| Notes |
- 1880 Federal Census of Long Prairie, Todd County, Minnesota (9 Jun 1800)
Frank Bassett - 29 - M - MN-ME-ME - Head - Farmer
Mary - 26 - F - ST-ST-ST - Wife - Keeping House
Thomas - 2 - M - MN-MN-ST - Son - At home
Frank (Robert) - 9/12 - M - MN-MN-ST - Son - At home
(ST - Scotland)
1910 Federal Census of Sebeka, Wadena County, Minnesota (20 May 1910)
Robert H. Bassett - 30 - M - MN-MN-EN - Head - Manager Lumber Yard
Mabel C. - 25 - F - MN-WI-WI - Wife
Dorothy J. - 3 - F - MN-MN-MN - Stepdau.
Richard W. - 1 - M - MN-MN-MN - Son
Roland F. - 1 - M - MN-MN-MN - Son
(Living on Becker Avenue) (First marriage for him, second marriage for her)
(Married 1 year, 3 children, 3 living)
1920 Federal Census of Layton, Davis County, Utah (3 Mar 1920)
Robert H. Basset - 40 - M - MN-IL-ST - Boarder - Foreman Lumber Yard
(Listed as Single) (ST - Scotland)
1930 Federal Census of Layton, Davis County, Utah (11 Apr 1930)
Robert Bassett - 50 - M - MN-IL-ST - Head - Sales Clerk Dry Goods Store
Vera - 41 - F - UT-UT-UT - Wife
Day L. - 7 - M - WA-UT-UT - Son
(Living on Jentile Street) (Married at 41 and 32)
Todd County Histories, Thursday, January 31, 1935
Township History - Hartford, pages 82 and 83
In the early settlement of the town of Hartford, the figure of John Bassett occupies the center of the stage: and here the story of Hartford merges into the realm of general history. The Bassett Family is of ancient French descent. It was identified with the Hugeonot movement in France and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, left but one of the family living. The settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony offered an asylum to the persecuted, and we find the remnant of the Bassett family living at Lynn, Massachusetts, as early as 1640, and possibly earlier than that. From that time the annals of New England have much to tell of various members of the family.
John Bassett was born at Wolfborough, New Hampshire, on January 3, 1812, and attended the schools of that state until he arrived at the age of twenty years, when he went to work on the parental farm. After two years he went to Illinois, first to Peoria and then to the Mines at Galena. For a time he was engaged in lumbering operations in Wisconsin, but soon returned to Galena, where he worked as a stage driver, following this occupation for six years, when he went to Minnesota in 1848, the year before it was made even a Territory. Near St. Paul and Minneapolis for some years he followed successfully farming and stock raising. He finally concluded that it was necessary for him to find a less crowded location to get the best results from stock raising. So far as we know his group of settlers was the largest to come to the county at one time.
In April 1865, he assembled his outfit to find a more favorable place in Northern Minnesota. His outfit made such an impressive appearance in that day, as it consisted of five wagons with teams and men, the family in one wagon. There was also 75 cows and 125 other cattle. The oldest boy,, then living, James F., was a youth of 13 years, and rode a pony with others to keep the cattle moving on the road.
On April 15, 1865, as the caravan was preparing to move out of Minneapolis, the message came that President Lincoln had been assassinated the night preceding at Washington.
Traveling slowly, the party arrived at Sauk Centre in June. Originally it had been Mr. Bassett's intention to settle in the region about Ottertail lake, but on the way he became interested in accounts of the long meadows along the river north of Long Prairie and he determined to investigate before passing by.
To rest the stock, he had the caravan encamp for several days while he, on horseback, scouted the country for miles beyond Long Prairie. The result of his observations were such that on his return to Sauk Centre he set his train in motion for the Long Prairie Country. He was not without wise counsel in this connection. Well meaning residents of Sauk Centre felt deeply concerned over the grave mistake he was making, and warned him that the country above Long Prairie was so sandy that white beans could not grow in the soil. However he was not to be dissuaded from his purpose. He told the gratiutious advisers that he had a good farm in Washington County that would raise all the beans he needed, and what he wanted was grass and hay, that he had seen growing along the Long Prairie river. Passing the site of the former Indian Agency, they could observe nothing but old cellars, wells and furroughs that showed where these had been cultivated fields.
Halting the caravan on the east side of the Long Prairie river, opposite the junction with the Eagle Creek, he made the first settlement in Hartford, June 28, 1865. That summer the family slept under the wagons and cooked under the shelter of a few boards. In September a log cabin had been erected and the family moved in. This was the first house in town. It was just twelve feet square, and at the present day would seem to be something less than commodious for a good sized family, but there was no complaint over such trifles in Hartford seventy years ago.
Mr. Bassett addressed himself to the needs of his neighbors as well as his own. The assistance and the employment he gave to his neighbors those first years helped them over many occasions of emergency and distress. Soon after arrival, he saw before the others the need of many things. Most of the settlers had children and he saw the need of schools, but there was no county government, no township government and no public schools. Mr. Bassett solved the school problem in his vicinity by establishing a private school at his own expense for all the children. He employed a teacher, Miss Hickman from Sauk Centre, as teacher and maintained the school for two years until the county was organized and public schools provided.
About the same time he secured the establishment of the first post office at Hartford, taking care of it himself for a time. Edward Elmer, another settler, carrying the mail from Sauk Centre.
With the gradual opening of fields, the settlers found that they could not consume all of their produce and began to feel the need of a market where they might convert their surplus into cash that would procure for them other things they needed. To meet this need, Mr. Bassett built a large flat boat, on which they were able to float their produce down the river to the Northern Pacific railroad, which had arrived at Motley in 1871. Later he sold this boat to John Wait who used it in conjunction with a steamboat which he built to ply between Long Prairie and Motley.
He held the confidence of all his neighbors to an unusual degree, and any office of position or honor that he would accept was freely accorded him. He served as officer in town, school and county offices. He was the first elected county commissioner for the Hartford district.
In the middle of the seventies, wishing to retire from active farm work, he built a flatboat and went from Minneapolis to St. Louis. Then in association with his son, James F., he built a river steamboat of 100 tons burden and then engaged in freighting on the Mississippi, going as far south as Vicksburg, Mississippi. For a time they were engaged in transporting cotton down th Yazoo river. The enterprise was not found to be profitable, and they returned with the steamer to St. Paul, where James F. took over the entire freighting business and John Bassett returned to his farming interests in Hartford. For two years James F. used the steamer to tow barges laden with brick from Chaska to St. Paul when he sold out and returned to Hartford.
In 1845 Mr. Bassett married Miss Amelia McCormick, a native of Canada, and to them were born the following named children: first two boys, who died in infancy; James Franklin, Mary, John Thaddeus, Thomas Elwood, Herbert Joel and Abbie L. Of these children, two died in infancy, and Mary, John Thaddeus, and Abbie L. died unmarried.
James F. Bassett, or Frank as he is better known, was born at St. Anthony, Minnesota, now southeast Minneapolis, on May 10, 1853, and as a youth of thirteen years rode a pony to keep the cattle on the move in the journey to Hartford in June, 1865. His education was received in the schools of Minnesota, and he has been a man of affairs since he arrived at the age of eighteen. He has served in every position of trust and honor at the disposal of his fellow citizens in Hartford and Browerville, which speaks for the esteem in which he is held by those who knew him. For many years he has been the magistrate before whom a large number of criminal cases are heard, and Judge Bassett court has the confidence of the bar.
On November 12, 1877 he married Miss Isabella Neil, the daughter of a pioneer who emigrated from Scotland, and settled in Hartford in the sixties. To them were born three children, Thomas W., now dead, Robert H., now of Salt Lake City; and Mabel G., of Browersville.
Herbert Joel Bassett, son of John, was born at Cottage Grove, Minnesota, in 1863. He never married and now makes his home in Rapid City, S.D. He was a very small child at the time of the removal to Hartford.
Thomas Ellsworth Bassett was born at Cottage Grove, Minnesota, shortly before the removal of the Bassett family to Hartford, and he grew up in the county. He married Miss Rose Schneider, the daughter of a German settler, and to them were born the following named children: Ethel, now Mrs. Clem Bentz; Luella, now Mrs. Wilbur Sleeper; Rudolph, who married Miss Anna Hynnek; Alice, who is unmarried; Eileen, now Mrs. Earle Larsen; and a child who died in infancy.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1879 - 1944 (64 years)