If there is one thing I discovered about William Bassett it
is that his ancestry is still very much in question. Then, to make matters even
worse, information on William, the father, and William, the son, have been
combined, twisted and confused. I have
found reports stating that the elder Bassett was married four times when, in
fact, he was married twice and the son was also married twice. Other reports
have William, the son, married to his mother. It has been a struggle trying to
decipher who was who, when and where. I can say that I have not found any
report or record that states exactly where the elder William Bassett was born.
It is not even certain that he is the father of the William Bassett who went to
Plymouth in
1621. All circumstantial evidence points to him being the father and it does
seem probable, but there is no evidence. Interestingly, the DNA project of the
Bassett Family Assoc. show that William, the immigrant, may not have been
connected to the Kent , England ,
Bassetts.
In doing recent research on William Bassett, I have
discovered that there are at least four different locations given for his
birth. The one I’m using is Sandwich , Kent , England ,
as it was mentioned in records concerning him while he was in Leiden ,
Holland . This
does not mean this is where he was born, just that he was there before he left
for Holland . This
William was born about 1575 and was the son of Edward Bassett and Elizabeth
Lygon. He married Cecelia Light, Dec 30 1592. Cecelia died in 1606. In 1608, he
became involved with the ‘Pilgrim Church ’ at Scrooby, near York , England England
to settle in Leiden , Holland . He was to marry again, in 1611, but
his intended wife, Mary Butler, died before they could exchange vows. Yet marry
again he did, to Margaret Oldham on Aug 13 1611. William was a master mason. He
died and was buried Apr 23 1631 at St. Nicholas, Gloucestershire. I believe
this shows that he returned to England .
It is not generally believed that he went to Plymouth .
William Bassett (1600-1667) left Leiden
on the Speedwell, but it proved to be unseaworthy and returned to England .
He is believed to be the son of William (1575-1631) and Cecelia Light Bassett. But Robert Charles Anderson in The Great Migration Begins
[vol. I, p.130] says that it is "possible" that the William Bassett
of Leiden in 1611 was the father of the
immigrant to Plymouth Plymouth ,
in 1621, on the Fortune. William married Elizabeth (nee unknown – not
Tilden), in 1623 (or before), who may have been a passenger on the Fortune as well. He was a blacksmith and
a gunsmith. Blacksmith tools were found within the inventory of his personal
goods after his death. It is believed he was a well educated man since many
books, some on theology, were found in his inventory, as well. He moved to Duxbury , MA
William (1624-1670) m. Mary Raynesford – 3
children
*Nathaniel (1628-1710) m. Dorca Joyce – 10 children
Sarah (1630-1712) m. Peregrine
White – 6 children
Ruth (1633-c 1693) m. John Sprague
Joseph (c 1635-1712) m. Martha Hobart – 7
children
*Nathaniel started out in Duxbury but then moved on to Marshfield (both in
Plymouth Colony). Eventually he moved to Yarmouth ,
located on Cape Cod where he lived until his
death, at age 82. He and Dorcas had 10 children:
Samuel (c 1672-1760) m. Elizabeth Jones
Dorcas (c 1675-1707)
Nathan (1677-1723) m. Mary Crowell
*Hannah (c 1679-1741) m. Joseph Covell
Sarah (c 1689-c 1744) m. John Nickerson
William (c 1698-?) m. Martha Godfrey
Nathaniel (?-1728) m. Joanna Borden
Joseph (?-1750) m. Susanna Howes
Ruth (? - ?)
Mary (? – 1741) m. Thomas Mulford
*Hannah Bassett m. Joseph Covell, son of Nathaniel Covell
and Sarah Nickerson. Nathaniel Covell became an indentured servant of Edward
Winslow, of Marshfield in New England, on Apr 18
1653 in Chelmsford , England Boston Aug 26 1653 and
was assigned to Peregrine White, a step-son of Edward Winslow. Peregrine White
is the first English male child born on the Mayflower while it lay at anchor in
Cape Cod Bay Elizabeth
(unknown) Bassett. Through these marriages the Whites, Bassetts, Winslows,
Covells and Nickersons all became inter-related, as the ensuing generations
intermarried with each other.
*Hannah Basset and Joseph Covell’s farm was part of William
Nickerson’s land and was located on the east side of Muddy Cove. Hannah and
Joseph had 8 children:
*Sarah (1705-bef 1790) m. William Nickerson,
s/o William and Deliverance
Lombard Nickerson
Constant (c 1706-1772) m. Ebenezer Nickerson, s/o
Thomas and Mary Bangs Nickerson
James (c 1709-?) m. Mehitable
Nickerson, d/o Samuel and Hannah Hall
Nickerson
Joseph (1710-?)
Dorcas (1714-1803 m. James Nickerson, s/o
William and Deliverance
Lombard Nickerson
Hanna (?-?)
Nathaniel (?-?) m. Mary Chase
*Sarah Covell and William Nickerson had 12 children, all
born in Chatham , MA
Absalom (1724-?)
Stephen (1726-1801) went to Barrington ,
NS , Canada
Deliverance (1728-1780)
James (1730-bef 1781)
Mercy (1732-aft 1805)
*Elizabeth (1735-1826) went to Barrington ,
NS , Canada
William (1736-?)
Lumbart (1739-?)
Susanna (1741-?)
Joshua (1743-?)
Gideon (1746-?) went
to Barrington , NS , Canada
Nicholas (?-?)
At this point, my blog converges with a former blog on the
Nickersons. I will just quickly list the remaining generations.
Sarah and
Williams daughter Elizabeth:
*Elizabeth
Nickerson (1735-1826) m. Archelaus Smith (1734-1821). Their son Hezekiah –
*Hezekiah
Smith (1754-1834) m. Abigail Doane (1758-1847) Their son Stephen
*Stephen
Smith (1786-1870) m. Elizabeth Spinney (1789-1874)
Their
daughter Rachel
*Rachel Smith
(1823-1881) m. Samuel Scarr (1814-?) Their daughter Mary
Ellen
*Mary Ellen
Scarr (1854-1913) m. Henry Gordon Carmichael (1850-1910)
Their
daughter Nora
*Nora
Carmichael (1875-1921) m. Jesse Pye (1865-1940)
Nora and Jesse are my grandparents.
The Mayflower Descendant: Volume 9 1907
