Kevin Quick for the previous inadvertant use of his copyrighted image)
Kevin also provides a history of the house at:
http://leighton-linslade.com/tours/other/lb_cedars.html

=======================================

Section 3 - Featured Bassett: Julian Marcus Bassett and nephew Marcus G. Bassett

The following two articles will highlight Julian Marcus Bassett and his nephew Marcus G. Bassett.

Julian Marcus Bassett descends from #1B John Bassett of New Haven as follows:
John Bassett & wife Margery
Robert Bassett & wife Mary
Robert Bassett (b. 1640) and wife Elizabeth Riggs
Samuel Bassett (b. 1692) and wife Debroah Bennett
Abraham Bassett (b. 17530 and wife Mary Baldwin
Marcus Bassett (b. 1802) and wife Mary Louise Rogers
Roger Marcus Bassett (b. 1846) and wife Francis Lewis
Lewis Gorham Bassett (b. 1870)
Julian Marcus Bassett (b. 1874)
Marcus G. Bassett (b. 1899) son of Lewis Gorham Bassett

The New Handbook of Texas, Volume I
Julian Marcus Bassett (1874-1947)

Julian Marcus Bassett, rancher, land promoter, and principal founder of Crosbyton, Texas, was born in New York City on December 4, 1874, to R.M. and Fannie Louisa Bassett. He was brought to Texas in 1882; the family settled in Crosby County. He left the area to work for the McCormack Harvester Company in Chicago but returned after two years to work as a cowboy on the Three H. Ranch.

While delivering cattle to market in Chicago, Bassett contracted with the Coonley Brothers (Avery, John Stuart, Howard, and Prentiss) to invest in a sheep ranch in Crosby County. The successful partnership resulted in the founding of the CB Livestock Company in 1901. The company purchased the Two-Buckle Ranch (qv) property and used the Bar N Bar brand. The company began to sell its ranchlands in 1908, and the town of Crosbyton was founded. Bassett served as the first postmaster. By 1910 he was also working as the general manager of the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad, vice president of the Crosbyton South Plains Townsite Company, and a copartner in the Crosyton Company. He was president of the First National Bank of Crosbyton and of the Crosbyton Telephone Company, and he owned the Bassett Land Company. These companies promoted Crosbyton and two additional townsites, Lorenzo and Idalou, located in Crosby and Lubbock counties. Crosbyton, the most successful of the towns, reached a population of 1,200 by 1917.

Bassett married Cora Belle Drake on August 1, 1915; they had four children. The family moved in 1916 to San Antonio, where Bassett purchased the Block Y Ranch and the townsite of Dryden in Terrell County. He was less successful with this promotion and moved to Gila, New Mexico, in 1928. He returned to Dryden in 1930 and operated a store there until the late 1930s. He died on December 9, 1947, and was buried in the Crosbyton Cemetery.

=======================================

The New York Times, Saturday, August 11, 1951
Jewel Thief Dies Alone and Broke
Bassett, One-Time Associate of Willie Sutton, Spent 28 of Last 32 Years in Jail

The cliche that crime does not pay received further verification yesterday morning with the discovery in a Brooklyn furnished room of the body of Marcus G. Bassett, a paroled convict who had spent twenty-eight of his last thirty-two years in prison.

Bassett, a former associate of Willie (the Actor) Sutton, a notorious bank robber now wanted for leading a gang that robbed the Sunnyside (Queens) branch of the Manufacturers Trust Company of $63,933, was not being sought by the police.

So far as the police knew yesterday, Bassett had been leading an honest life since his release from Attica Prison in January, 1950, after serving eighteen years of a thirty-year sentence for a Manhattan robbery in which Sutton was his partner. That was a $130,000 jewel hold-up at 1637 Broadway in 1930 that involved the trussing up of four employees after Sutton had gained entrance to the store disguised as a messenger.

Escaped from Sing Sing

Bassett first did time, for stealing an automobile, in 1916. His most spectacular claim to "fame" was made in 1920, when he and George Stivers, who was doing long term for killing a policeman, felled three guards and escaped from Sing Sing Prison. They stole a car were pursued until captured six days later in New Hampshire. Their terms were lengthened. Bassett had only a few months left to serve for robbery when he broke out.

Nevertheless, he had the reputation, among the police, for having been an educated man and a good conversationalist, suave and sure of himself. In fact, it had been said of Bassett that he was an amateur sociologist.

Bassett's body was found by Miss Blanche Rico, his landlady's daughter, at 9:45 A.M. and the police attributed death to natural causes; probably a heart attack. An ambulance surgeon concurred.

There was a typewriter in his room at 110 South Elliott Place, Brooklyn, lending slim credence to the rumor Bassett had been a short story writer. There was also a watch, a canceled bankbook showing he had once had a few hundred dollars and $2.81 in cash.

=======================================

Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Questions about DNA testing

I have received several e-mails asking more about how the DNA testing works so I will give a short review in this newsletter.

Since this project is tracking the y-chromosome in Bassett males, females cannot take part themselves (since they have no y-chromosome). This y-chromosome is passed from father to son each generation virtually unchanged (mutations do occur every so many generations). So if two cousins both get tested and their markers come back the same, you know that both of their fathers and their grandfather shared these same DNA markers.

When someone wants to take part in testing, I enter an order on the Bassett family page at FamilyTreeDNA. The kit is sent out to the name and address on the order. If you want to take part but are worried about having your name in their database, consider sending the kit to a different family member.

When you receive the kit, you follow the simple instructions included in the kit using the the scraper/brush to take a sample from the inside of your mouth and then return it via the mail back to FamilyTreeDNA. They then foward the kit on to the testing lab at the University of Arizona. Results are back within 3 to 5 weeks depending on the type of test ordered.

I have no financial interest in FamilyTreeDNA and do not receive any monetary incentive from them for signing up new participants.

Current prices for members of the Bassett project:

12-marker test $99 U.S.
25-marker test $169 U.S.
37-marker test $219 U.S.

There is also a $2 postage & handling charge for orders in the United States and $4 charge for everywhere else in the world.

After taking part in testing, FamilyTreeDNA will send you your results via the mail. I will also get notified via e-mail that your results are back and can then add them to our Bassett website along with your kit #.

If you have any questions about this process, please send me an e-mail.


Sample DNA test kit as provided by FamilyTreeDNA

=======================================

Section 5 - New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter

The following family lines have been combined/eliminated since the last newsletter.

50B. Bassetts of Mt. Pleasant, New York into the #151B John Bassett of Bedford, New York family
133B. Bassetts of Fayette County, IL into the #1B John Bassett of Connecticut family
160B. James Bassett of Kentucky into the #7B William Bassett of Ripley County, Indiana

The following family lines have been added since the last newsletter.

#50. The Bassetts of Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire, England
#51B. Samuel Bassett of New Hampshire (separated from #3B Thomas Bassett)
#112B. Francis Bassett of New York, Ohio and Peoria, Illinois (b. 1820)
#131B. Shubael Bassett of CT and Rhode Island
#152B. Moses of St. Mary Hill, Glamorgan, Wales (b.1858)
#157B. Thomas Bassett of Nether Whitacre, Warwick (b. 1801)

=======================================

Section 6 - DNA project update.

Participants from the following lines were added to the DNA project this month.

#95B. Benjamin Bassett of Yorkshire, England (moved to New York)
#113B. George Bassett of New York (b. in Ireland)
#249B. Bassetts of Chailey, Sussex, England
#292B. Bassetts of Beaupre, Wales (now living in Australia)

Donations of any amount can be made to the Bassett DNA project by clicking on the link below. Any funds donated will be used to fund select Bassett DNA tests that will further our project as a whole and benefit all Bassetts worldwide.

http://www.familytreedna.com/group-general-fund-contribution.aspx?g=Bassett

This is just a reminder that the DNA portion of the Bassett Family Association can be found at:

http://www.bassettbranches.org/dna/

A current spreadsheet of results can be found at:

http://www.bassettbranches.org/dna/BassettDNA.xls

If you don't have Excel and can't open the spreadsheet above, you can now see the DNA test results at the following website.

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Bassett/

Jeffrey Bassett
520 Salceda Drive
Mundelein, IL 60060 USA
email address link in header above