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

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Newsletter March 2006

(1) Welcome
(2) George Bassett of Ireland & New York City
(3) Bassett Lincoln-Mercury of Michigan City, Indiana
(4) Charles Bassett of Pontypridd, Wales - Chemist
(5) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(6) DNA project update

Section 1 - Welcome

The first story this month is about a line of Bassetts from New York with roots in Ireland. It is another example of how we are using DNA testing to help place Bassett lines into the proper family.

This month was a big month for signing up new participants for the DNA study. 9 people joined, 7 from family lines not yet represented in the DNA project, four of whom still live in England. Please return your kits as soon as possible. I am very anxious to see the results!

For those wishing to hear my presentation Genetic Genealogy and the Bassett Family DNA project, I will be presenting it at the Zion, Illinois Genealogical Society meeting on Monday, March 20, 2006 at the Kenneth Murphy School in Beach Park, Illinois at 7 pm.

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

- Edward Swenson $50
- David Attride $100 towards kit for family #117B.
- Duane Bessette $20

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

#14B. Jean Besset of Quebec through a branch that settled in Kankakee, Illinois
#14B. Jean Besset of Quebec through a branch that settled in New England
#76B. Oliver Bassett of Pennsylvania
#117B. Bassetts of St. Mary Hill, Glamorgan, Wales
#249B. Bassetts of Chailey, Sussex, England
#304B. Bassetts of Pembrokeshire
#311B. Charles Bassett of England, settled in Indiana
#330B. Bassetts of Shoreditch & Bethnal Green, London, England
#337B. Bassetts of Cambridgeshire, England

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett:

Below is what information we had on George Bassett of New York.

113B. George Bassett

George Bassett was born about 1798 in Ireland. He died 15 Aug 1851 at 155 Rivington Street, New York City, New York. He married Ann M. She was born about 1806. She died 27 Sep 1884. They are both buried in Cypriss Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York (No stone remaining). Birth records for the children come from the All Saints Episcopal Church in New York City.

With the results back from a descendant of George Bassett showing a 25/25 match with a Bassett from Downpatrick, Ireland, we now know where to concentrate our future research to identify this George.

The following is a story of one of the Bassetts from this family of Bassetts from Downpatrick, Ireland.

William John Bassett
From Downpatrick to New Zealand
By John Bassett
Extracted from Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Volume 3, Canterbury
(Article include picture of him and his wife)

W.J. Bassett, farmer, "Meadowbank", St. Andrews. Mr. Bassett was born in 1861 in Downpatrick, Ireland, and was educated in his native land and in New Zealand, where he arrived in the ship "Blairgowrie" in 1875. Mr. Bassett was for two years engaged in business in Christchurch, and afterwards bought "Stormont", which was originally part of the Woodstock run, in the View Hill district, North Canterbury. The property contains 1144 acres freehold and 240 acres leasehold, and the premanent improvements include a fine dwelling-house of ten rooms, large and convenient outbuildings, garden and orchard sheltered by a well-grown plantation. It is fenced and subdivided with twenty-two miles of fencing, is wellwater by natural springs and creeks and has produced good crops of turnips and rape. A large number of crossbred sheep and lambs are reared and fattended. Mr. Bassett afterwards bought "Meadowbank", near St. Andrews, where he now resides. He was married in 1886 to Miss Gilchrist, and has two sons and two daughters.

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Section 3 - Featured Bassett:

Bassett Lincoln-Mercury in Michigan City, Indiana was built in the 1960's and sold in 1984.

It was owned by Robert Bassett. His line of descent is as follows:

#165B James Bassett
George C. Bassett (b. 1818) and wife Eliza Smith
Edward Cunningham Bassett (b. 1844) and wife Sylvia Westenhaver
Clark Bassett (b. 1888)
Robert Clark Bassett

Here is a deck of playing cards that I purchased on e-bay.

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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Charles Bassett of Pontypridd, Wales - Chemist

Charles descends from the Wales Branch of Bassetts as follows:

Thurstine Basset
John Basset married Matilda de Bretouil
Sir Richard Basset (born 1100) married Cynnidda
Richard Basset (born 1135) married Eva
Sir Philip Basset (born 1180)
Sir Alexander Basset (born 1220) (Crusader in the Holy Land)
William Basset (born 1255)
Thomas Basset (born 1290)
Sir Elias Basset (born 1320) married Margaret Delabeare
John Basset
Thomas Basset (born 1380) married Alice Marcross
John Basset (born 1410) married Gwenllian
Jenkin Basset (born 1445)
Harry Bassett (born 1480) married Catherine Matthew
Richard Bassett (born 1515)
William Bassett (born 1545)
John Bassett (born 1575)
Richard Bassett (born 1600)
Elias Bassett (born 1627) married Margaret Richards
Charles Baassett (born 1660) married Margaret Williams
Richard Bassett (born 1696) married Joan Thomas
Charles Bassett (born 1734) married Cecil Morgan
Rev. Richard Bassett married Catherine John
Charles Bassett married Elizabeth Price

The following is from the website for Welsh cultural history.

Charles Bassett, the first Chairman and founder of the
Pontypridd Market Company, c. 1856

Charles Bassett was a prominent figure in the commercial and public life of Pontypridd during the mid-nineteenth century. He was a founder member of the Pontypridd Market Company established in 1877. He came to Pontypridd about 1840 and rapidly established a large business as a chemist and druggist, the first of its kind in the town. In 1843 he was appointed postmaster at a time when the weekly volume of letters was no more than 400 letters. It was due to this role as postmaster that Bassett became responsible for the adoption in 1856 of Pontypridd as the name for a growing town which up to that point had been known as Newbridge. Bassett had become increasingly irritated by the continual postal confusion with Newbridge in Monmouthshire or Newbridge-on-Wye, Radnorshire.

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

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

335B. Bassetts of Datchworth, Hertfordshire combined with the #186 Bassetts of Hertfordshire
230B. John Bassett of Cornwall combined with #149B Bassetts of Redruth, Cornwall

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

156B. William Bassett of Wisconsin (born 1820 in Ireland)
230B. John Bassett of Madron, Cornwall
335B. Joseph Bassett of Durham & Yorkshire, England (married 1897)
336B. William Bassett of Fordham, Cambridgeshire, England (married 1809)
337B. John Bassett of Fordham, Cambridgeshire, England (born 1810)
338B. Thomas Bassett of Norwich, Norfolk, England (born 1770)
339B. The Bassetts of Titsey, Surrey & Greenwich, Kent
340B. The Bassetts of Jersey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom

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Section 6 - DNA project update.

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