|
||||||
| Spouses: | ||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
| Notes for William BASSETT | ||||||
| Some records have John married to Margaret OLDHAM. 696William Basset, one of the forefathers, came over in the ship Fortune in 1621; settled first in Plymouth, then in Duxbury, and finally in Bridgewater - of which town he was an original proprietor. He died there in 1667. He was comparatively wealthy, being a large landholder, only four in Plymouth paying a higher tax in the year 1633. He had a large library, from which is to be inferred that he was an educated man. William came on the Ship Fortune; resided at Duxbury and Bridgewater, Mass.; was a gunsmith and metal worker. The Bassett family in Sandwich, England is Huguenot per Barber's "British Family Names"{-"The Trail of the Huguenots...," G. Elmore Reaman (Toronto: Thomas Allen Ltd., 1963, p.263)} William is of the Sandwich, England and Bethnal Green, Middlesex line.{-"Saints and Strangers", G.F.Williston, and "The Pilgrim Reader".} The surname appears in 1066--Thurstine de Bassett was Grand Falconer to the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. The name is thereafter notable in England - in the Domesday Book as well as the Battle Abbey Roll. Thurstine built Beaupre Castle near Cambridge in Glamorgan, Wales, soon after the Conquest, and his son Ralph was Lord Chief Justice of England under King Henry I. Another Bassett castle is at Tehidy Park in Camborne, Cornwall; this line had large incomes from mining. Two Bassetts were among the King's counsellors at the signing of the Magna Charta. The Leyden, Holland record indicates that "Pioneer" William Bassett came from Sandwich, England, a master mason, widower of Cecelia Light. William was Representative, 1640-44; with Gov. Bradford and others he joined in the purchase of Dartmouth and moved to Bridgewater, Mass. in 1652. Arriving in 1621, he was one of the "purchasers", first in Plymouth with his wife, Elizabeth, and son, William, and daughter, Elizabeth, and took part in the division of cattle in 1627; then resided at Duxbury; then was among the first settlers and a proprietor of Bridgewater. "Pioneer" William Bassett was baptised at Stepney, 24 Oct 1600, per Charles Edward Banks, "The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers" (Balt.:Gen.Pub.Co., 1971), p.106, who also states that he arrived in America never married and married there before the land division of 1623! "The Mayflower Planters" (Balt.: Gen.Pub.Co.) lists William who arrived on the Fortune in 1621 as married to Margaret Oldham and settled in Duxbury, an "iron monger from Bethnal, Co. Middlesex," whose father is John Bassett. Also see the "Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families." (Note: Mary and Elizabeth are often the same name - Mary Oldham may be Elizabeth Bassett.) Cf. "Plymouth Colony," Eugene Stratton, pp. 242-3; "One Bassett Family in America," Buell Burdett Bassette (New Britain, Conn.: 1926), pp. 1-10. | ||||||
| Last Modified 20 Nov 2001 | Created 6 Jan 2007 by EasyTree for Windows |