John Bassett - Mary (Surname Unknown) Family Group

What We Know About This Family

An Overview of Their Lives

John Bassett was a shoreman who moved from Lynn to Marblehead early in his adult life. He named his surviving children in his will written 16 Jan 1635 when he was "weak in body," The will was administered 9 Feb 1736. His wife survived him, and he named his children: John, William, and Michael Bassett and daughters: Sarah Fortune, Merriam Fryar, Deborah Andrews, Abigail Andrews, and Hannah Pearce. Son William did not survive him, and his portion went to his heirs.

Additional Information about the Children

• John Bassett was a mariner, and his probate distribution included the names of his children: John Bassett, Sarah Lewis, Deliverance Morgan, Rebecca Harris, and Charity Bassett. John and his wife, Charity Curtis, were our direct ancestors and have their own family group page,
  


• Hannah Bassett married Richard Pierce (spelled many different ways). The Pierce family was made known to me when I researched Nicholas Merritt. The Pierces first settled in Maine, but fled the Indian attacks to Marblehead, as did the family of Nicholas's wife, Elizabeth Ashton. Richard, a coaster/fisherman, was the brother of John Pierce, who married Elizabeth Merritt, and a brother of Robert Pierce, who married Mary Merritt. Elizabeth and Mary were the daughters of Nicholas and Elizabeth Ashton Merritt, as was our direct ancestor Jean Merritt Pedrick. Richard, John, and Robert's sister, Mary, married Edward Surriage. Their daughter, Agnes, was a Marblehead legend having won the heart of Sir Charles Frankland when he spotted her as a teenager washing floors bare-footed at the Fountain Inn where she worked to help supplement her large family's meager income. She became his "ward" for many years, and then his wife. They split their married years between the opulent mansion he built in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and his estate in England. After his death, Lady Frankland retired temporarily to the Massachusetts mansion where she remained close to her Surriage nieces and nephews. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War made her presence as a member of the English gentry unsafe, so she returned to her husband's estate in England where she remarried and lived the remainder of her life. The Hopkinton estate was left to Isaac Surriage, who had married Ruhamah Pedrick, the daughter of our ancestors Richard and Jean Merritt Pedrick. Lady Frankland's rags-to-riches story as told by Sidney Perley is in the documents section.


• William Bassett, a shoreman, married a woman named Mary. We know her only as his widow in his probate, which was administered in January 1737. Mary married George Wills 30 May 1737.


• Michael Bassett married Huldah Hood, the niece of Sarah Hood, who had been one of the Bassetts accused of witchcraft in 1692. Sarah was the wife of his Uncle William. Michael's estate was probated 1 Feb 1748. In February of 1749, Huldah's son John was designated guardian of his three siblings Hannah, Mary, and Michael, who were all between 14 and 21 at that date. A letter from the three of them asked that their brother John be granted guardianship. On 22 Aug 1757, Huldah submitted a letter of complaint to the probate officials stating that the administrator, John Bassett, had exhibited "bad management and greedy mind" in taking the left side of the estate, and that the administration should be reviewed. I assume this John Bassett was her son. The letter was signed by both Huldah and her son-in-law, Abraham Roundy, husband of Content. On Aug 8 of the same year, Huldah was designated as guardian to Michael. A committee was assigned to appraise the real estate and divide it fairly. The committee so acted, and divisions were made. Whether Huldah and Constant were satisfied cannot be determined. Of course, also unrecorded and unknown is whether the family was able to reconcile after this discontent.


• Deborah Bassett married twice. I could not find the profession of her first husband Nicholas Andrews, but their two sons both adopted the wig-making profession of their step father, Joshua Kimball. Joshua and Deborah had four children who grew to have varying trades in various places: John Kimball, a wig maker in Cumberland, Maine; Joshua Kimball, a tanner in Marblehead and later in Maine; Daniel Kimball, a mariner in Marblehead, and Deborah Kimball, wife of Marblehead cordwainer Benjamin Hawkes.


• Abigail Bassett survived her father and was mentioned in his will as "Abigail Andrews." There is no marriage record for her. There are baptismal records of children born to Thomas and Abigail Andrews in the correct time period. These children were named: Abigail, Sarah, Thomas, Francis, and George Andrews. Her sister's first husband, Nicholas Andrews, had a brother, Thomas. All these persons are possible relations to Abigail, but we have no proof.

Proof of Relationship

Genealogical publishings and probate material are our best proof of relationship for the Bassetts.

What Else We Need to Learn

The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information of each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line.

The research on this family is mostly complete. Perhaps one day, the families of John Sr.'s wife, Mary, and John Jr.'s wife Charity Curtis, may be found as well as the identity of Abigail's husband.