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- County of Douglas, Illinois (1884)
The Arcola Record, the first newspaper to appear in the city, was inaugurated under the auspices of the Sellars Brothers of Tuscola in 1866 - the enterprise having been instituted by the subscription of liberal-minded citizens, without regard to political affinities; it was an indepdendent paper until the plant was bought by John M. Gruelle, which occurred soon after it was fairly started. For about seventeen years, Mr. Gruelle conducted it as an advocate of Republican principles, during which time, by close attention to the business interests of the office, and a due regard for those of his adopted county and city, he merited and received a fair share of success. He died in Arcola on the 23rd of October, 1883, in the prime of life, after nearly a year's illness. The paper is continued under the management of W.H. and J.H. Bassett, lessees, and bids fair to maintain its high character.
1905 Coles County, Illinois History
Martin H. Bassett
BASSETT, Martin H., well-known editor and publisher, Mattoon, Coles County, Ill., was born at Arcola, Ill., June 15, 1867, and there received his education. His parents, William H. and Helen M. (Gruelle) Bassett, are natives of Cynthiana, Ky., and his grandparents, Jonathan and Elizabeth (Discher) Bassett, natives of the same State. Jonathan Bassett, the great-grandfather, was a Virginian. On the mother's side his grandfather, John B. Gruelle, was a native of Kentucky and his grandmother, Prudence (Moore) Gruelle, was born in Macon, Ga., the great-grandfather, William Gruelle, being a native of Lyons, France.
William H. Bassett, father of the subject of this sketch, is editor and publisher of the Charleston, Ill., "Plaindealer-Herald". During the Civil War he enlisted at Mattoon as a private in the Seventy-ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry and was promoted to be Captain of Company K in that regiment. He later served twenty years as County Judge of Douglas County, Ill.
Mr. Bassett learned the printer's trade in the office of the Arcola (Ill.) "Record", becoming an apprentice therein at the age of eleven. He has since served as city editor of the Springfield (Ill.) "Evening Telegram", and from there he went to Chicago, where he served as police and court reporter on papers of that city. In 1895 he bought the "Arcola Record" in 1899 became connected with the "Mattoon Journal" and in August of that year in connection with Hon. Emery Andrews he bought that paper. On January 1, 1905, they sold "The Journal". On September 16, 1891, Mr. Bassett was united in marriage with Mary C. Logan, who was born in Arcola, Ill., where she received her early mental training, afterwards pursuing a course of study in the Oxford (Ohio) Female Seminary. One child resulted from this union: William, who was born in Arcola, Ill., July 17, 1896. Mrs. Bassett is a daughter of Samuel B. Logan, Deputy Sheriff of Coles County, just before Douglas county was created from it, and he was elected the first Sheriff of Douglas County. He enlisted in Mattoon in the Union Army for service in the Civil War; was also a soldier in the Mexican War.
In politics Mr. Bassett is a Republican. In fraternal circles he is identified with the Royal Areanum and the A.F. & A.M.
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Bassett Family Association Database
- 1883