Bassett Family Association Database

George Hairston Bassett, Sr.

Male 1806 - 1895  (88 years)


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  • Name George Hairston Bassett 
    Suffix Sr. 
    Born 18 Oct 1806  Henry County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID CB1825D1AB366240939261AF782131D732E8 
    Died 9 Oct 1895  Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Middle Grove Church Cemetery, Middle Grove, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • HISTORY OF MONROE AND SHELBY COUNTIES, MISSOURI
      (excerpts pages 176-177)
      Union Township: The most noted hunter in this region of country is George H. Bassett, who followed hunting for 35 years. He came from Virginia to Randolph county, Missouri, where he resided five years and then moved to Monroe county and then located within one mile of Middle Grove, where he lived for a quarter of a century. He now lives in Middle Grove.

      OBITUARY: GEORGE HAIRSTON BASSETT
      October 9, 1895
      Newspaper clipping, unknown source
      After an active and well-spent life, George Hairston Bassett died at his home, near Middle Grove, on Wednesday night, October 9, the cause of his death being attributed to a kidney affection. He had been in his usual health up to within a few days of his death, his illness being of a sudden and unexpected nature. He attended the Gordon lecture at Moberly a few days previous and seemed in unusually good spirits.
      Deceased was born in Henry County, Virginia, October 18, 1806 lacking nine days of being 89 years of age at his death. He was married Columbia R. Staples, Mead county, Kentucky, December 6, 1832, who still survives him. There were born to them eleven children, ten of whom were boys, and one girl. Nine of them are still living. He came to Missouri in 1836 and settled in Randolph county near Moberly, where he lived about ten years. He then moved to Monroe county and located near Middle Grove, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a devout Christian having joined the Christian church under the ministry of Henry Thomas.
      George Hairston Bassett - what is good and excellent may not be said of him. A typical Virginia gentleman, genial, brave-hearted, hospitable and kind; a hunter by nature, he loved his hounds and horses with all the ardor of an English squire, and was never so happy in later years as when relating his personal experiences in the early settlement of the county. Courteous and gentle, he was yet a plain, blunt man, robust in nature, both physically and mentally. He was a wonderfully well-preserved man, and though old in years, his age was never very apparent. and his heart had all the happiness and lightness of youth. He never grew out of touch with the young and his declining years were made happy by their ministrations. His was a happy life, a striking example of neverending youth. From the time he joined the brave army of pioneers in the subjection of a wilderness until the day of his death, he was a citizen of merit and strength, with all the strong predilection of a Virginian towards unbounded liberty and individual rights. With his excellent wife, daughter, and nine stalwart sons, he was an admirable figure of days and conditions that are passing away, of big men, big families, and noble women, when motherhood and fatherhood were the crowning beauty of life, and not a burden.
      One by one the brave and determined army of men who conquered a wilderness and made possible a grand civilization are laying down the burden of life, just as the fruition of a great promise is at hand. The extent of their work, the debt posterity owes them cannot yet be written. It is not pessimistic to say that they excelled us in manhood, but a matter of natural fact and law. They came by the law of natural selection, and were the best manhood of the old and settled communities, who left comfort and ease- conditions that made life's task light, and sought privation, trouble and danger. They came with a fixed and glorious purpose. They were Gideon's 300, the fittest of all the hosts. They were Americans, typically so, and were fitting sires of the great race that is to be. There is something pathetic in their depletion just as the battle is done. The most heroic page in the republic's army has been written by this determined band of men. The sound of the ax is stilled - its purpose filled, and the echo of the last falling oak in the majestical and virgin forest has faded away; but almost as if by enchantment the landscape has blossomed into a flower garden. A solitary cabin, a smokeless chimney, with now and then some ancient tradition of the "good old days" is all that remains. The settler, with his ax, his gun and his dog have joined the slient and endless pilgrimage to the dust, while around the ruins of his deserted hearth a grand civilization marches on to a grander fruition.

      HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY, MISSOURI
      (By Alexander H. Waller 1920)
      Robert H. Bassett, a retired farmer and stockman now residing at 626 South Clark street, Moberly, Missouri, is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Missouri and a native of this state. He was born one mile east of Middlegrove in Monroe County, June 2, 1850. He is a son of George H. and Columbia R. (Staples) Bassett, pioneer settlers of Monroe County. George H. Bassett was born in Henry County, Virginia, October 18, 1806 and in 1825 came to Missouri and first settled in Randolph County four miles east of Moberly. Later he sold out there and removed to Monroe County where he entered land from the government and from time to time added more acreage to his holdings until he was the owner of 1200 acres which he divided among his children. In 1882, he retired and removed to Middlegrove where he died October 9, 1895. During his active career he was a successful man of extensive business affairs and prior to the Civil War owned a great many slaves. His wife, Columbia Staples, was also a native of Henry County, Virginia, born December 7, 1814. She died in Monroe County in September, 1900....

      1850 Federal Census of Monroe County, Missouri
      George H. Bassett - 46 - M - Virginia
      Columbia R. - 34 - F - Virginia
      Samuel S. - 16 - M - Virginia
      Burrel - 15 - M - Virginia
      John J. - 13 - M - Missouri
      W.H. - 12 - M - Missouri
      Thomas E. - 8 - M - Missouri
      Powatan - 3 - M - Missouri
      Tennessee - 2 - F - Missouri
      Robert - 1 - M - Missouri
      Columbia Yager - 13 - F - Missouri
      Pocahontus Bassett - 8 - F - Missouri
      Mariah Bassett - 6 - F - Missouri
      Polly Bassett - 13 - F - Missouri

      1860 Federal Census of Union Township, Monroe County, Missouri
      George H. Bassett - 52 - M - Virginia - Farmer 6400 10,400
      Columbia P. - 40 - F - Virginia
      John J. - 22 - M - Virginia - Farmer
      William H. - 21 - M - Virginia - Farmer
      Thomas E. - 18 - M - Virginia - Farmer
      Powhattan - 12 - M - Virginia
      Jennifer - 11 - F - Virginia
      Robert H. - 10 - M - Virginia
      Alexander - 8 - M - Virginia
      Mary - 4 - F - Virginia

      1870 Federal Census of Union Township, Monroe County, Missouri
      George H. Bassett - 63 - M - Virginia - Farmer
      Columbia - 53 - F - Virginia - Keeping House
      Jonathan - 30 - M - Missouri - Farm Labor
      Thomas E. - 28 - M - Missouri - Farm Labor
      Powhatan - 22 - M - Missouri - Farm Labor
      Robert - 19 - M - Missouri - Farm Labor
      Martin - 17 - M - Missouri - Farm Labor
      Mary V. - 13 - F - Missouri
      America - 40 - F - Virginia
      Julia - 25 - F - Virginia
      Millie - 13 - F - Missouri
      Sandy - 10 - M - Missouri
      Elmira - 7 - F - Missouri
      Martha - 5 - F - Missouri

      1880 Federal Census of Union, Monroe County, Missouri
      G.H. Bassett - 73 - M - VA-VA-VA - Head - Farmer
      Columbie Bassett - 65 - F - MO-VA-VA - Wife - Keeps House
      Poet - 32 - M - MO-VA-VA - Son - Farmer
      R.H. - 30 - M - MO-VA-VA - Son - Farmer
      Lena - 25 - F - MO-KY-KY - DauLaw - Keeps House
      Virgie - 5 - F - MO-MO-MO - GDau
      Homer - 1 - M - MO-MO-MO - GSon
      Alfred Holiday - B - 17 - M - MO-MO-MO - Other - Farm Laborer
    Person ID I109  2B Thomas Bassett of Virginia
    Last Modified 20 Aug 2013 

    Father Burwell Bassett, Sr.,   b. 5 Jul 1767, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1 Jun 1815, Henry County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 47 years) 
    Mother Mary (Polly) Hunter,   b. Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 1862, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married 24 Jan 1794 
    Family ID F28  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Columbia Renfro Staples,   b. 7 Dec 1814, Meade County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 27 Jul 1900, Madison, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 85 years) 
    Married 6 Dec 1832 
    Children 
    +1. Samuel Staples Bassett,   b. 29 Oct 1833, Henry County, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Dec 1923, Paris, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 90 years)
    +2. Burwell Braxton Bassett,   b. 1 May 1835, Near Bryansburg, Mudville County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1 Nov 1911, Union, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 76 years)
    +3. John James Bassett,   b. 27 Mar 1837, Randolph County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Jun 1915, Mexico, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 78 years)
     4. William Henry Bassett,   b. Abt 1838,   d. 1861  (Age ~ 23 years)
     5. George Hairston Bassett, Jr.,   b. Abt 1840,   d. 1841  (Age ~ 1 years)
    +6. Thomas Edward Bassett,   b. 25 Jun 1842, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Jun 1916, Moberly, Randolph County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 73 years)
     7. Poet Powhatten Bassett,   b. 12 Mar 1847, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Dec 1936, Moberly, Randolph County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 89 years)
    +8. Tennessee Matthew Bassett,   b. 1 Dec 1848, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1919, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 70 years)
    +9. Robert Hairston Bassett,   b. 2 Jun 1850, Monroe County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Jan 1933, Moberly, Randolph County, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 82 years)
    +10. Alexander Martin Bassett,   b. 31 May 1853, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location
    +11. Mary Virginia (Mollie) Bassett,   b. 22 Jun 1856, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F44  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart