i.
"Mr" William BASSETT was born in 1624.
ii.
Elizabeth BASSETT was born in 1626 in MA.
2134 iii.
Nathaniel BASSETT.
iv.
Joseph BASSETT.
v.
Sarah BASSETT.
vi.
Ruth BASSETT.
vii.
Jane BASSETT. 8492. "Pioneer"
William BASSETT was born in 1595 in Stepney, England. He was baptized
in 1600 in Sandwich, England. He died in 1667 in Bridgewater, Plymouth Co.,
Massachusetts. 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.
He was married to Elizabeth on 13 Aug 1611 in Leyden, Holland.
8493. Elizabeth died in 1649/50 in Duxbury, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts.
Children were:
i.
"Mr" William BASSETT was born in 1624.
ii.
Elizabeth BASSETT was born in 1626 in MA.
2134 iii.
Nathaniel BASSETT.
iv.
Joseph BASSETT.
v.
Sarah BASSETT.
vi.
Ruth BASSETT.
vii.
Jane BASSETT.
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