Notes |
- Northwest Iowa Conference Journal, 1958, p. 248.(United Methodist Church)
Thaddeus Stevens Bassett
Thaddeus Stevens Bassett was born on September 29, 1868, in
Blairstown, Iowa. After having been a printer and farm laborer, he attended
Cornell College and graduated in 1893. Shortly thereafter, on October 1
1893, he married Miss Emma O. Naumann, who had been a fellow student at
Cornell. In September of the same year, he had joined the Northwest Iowa
Conference and, except for two years, was to remain a member of that
Conference and its successor North Iowa Conference throughout his life. He
later attended Iliff School of Theology and many years later was given the
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Cornell College.
In Northwest Iowa the family lived in the various communities of
Jolley, Newell, Graettinger, Wall Lake, Onawa, Sheldon, Manson, Clear Lake,
Primghar, Hartley, Inwood, Sioux City, Rolfe, Marathon, and Goldfiel
addition to his various pastorates, Dr. Bassett served at different times as
Secretary of the Conference Claimants Pension Fund; Field Secretary of the
Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, and for the six years from 1925 to 1931
as Superintendent of the Sioux City District.
After retirement in 1942, he spent six years with the Goodwill
Industries of Sioux City. At the time that Friendship Haven was opened in Fort
Dodge, he went there as Chaplain and was active in that capacity as long as
his health permitted.
Death came to him at his Friendship Haven home on February 8, 1958,
and he was buried at Graceland Park Cemetery in Sioux City, Iow
Mrs. Bassett preceded her husband in death in May of 1939. Two sons
survive, Thaddeus B. Bassett of Manhasset, New York, and H.N. Bassett of
Washington, D.C.
These words written at the time of his retirement tell us of the many
accomplishments of a long and useful ministry:
"In the earlier years, he held charges that were semi-pionee
later years he built churches, remodeled parsonages, conducted revival meetings,
won youth and adults to the Christian life, strengthened the believers, and
led young men into the ministry. He was selected by the conference to be its
secretary for five successive years; he was the leader in the establishing of
the Minister's Pension Fund, raising the first $100,000; he served a term of
six years as Superintendent of the Sioux City District, while in that office
he dedicated the Methodist Hospital, the Women's Dormitory, and Wall Street
Mission, and was trustee of Morningside College, the Methodist Hospital, the
Pension Fund, and President of the Conference Board of Missions."
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