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
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