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- 3B. Thomas Bassett was born in England around 1598. He married Joanna Beardsley, widow of Thomas Beardsley. Thomas came to New England in the ship "Christian" from London 16 Mar 1634/5 aged 37 years.
He served in the Pequot War in 1637. He settled in Windsor, Connecticut and was made a freeman of the Connecticut colony in April of 1646. He received a home lot of 2 1/2 acres in Fairfield, Connecticut in August of 1653 and was freed from training in Fairfield in 1659. Before removing to Fairfield he may have lived in Stratford, Connecticut for a short time.
BIOGRAPHIC NOTE [From NEHGS; NewEnglandAncestors.org.]: In 1960 Donald Lines Jacobus prepared an account of Thomas Basset, including the argument for assigning to him a son Thomas:
From: Nathan Grier Parke II, THE ANCESTRY OF LORENZO ACKLEY & HIS WIFE, EMMA ARABELLA BOSWORTH, Donald Lines Jacobus, ed. (Woodstock, Vermont, 1960), p. 244: (FHL Film # 1015822 item 9) "... It is supposed (1) that this Thomas Bassett [1660] was the son of Thomas Bassett [1598] of Fairfield, and (2) that his wife Sarah was the daughter of Josiah Baldwin of Milford. Neither of these suppositions has been proved. "THE REPORTS OF THE SECOND REUNION OF OF THE BASSETT FAMILY ASSOCIATION (New Haven, 1898), page 16 states 'Thomas Bassett, who located and died at Fairfield, Conn. had a son Thomas who married Sarah, daughter of John Baldwin, of Milford, Conn., where he located.' It is known that Thomas Bassett [1598] left children, but no proof has been found who they were. By elimination of other possible fathers in the Bassett families of western Connecticut, it seems extremely probable that Thomas [1660] of Milford was the son of Thomas [1598] of Fairfield." See the full account of the Bassetts in Milford in he above referenced Ackley-Bosworth paper, pp. 244–46; see also FOOF [FAMILIES OF OLD FAIRFIELD] 1:34–35].
LIFE HISTORY: Thomas1 Bassett, aged 37, came on the Christian in 1635, hence he was born about 1598. He is credited with service in the Pequot War (1637), though without authority and probably mistakenly. On 9 Apr. 1640 he was made a freeman as an inhabitant of Windsor, Conn. He was still there in 1644, but moved to Fairfield, leaving scarcely a record of himself at Windsor. On 19 May 1659, Thomas Bassett of Fairfield was freed from Military training. That was doubtless because he had passed the age of 60. [Ref.: John. Hotton, The Original lists (1874), 42; Colonial Records of Conn. , 1:46, 102, 336.]
Presumably he was married while living in Windsor, but it is doubtful that he had surviving children, as no mention of children is found in either the vital or church records of Windsor, nor in the record of children born at Windsor made by Matthew Grant. The wife may have been a woman of peculiar and unsocial temperament, for we suppose she was the "Goody Bassett" who was accused of witchcraft at Stratford in 1651, tried, found guilty, and executed. It thus appears that Thomas sojourned for a time at Stratford, but in August 1653 he received a homelot of 2 1/2 acres in Fairfield. [Ref.: Donald L. Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, 1:34-35.]
Whether he had any family at the time, we are not informed; but he married second, after 1656, Joanna, widow of Thomas Beardsley of Fairfield; a woman much younger than himself, as she was born about 1634. On 25 Nov. 1661, he sold the house of Thomas Beardsley as his "successor." In May 1666 he testified, aged 68, as did his wife Johanna, aged 32, in the trial of the wanton Mary Benfield. This statement of his age identifies him with the immigrant on the Christian.
He was one of the four "poor men" whose debts to him were forgiven by Dr. Pell in his will in 1669. He died prior to 14 Jan. 1669/70, when the inventory of his estate was taken. A widow and children were mentioned but not named. His administrators sold an acre in "Concord Field," 4 May 1678, and Thomas Dickerson acknowledged next year that his father had given the acre to Bassett (Fairfield LR A:366). [Ref.: Donald L. Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, 1:34-5.] [Source: Nathan Grier Parke II, THE ANCESTRY OF LORENZO ACKLEY & HIS WIFE, EMMA ARABELLA BOSWORTH, Donald Lines Jacobus, ed. (Woodstock, Vermont, 1960), p. 245: (FHL Film # 1015822 item 9)
OCCUPATION: Carpenter (carpentry tools appraised separately from rest of estate.) [From NEHGS New England Ancestors.org.]
Thomas Bassett got land at Windsor CT in 1641. In 1650 he sold his land at Windsor and moved to Fairfield County CT. Goody Bassett, his wife, who confessed to witchcraft at a Stratford court in 1651, is most likely Thomas' wife. She may have been executed but their is no record of her execution.
REMOVED TO WINDSOR: In June 1635, Thomas joined the Francis Stiles party [sent out by Sir Richard Saltonstall] to settle on the Great [Connecticut] River near what is now Windsor. [See The Memorial History of Hartford County Connecticut, by J. Hammond Trumbull LLD Vol 1. pp. 501, 546.]
Becomes a FREEMAN. on 9 April 1640 "Tho[mas] Bassette was one of eleven Windsor men made free at a Connecticut Court of Election." [CCCR 1:46]. [From NEHGS; NewEnglandAncestors.org.]
LAND: "On 9 February 1640/1 Thomas Bassett of Windsor deeded to Francis Gibbs of Windsor ‘one parcel of land on the north side of the rivulet in the pallisado containing one acre and quarter.' " [WiLR 1:86] [From NEHGS; NewEnglandAncestors.org.] For map showing location, see The Memorial History of Hartford County Connecticut, by J. Hammond Trumbull LLD Vol 1. p. 498
Thomas lived just over the county line from Stratford--in Fairfield Co. He died in Fairfield about 1680 [See: DEATH below.]. He left a widow who perhaps was a second wife if his first was executed. Source: Film #0002995 (SLC) Bassett Family History by Frank G. Bassett.
POSSIBLE FIRST MARRIAGE: Indication of first marriage: "On 15 May 1651 the ‘Governor, Mr. Cullick and Mr. Clarke are desired to go down to Stratford to keep court upon the trial of Goody Bassett for her life, and if the Governor cannot go, then Mr. Wells is to go in his room' [CCCR 1:220]." [From NEHGS New England Ancestors.org.]
LAND: On 18 August 1653, the Town of Fairfield "granted unto Thomas Bassett one homelot containing in quantity two acres & half" [Fairfield LR A:43]. On 25 November 1661, Thomas Bassett sold to Richard Vowells "Thomas Beardsly deceased his dwelling house & homelot ... in quantity two acres & half"; Bassett acknowledged the sale as "the successor of the said Beardsly" [Fairfield LR A:105]. On 24 May 1664, Thomas Bassett sold to Robert Beechem ... one dwelling house with three acres of land adjoining" [Fairfield LR A:162]. [From NEHGS: NewEnglandAncestors.org.]
POSSIBLE SECOND MARRIAGE: "After July 1656 Joanna ( ) Beardsley, widow of Thomas Beardsley of Fairfield (When the 5 July 1656 inventory of Thomas Beardsley was brought to court, his widow acknowledged it, and, although the record book was damaged by fire, ‘Johanna Be— ‘ can still be read." [From NEHGS New England Ancestors.org.]
DEATH: Died prior to 14 Januay 1669/70 (See ESTATE below.) List death year as 1669.
ESTATE: "The inventory of ‘the estate of Thomas Bassett deceased in Fairfield,' presented at court 14 January 1669/70, totaled £58[?] 5s. in household goods and cattle and £5 15s. 6d. in carpentry tools; the widow was appointed administratrix, and was ordered to sell the tools, sheep and hogs to pay the debts, and then report to the next court, which would ‘proceed to a final settlement of the estate and children'; The court of 11 March 1669/70 ordered the administration to be continued [Fairfield PR 2:41] .(The total for the column of household goods and cattle does not seem to match the individual figures in the column, even if the amount for the carpentry tools is added in.)" [From NEHGS New England Ancestors.org.]
ESTATE: "On 26 July 1679 , wheras ‘the administrators of Thomas Basset deceased did formerly sell unto Samuell Moorehouse an acre of land in Concord Field, the said Samuell having received a record of the said land, the record bearing date the 4 of May 1678, Thomas Dickerson doth acknowledge that his father Dickerson did give to Thomas Bass[ett] the said acre of land' [Fairfield LR A:366]." [From NEHGS: NewEnglandAncestors.org.]
See also: Biography of Thomas Bassett. The Great Migration; NewEnglandAncestors.org.
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Bassett Family Association Database
Abt 1598 - 1669 (71 years)