Family:Joseph Bassett and Josephine Winne (1)

Family History

Joseph and Josephine Bassett came to Michigan from Tennessee--Crosswell, in Cumberland County, by oxcart when Rose was seven years old. They first settled in St. John's, Ingham County, thence to either Muskegon or Montague then to Whitehall. Their children were:

Louis or Lewis--it was spelled both ways--who later lived in Montague and then Muskegon (buried next to Rose?). Rose Abigail m. John Lewis, Jr. Lillian m. Henry Klett Russell Eva Jane m. a Strandberg Willard Emory Winnie (Winifred?) m. a Foose

Joseph Bassett was a saw filer who worked in the Lumber Mill.

Biography by Denise M. Otis

THE JOSEPH AND JOSEPHINE (WINNIE) BASSETT FAMILY

The information for this family is from the research of Robert Hubbard combined with ours.

The first record we have of this family is the census of 1880 when they lived in the village of Montague, Michigan. During the census of 1884 and 1894, they are living in Whitehall Village. From 1885 - 1896 Joseph worked as a laborer at Montague Basket Company; a machine hand at Linderman and Gray Manufacturing Company; a sawyer at Novelty Manufacturing Company; a machine hand at Errickson, Steffee & Company; and a machine hand, residence on the corner of Slocum & Livingston.

From 1889 - 1895 son Lewis is a shingle weaver and boards with Joseph. Mr. Hubbard thought he must have worked for the Nufer Cedar Works in Whitehall and comments that it was the last of the mills in operation on White Lake and the last to make shingles. Son Willard is a clerk with Gee & Carr in 1897, boarding with Joseph until he moved to Chicago in 1902.

In 1897, Joseph appears on the Muskegon County Rural Area Directory living in section 8 of Fruitland Township. His son Lewis had lived across the road in section 17 since 1895. These are shown on the Fruitland Township Plat Map of 1900, next page. Joseph is still shown as a machine hand, residence corner of Slocum and Livingston in Whitehall, and Lewis as a shingle weaver who boards with Joseph on the corner of Slocum and Livingston. This continues until 1904 - 1905 when Lewis moved to Montague, Michigan. This was the last entry for Joseph. Mr. Hubbard has this to say,

I don't understand the set up of John and Lewis Bassett. According to the directories and maps they lived in Whitehall and also owned farm property in Fruitland Township. They may have lived on the farm in the summer and wintered in Whitehall.

Our deeds don't give any answers. We need to do a more thorough search for the Bassett's deeds on our next trip. From our trip in 1995, we have only one deed for land sold on 19 March 1906, 13 days after Joseph passed away. (There was no probate record for Joseph.) The 40 acres of land in Fruitland Township, SW of SW of section 8 as shown on the map, was sold to Josephine from her children at the cost of $1.00 (sic) to each child. The deed lists the children as follows: Lewis and Louise Bassett (husband and wife as said in the deed), Willard E. Bassett (single), Rosa A. Lewis, Lillian A.M. Klett, Eva J. Strandberg, Winifred Foose, with Henry Klett as Witness.

Of interest to this puzzle is this information from Joseph's and Josephine's obituaries from the "Whitehall Forum": "J.N. Bassett passed away at his home in this village . . ." and "Mrs. Josephine Bassett passed out of this life at her home in this village . . . ."

Shortly after our first trip to Muskegon County, Dad received a letter from Oakhurst Cemetery about perpetual upkeep of the lot. In it we found the address of [living], grandson of Lillian Bassett-Klett. I wrote to [living] requesting family information and possibly pictures. This is part of his letter:

I remember Josephine lived with Frank Strandberg, my uncle and my aunt (my grandmother's sister). Josephine as I remember was bed ridden most of the time and was a small woman who wore her hair in a bun on the back of her head. I have no recollection of Joseph Bassett at all. The Strandbergs had two sons, Harold and Merle, who have been gone numerous years. Merle did not have children. Harold had a boy and a girl. Can't recall their names or what happened to them.

I don't remember any of the Lewis family except Lon and Hazel Lewis who lived in Pontiac, Michigan. They didn't have any children and both are gone now. I don't remember Rose Lewis who was my grandmother's sister. The other sister Winifred (Aunt Winnie--that's what we called her) was married to Millard Foose. They had three sons, Raymond, Ralph, and Don who have also passed away numerous years ago along with their wives. They all had children but I can't tell you anything about them (sorry).

Very sincerely, [living]