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- Tales of Atoka County Heritage
The Atoka County Historical Society, 1982/3
William Bassett by Ruth Ishmael
William Bassett was born in St. John's, Canada, in 1864. He was educated in the city of New York and remained with his parents until 1882, when he came to Atoka to work as a clerk for his uncle, Oliver Hebert. Mr. Hebert also had another young man by the name of D.N. Robb in his employment.
In 1885, after the death of his uncle, he married his cousin, Louisiana E. Hebert, a granddaughter of Eliza A. Flack and one-sixteenth Choctaw. He accepted a position as chief clerk in the business of Robb and Blossom and continued for many years in that capacity.
He was the owner of four-hundred acres of good farming land as well as five-hundred head of cattle. He was said to be a young man of great steadiness and sterling social qualities.
Will and Louisiana had four known children: Lillie Claire; Mamie; a son who was born in Atoka on December 13, 1892, died January 9, 1893, and was buried in the Atoka West Vie Cemetery; and Leroy Bassett, born March 15, 1895, died July 27, 1938, and is also buried in West View.
Claire was born May 7, 1886 in Atoka and was married April 3, 1910, in Atoka to William (Will) Munsey Junkapiller. He was born August 10, 1883, at Gravelly Hill, Arkansas, the son of A.B.L. Hunkapiller, a Methodist preacher in Atoka during the early 1900's. It is believed that Clair and Munsey had two children, one of whom was Bill Bassett Hunkapiller. B.B. Hunkapiller was born in Atoka on December 12, 1910, and graduated from Oklahoma University in 1932. He spent thirty years in the Army and Air Force, retiring in 1962, as a Colonel. He and his wife, Frances, reside in Winter Park, Florida, naer their children and grandchildren.
Muncy Hunkapiller was part-owner of a hardward store in Atoka which was located between Hammons Drug and Cates Drug on the north side of Court Street between Ohio and Pennsylvania Avenues, until 1919, when he moved his family to Oklahoma City. He died in Durant on April 20, 1954, and was buried in the West View Cemetery in Atoka.
Claire Bassett died June 26, 1957, in Casselberry, Florida, and was brought back to Atoka to be buried beside her husband.
Mamie Bassett, born in 1888 and died February 22, 1963, was married to Mr. Longtin and lived in Oklahoma City. She is also buried in West View.
On the election of Henry Ward to the office of County Judge, Mr. Bassett was appointed as County Clerk. He was also the third mayor of Atoka, after it was incorporated. Pete Williamson was the first mayor after incorporation.
Will Bassett was very popular and had a host of friends and acquantances in the city of Atoka. His home was the impressive large house, built in 1908, which was used as the Atoka Funeral Home until the new one was built at the west edge of town only a few years ago. He moved from Atoka during World War I and died in Oklahoma City on March 6, 1929. He is buried beside his wife, Louisiana, in West View.
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Bassett Family Association Database
Abt 1864 - 1929 (65 years)