WILLIAM BASSETT was born on July 11, 1772 in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, and died on February 11, 1862 in Rushville, Yates County, New York. He was the first child and eldest son of FORTUNATUS BASSETT (1742-1778) and his wife SARAH BASSETT (1747-1818).

William married ANNA BLAIR in 1796 in Augusta (now town of Potter), Yates County, New York, the daughter of JOHN BLAIR (1743-1814) and ELIZABETH HALBERT (1751-1806). Anna was born on April 5, 1776 in Chester, Hampden County, Massachusetts, and died on February 5, 1846 in Rushville, Yates County, New York.

From History and Directory of Yates County by Stafford C. Cleveland (Penn Yan, New York: 1873) Vol. II, pages 793-796:

"William BASSETT was born on the Island of Martha's Vineyard in 1772. He married Ann BLAIR of Chester, Mass., in 1796. She was born in 1776 and died in 1845. William BASSETT died in 1862. He left his paternal home very young, stopping in Connecticut until near manhood, when he came to Westmoreland and thence to Augusta in 1794, where he married and settled on the homestead farm near Rushville, on lot 11, farm range five. There they spent their days and reared their family of twelve children, ten of whom reached adult age, Nathaniel T., Polly, Sally, Emily, Alexander, Samuel, Calista, Betsy, Thomas H. and Anna.
. . .
"William BASSETT was among the early founders of the Presbyterian Church at Rushville, and together with his wife, a life long member. He filled the office of Justice of the Peace many years, and various other positions in the town, always retaining the confidence of his neighbors and associates, and was always regarded as a worthy head and farther in the community where he had spent his adult life."

1862 Obituary republished in article Wm. Bassett Early Rushville Settler in Chronicle-Express newspaper, Penn Yan, Yates County, New York, June 19, 1930, at page 14:

An Octogenarian Gone

Died at Rushville, February 11, 1862, William Bassett, Esq., in his 90th year.

He was a native of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and was four years old when independence was declared. His father was an officer in the war of the Revolution in which he made great sacrifices and suffered much. He was in the Battle of Saratoga and the taking of Burgoyne. In the winter of 1780 [sic 1778] which was the coldest ever known in this country, he was engaged in the service on an armed vessel [the brigantine General Arnold] which was overtaken with a snowstorm with such extreme cold that the vessel became wholly unmanageable from the large accumulations of ice upon her deck’s and in her rigging, and though near the shore so that her alarm guns were heard on the land, no help could reach them, and after suffering beyond the powers of language to describe for some days, 74 of the sufferers froze to death among whom was the father of the deceased. His body was obtained and found a resting place among the graves of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, from whom he was a lineal descendant.

At the age of 16 the deceased (William Bassett) accompanied an uncle to Westmoreland, a few miles west of the city of Utica, through which he passed when there were but two small houses where the city now stands. Here in the wilderness he attended the first religious meeting ever held in the country, and which he always remembered with interest.

In 1793, then being 21 years old; he left Westmoreland for a settlement; near Rushville, then the town of Augusta. Being guided by trails and Indian paths, he missed his way at Seneca Falls and reached Palmyra before he discovered his mistake. On reaching the place of his destination, he found but one white family in the present limits of the village, with a goodly number of Indian wigwams, which were more or less occupied by the natives of the forest.

At that early day he selected and purchased a most beautiful tract of (figures blurred) acres of land on which a part of the village of Rushville now stands, which he occupied and with his own hands made into one of the most desirable and valuable farms in the county, which he continued to own and to occupy till his death, a term of over 65 years.

He lived to see a beautiful village with its churches and schools spring up where he had seen only the wild Indian and the wild animals and the poisonous reptiles of the forest. In bringing about this great change, he contributed a most important share. Here he became the father of 12 children, 10 of whom lived to mature age; one of the latter is now the worthy county clerk.

He is still remembered by some of the oldest inhabitants as the first school teacher to whom they are indebted for their first rudimental instruction. In all the enterprises for the development of the county, in business, religion and education, he always took his full share of responsibility and sacrifice. He held many offices of trust, both military and civil, in which he made himself very useful, and especially as a peacemaker.

Esquire Bassett made a profession of religion in early life and united with the Congregational church whose polity he cherished with especial regard to the end of his pilgrimage. He was always earnest, sincere and active in all his religious duties, believing that Christianity could never make compromises with sin. He embraced all reforms that promised to improve the condition of men and to make them better. Slavery and intemperance never found favor with him.

With a vigorous constitution, and being temperate and regular in all his habits and thus obeying the laws of his being, he was enabled to reach a good old age, and at last yielded up life as the candle goeth out without a struggle. Having lived the life of the righteous, he died the death of the righteous and has gone to his reward. His memory will long be cherished with tender affection by the bereaved family, by the church, and by a large circle of friends and citizens. — Rushville Editor.

Children of WILLIAM BASSETT and ANNA BLAIR are:

i. JULIA A. BASSETT, died as infant.

ii. NATHANIEL T. BASSETT, b. Abt. 1799; d. February 6, 1863, Yates County, New York; m. JERUSHA HOYT; d. 1863, Evans, Erie County, New York.

iii. EMILY BASSETT, b. 1800, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. December 14, 1876, Yates County, New York.

iv. POLLY BASSETT, b. 1800, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. April 11, 1851, Gorman, Ontario County, New York; m. NATHANIEL SABIN, 1825, probably New York; b. April 6, 1788, Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts; d. July 24, 1849, Gorham, Ontario County, New York.

v. SALLY BASSETT, b. 1801, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. November 16, 1870, Yates County, New
York; m. DAVID GORDON; b. 1802, Rushville, Yates County, New York; d. January 19, 1890, Yates County, New York.

vi. ALEXANDER BASSETT, b. 1805, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. April 12, 1877, Potter, Yates County, New York; m. CYNTHIA D. PARKMAN, 1830, Potter, Yates County, New York; b. 1810, Aurelius, Cayuga County, New York; d. April 27, 1891, Yates County, New York.

vii. SAMUEL BASSETT, b. 1807, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. May 28, 1877, Yates County, New York.

viii. CALISTA D. BASSETT, b. 1809, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. January 15, 1846, Potter, Yates County, New York.

ix. BETSY BASSETT, b. 1811, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. May 3, 1889, Yates County, New York; m. WILLIAM P. BASSETT; b. Abt. 1825, New York; d. Aft. 1880.

x. THOMAS H. BASSETT, b. 1813, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. March 12, 1845, Yates County, New York; m. JULIA A. WOODBURY, Michigan City, La Porte County, Indiana; b. October 14, 1814; d. October 12, 1844, Yates County, New York.

xi. ANNA BASSETT, b. 1818, Potter, Yates County, New York; d. September 27, 1871; m. BENJAMIN H. SABIN, November 7, 1840; b. January 28, 1813, Gorham, Ontario County, New York; d. December 1, 1890.