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

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Splinters From The Tree February 2009

(1) Welcome
(2) Bassetts of Colonial Virginia and links to the Harrison Family
(3) Josiah Bassett of Philadelphia, Clothing Manufacturer
(4) Captain Edward Sebring Bassett
(5) New family lines combined or added since the last newsletter
(6) DNA project update

Section 1 - Welcome

I have been struggling to keep up with both research and the publishing of the monthly newsletter. If you have material that you would like to provide for a future newsletter, or an old picture that you would like for me to feature, please let me know. If you are waiting to hear back from me about research on your line, please be patient. Also feel free to drop me a reminder e-mail.

I will be traveling on business to Reno, Nevada the week of April 26th. If anyone would be interested in meeting me for dinner, please let me know.

4 generous donations were made toward the Bassett DNA project this month. I currently have enough funds to pay for two more DNA test kits for family lines not yet represented in the project.

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Section 2 - Featured Bassett: DNA Results of William H. Bassett of Louisiana

A second DNA result for a descendant of William H. Bassett of Louisiana is back from the lab. We have tested through two of William's sons, and the 25 markers results are as follows: 



While this clearly shows a relationship between these two lines, they still do not match any other Bassett lines.

We expanded our search to others in the Family Tree DNA database and found an exact match for these Bassetts with a descendant of Benjamin Harrison. You may remember from previous newsletters that Benjamin Harrison married Elizabeth Bassett and they were the parents of President William Henry Harrison. This Bassett line shared DNA with this presidential line.

We still do not know exactly how this fits in, but maybe we can concentrate on checking out Harrison family documents to see if William H. Bassett was mentioned in any official documents.

A son of William H. Bassett of Louisiana, Benjamin Harrison Bassett, married Mary Burnett Bassett, who was a daughter of George Washington and Betty Burnett (Lewis) Bassett.

The following burial information is for the Bassett family of Mary's proven family line. Colonel William Bassett was the great-great-great grandfather of Mary Burnett (Bassett) Bassett.


Colonel William Bassett was buried at Eltham, New Kent County, Virginia, but was later moved to the Hollywood cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The tomb bears the Bassett arms and the following epitaph:

        Here lies inter'd ye Body of he Hon'ble
        William Bassett, of ye County of New Kent,
        Esq'r, son of Will'm Bassett, Esq'r, and
        Bridget, His Wife, of ye County of
        Southampton, in ye Kingdom of England.
        He married Joanna, Eldest Daughter
        Of Lewis Burwell, Esq., with whom
        He happily Lived 29 years and 10 months
        And was Blest with 5 sons and 7 Daughters.
        He Departed this Life ye 11 October,
        1723, in ye 53rd year of his Age. He
        was A Good Christian, A Knd and Indulgent Father,
        An Affectionate, Obliging Husband, A Good
        Master: His Loss was
        Greatly Lamented by His Country,
        County, and Family, and inexpressibly to
        His Mournful, Disconsolate Widow,
        who also departed this Life ye 7th day
        of October, 1727, in the
        53d year of her age.    


Picture provided by Mabel Toney, Hollywood Cemetery

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Section 3 - Featured Bassett: Josiah Bassett Jr.

Josiah Bassett Jr. descends from #4B William Bassett of Lynn, Massachusetts as follows:

William Bassett (b. 1624) and wife Sarah Burt
Elisha Bassett (b. 1649) and wife Elizabeth Collins
Daniel Bassett (b. 1694) and wife Mary Lawrence
Daniel Bassett (b. 1722) and wife Mary Lippincott
Nathan Bassett (b. 1764) and wife Sarah Saunders
Josiah Bassett (b. 1795) and wife Susan Levich
Josiah Bassett Jr. (b. 1835) 


Here is an advertisement for Bassett's Clothing circa 1900

Here is information about the Josiah Bassett family from the 1900 census.

1900 Federal Census of 15th Ward, Philadelphia, Phil. Co., PA (2 Jun 1900)

Josiah Bassett        66 M Feb 1834 PA DE DE Head     Clothing Manfr.
Mary C.               49 F Apr 1851 PA PA PA Wife
George                22 M Jan 1878 PA PA PA Son      Clothing Manfr.
Roland                13 M Apr 1887 PA PA PA Son      At School

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Section 4 - Featured Bassett: Captain Edward Sebring Bassett

Edward Sebring Bassett descends from William Bassett of Plymouth as follows:

William Bassett and wife Elizabeth
Joseph Bassett (b. 1635) and wife Martha Hobart
William Bassett (b. 1667) and wife Sarah Sweetland
William Bassett (b. 1694) and wife Mary Crossman
William Bassett (b. 1726) and wife Lydia Fisher
Isaac Bassett (b. 1755) and wife Mehitable Makepeace
Joseph Palmer Bassett (b. 1795) and wife Elizabeth Smith
Edwin Palmer Bassett (b. 1832) and wife Elizabeth Barton
Edward Barton Bassett (b. 1864) and wife Gertrude Sebring
Edward Sebring Bassett (b. 1893)

The serving tray pictured below was reunited with descendants of his family after I noticed it for sale on ebay. I found living descendants of this family and contacted them and their family once again has this tray in the family. 

This silver meat tray measures about 18” x 13½” and weighs in at a hefty 4 pounds. The tray is engraved, “Presented to Capt. and Mrs. E. S. Bassett, A. G., January 29th, 1921 by the Members of the Adjutant’s Office 6th Div.” On the back of the platter is the hallmark of the company that made it. 


Picture of Edward Sebring Bassett provided by grandchildren Barton and Jill Smith

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

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


 144B.  William Bassett of Leyton, Essex, England (b. 1868)
 367B.  Sarah (Bassett) Wakefield of Otsego County, New York  (b. 1896)

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Section 7 - DNA project update.

Several new participants have joined the project.

#144B William Bassett of Leyton, Essex, England

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