| Notes |
- Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts
Volume I, 1912
BASSETT (Fall River family). The family bearing this name in Fa
River, to which belonged the late Hon. Rufus W. Bassett, long prominent in
business and public affairs, for years a member of the board of police and
much of the time its chairman, is a branch of the earlier Taunton family, it
of the still earlier Rochester branch of the distinguished Bassetts of the
Cape Cod towns of the Old Colony.
(I) William Bassett, the emigrant ancestor in this country, was born
about 1590. It is of record that he married (first) Cecil Licht and (second),
in 1611, in Leyden, Holland, Margaret Oldham. As there is no further mention
of the second wife it is supposed that she died soon after. William Bassett
left Delft Haven in the ship "Speedwell" July 22, 1620, and went to
Southampton, England, with other Pilgrims. There the "Mayflower" was waiting
for them, and after the company was divided between the two vessels they set
sail for America Aug. 5, 1620. The "Speedwell" was found to be leaking, and
both ships put into Dartmouth for repairs, and again set sail Aug. 21st. The
"Speedwell" again commenced to leak, and, with such emigrants as could not be
accommodated on the "Mayflower", Robert Cushman and family, William Bassett and
others - about twenty in all, returned to London. Early in November, 1621, the
ship "Fortune", a vessel of about fifty-five tons burden, and a new boa
arrived at Plymouth, Mass., from England, with thirty-five passengers, among
whom were William Bassett and Robert Cushman. It is not positive that William
Bassett's third wife, Elizabeth (Tilden), came with him or not, as she is not
mentioned until 1627, when William and his wife, Elizabeth, and children
William, Jr., and Elizabeth Jr., were included in the record of the division
of cattle at Plymouth, Mass. William Bassett was elected deputy assistant to
the governor in 1640, 1643, 1644, 1645, 1648, from Duxbury, Mass., where he
had gone in 1637 and made a settlement with others. About 1650 he settled in
Bridgewater, Mass., he being one of the original proprietors of that town,
which was incorporated in 1656. He was comparatively wealthy, being a large
landholder, only four in Plymouth paying a higher tax in 1633. He had a large
library, from which it is to be inferred that he was an educated man. In 1633
he had become a freeman of the Colony, and in 1637 he was a volunteer in the
company raised to assist Massachusetts and Connecticut in the Pequot war; he
was a member of the committee of the town of Duxbury to lay out bounds and to
decide on the fitness of persons applying to become residents. He was
representative to the Old Colony Court six years. His children were: William,
Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Joseph, Sarah, Jane, Ruth (born in 1632, married first
John Sprague, 1655), and perhaps others. He died in Bridgewater in May, 1667.
Of his children, William settled in Sandwich; Nathaniel first settled in
Marshfield, and in 1684 in Yarmouth; Joseph remained on the parental homestead
at Bridgewater, Mass., Sarah married Peregrine White, of Marshfield, the first
child born of English parents at Cape Cod Harbor, in November, 1620; and
Elizabeth married Thomas Burgess, of Sandwich. William Bassett (2) is t
ancestor of the Bassetts of Sandwich, and some of those in Barnstable and the
town of Dennis.
(II) William Bassett (2), son of William and Elizabeth (Tilden)
Bassett, born in 1624, married Mary Burt, and died in 1670.
(III) William Bassett (3), born in 1656, son of William (2) and Mary
(Burt) Bassett, married in 1675 Rachel Willison. He died in 172
(IV) William Bassett (4), son of William (3) and Rachel (Willison)
Bassett, married in 1709 Abigail Bourne.
(V) John Bassett, son of William (4) and Abigail (Bourne) Bassett,
lived in Rochester, Mass., and there by his wife Mary had a family of twelve
children. His death occurred May 17, 1781. His children were: Aurelia, born in
1743; Bethsheba, 1744; Benjamin, 1746; Mary, 1747; Emma, 1749, Peter, 1752;
Desire, 1754; Sarah, 1756; Newcomb, 1757; Thomas, 1759; Meltiah, 1761; and
Abigail, 1763.
(VI) Thomas Bassett, son of John and Mary Bassett, was born in
Rochester, Mass., June 19, 1759, and died there Feb. 24, 1833. On Ja
1781, he married Lydia Mendall, of that town, who was born March 19, 1760. His
children were: Newcomb, born in 1781; Anselm, born in 1874; Samuel, born in
1786; Abner, born in 1788, who married Harriet B. Spaulding, of Norwich,
Ocnn.; Thomas Jr., and Lydia (twins), born in 1790; John, born in 1793, who
married Laura Wing, of Marion, Mass.; Stephen, born in 1798, who married
Abigail Mendall; and Ezra, born in 1800, who married Keziah Russel
(VII) Anselm Bassett, son of Thomas and Lydia (Mendall) Bassett, was
born April 29, 1784 in the town of Rochester, Mass. He prepared for college
under the tuition of Hon. Tristam Burges, who was then preceptor of the
Rochester Academy, entered Brown University in 1799, and is said to have been
the youngest member of his class, graduating in 1803. After receiving h
degree he taught school in his native town, and also studied law in the office
of Abraham Holmes. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1808, and
immediately settled in Narraguagus, in what was then called the district of
Maine. After a year he removed to Columbus, Maine, where he practiced
successfully for three years, when, business being prostrated by the war with
England, he returned to Rochester. Here he married Rosalinda, daught
Abraham Holmes, with whom he had studied law, and soon afterward settled at
Head of Westport, Mass., where for twenty years he continued the practice of
his profession with a high degree of success. In 1849 was formed what was long
the well-known firm of Bassett & Reed. On June 1, 1863, he withdrew from this
partnership and determined to relinquish his profession. He had been in
practice fifty-five years, and was the oldest practitioner in Bristol county,
and one of the oldest in the State. But though he closed his office and
withdrew from the bar, he was constantly sought by his former clients, who
were unwilling to rely on other advice until his could no longer be obtained.
In 1831 Mr. Bassett represented his town in the Legislature, and in
1832, having been appointed registrar of Probate for the county of Bristol, he
was required to fix his residence in Taunton. This office he continued to hold
for nineteen years, and discharged its duties with distinguished promptness
and faithfulness. He appears also to have kept up his practice during this
official period, and to have been very much relied upon as a counselor by a
large number of clients. Both as a public official and as a lawyer he w
greatly respected for the uprightness of his conduct and his great kindness of
heart.
Mr. Bassett died Sept. 9, 1863, when in the eightieth year of his age,
and apparently from the natural decay of old age, without diseas
After the death of Mrs. Rosalinda (Holmes) Bassett Mr. Bassett married
(second) Mrs. Lucy Smith, of Troy, N.Y. His children, all born to the first
marriage were: Thomas, born in 1811, who died in 1835; Charles J.H., born in
1814; George F.H., born in 1817, who died in 1820; Cynthia C.H., born in 1821;
and Elizabeth M., born in 1824.
Mrs. Rosalinda (Holmes) Bassett was a descendant in the sixth
generation from William Holmes (who was an inhabitant of Scituate, Mass., as
early as 1646, and a freeman of that Colony in 1658, later removing to
Marshfield, where he died in 1678), from whom her lineage is through Abraham
Holmes and his wife Elizabeth (Arnold), of Rochester, he dying there in 1722;
Experience Holmes, who died in 1715, aged thirty-three years; Experience
Holmes (2); and Hon. Abraham Holmes, a distinguished lawyer of Rocheste
Massachusetts.
(VIII) Charles Jarvis Holmes Bassett, son of Anselm and Rosalin
(Holmes) Bassett, was born in Westport, Mass., July 10, 1814, and began his
education there. For a time he lived with his uncle, Charles Jarvis Holmes, in
Rochester, Mass., and there also attended school. He studied law and was
admitted to the Bristol county bar, but did not practice. He was cashier of
the Taunton National Bank, and later of the Hanover National Bank of New York
City, and was recalled to the Taunton Bank, of which he became president. He
was a member of the Congregational Church. He married, Jan. 20, 1840, Emeline
Deane Seabury, who was born in Taunton, Mass., Oct. 2, 1817, daughter of John
Westgate Seabury, and died April 1, 1842. On Aug. 14, 1845, Mr. Bassett
married (second) Nancy L. Gibbs, who was born in Sandwick, Mass., Feb 2
1823, and who at the time of her marriage was living in Bridgewater, Mass. She
died May 12, 1848, and Mr. Bassett married (third) Dec. 25, 1850, Martha B.
French, of Pawtucket, R.I., who was born June 2, 1825. Mr. Bassett died Sept.
3, 1891. His children were: Sarah S., born in 1840, who married Erastus Morse,
of Taunton; John S. and Charles A. (twins), born in 1842, the former of whom
married Marianna C. Perry, of Taunton; Louisa L., born in 1846, who married
George H. Rhodes, of Taunton, Mass.; Isabel, born in 1848; Henry F., born in
1851, who married Emma C. Jackson, of Taunton, Mass., Rufus W., born in 1853;
Martha E., born in 1855, who died in 1881; Mary R., born in 1858, who married
Col. Henry Pierce, of Pawtucket, R.I.; George F.H., born in 1862; and Susie
A., born in 1864.
(IX) Charles A. Bassett, son of Charles J.H. Bassett, received his
education in the schools of Taunton, attending high school in that city. At
the age of seventeen he started out to earn his own living, for a year
clerking in a dry goods store, and for four years he was the youngest clerk in
the Taunton National Bank. Through the influence of the late Hon. Jo
Brayton, at the age of twenty-one he came to Fall River and for thirteen years
was connected with the First National Bank of that city. In February, 1877, he
was made treasurer of the Fall River Savings Bank, in which position he still
remains. Of the nineteen trustees of that bank in 1877 only two survive. Mr.
Bassett is Royal Arch Mason.
(IX) Rufus W. Bassett, son of the late Charles J.H. and Mart
(French) Bassett, of Taunton, was born in that city July 22, 1853. After
receiving a high school education he entered the office of the Eagle Cotton
Company, at Taunton, where he remained for several years, later removing from
Taunton to Fall River to become bookkeeper for the Troy Cotton & Woolen
Manufactory. After some years in this position he opened an office as a cotton
and cloth broker, later associating himself with Nathan Durfee under the firm
name of Bassett & Durfee, in a partnership which was continued to the time of
his death. The firm did a large business and were the recognized
representatives of the American Printing Company in the purchase of goods in
this market. In this capacity they frequently took very large quantities of
goods. Mr. Bassett was also a director in the Metacomet National Bank, the
Fall River Electric Light Company and the Richard Borden Manufacturing
Company.
In young manhood Mr. Bassett was fond of athletics, and as an amateur
played right field and first base for the Fall River nine, a semi-professional
organization. He served for some time, when he first came to Fall River, in
Company M (of which he was a charter member), Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
He had a genial, obliging disposition, which made him very popular with those
who came in contact with him, and he was everywhere recognized as a man of
ability and a useful and valuable citizen, whose death was a loss to the city.
He was a member of the First Congregational Church.
Mr. Bassett was prominent in political life, in which he exerted a
considerable influence up to the time of his death. He was a member of the old
common council in 1887 and 1889, and of the board of aldermen from Ward 8 in
1990-91. On June 4, 1902, Gov. W. Murray Crane appointed him to the board of
police commissioners, for a three years' term, and on June 19, 1903, he was
named by Gov. John L. Bates to be chairman of the board. When his term
expired, Governor Douglas, a Democrat, was in office, and James Tansey was
appointed to succeed him. On May 22, 1907, Mr. Bassett was again appointed to
the board by Gov. Curtis Guild, Jr., and in June, 1908, was designat
chairman, his term to expire the first Monday in June, 1910. Mr. Bassett also
served as a trustee of the public library from 1891 to Feb. 4, 1901, when he
resigned to take the police commissionership. He was again appointed March 31,
1906, resigning June 19, 1908. He was a member of the Old Colony Historical
Society. He died July 26, 19109, at his home on High street, Fall Rive
On Sept. 13, 1882, Mr. Bassett was married to Harriet Minerva Borden,
born June 15, 1856, daughter of the late Col. Thomas J. and Mary E. (Hill)
Borden, of Fall River, Mass., and a direct descendant of Richard Borden, of
Borden, in the County of Kent, England, who came to America in 1635 and
settled at Portsmouth, R.I., from whom her descent is through John Borden and
his wife Mary (Earle), Richard Borden (2) and his wife Innocent (Wardell),
Thomas Borden and his wife Mary (Gifford), Richard Borden (3) and his wife
Hope (Cook), Thomas Borden and his wife Mary (Hathaway), Col. Richard Borden
and his wife Abby W. (Durfee) and Col. Thomas J. Borden and his wife Mary E.
(Hill). Mrs. Bassett died Oct. 16, 1904.
Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bassett: Thomas Borden, born
Aug. 24, 1883; Frederick Waterman, born April 23, 1885, who died Sept. 26,
1904; Margaret, born Jan. 26, 1888; Charles French, born April 5, 1891, who
died Dec. 26, 1891; and Constance, born Jan. 19, 1896.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1817 - 1820 (3 years)