Contents [hide]

Basset History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

United States Canada Australia West Indies

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Basset History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
France

Early Origins of the Basset family

The surname Basset was first found in Forez, a former province of France, now part of the modern Loire département, the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme départements, where the family held a family seat from very early times.

Early History of the Basset family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Basset research. Another 289 words (21 lines of text) covering the years 1447, 1470, 1520, 1549, 1600, 1609, 1612, 1639, 1645, 1657, 1673, 1675, 1690, 1715, 1746 and 1759 are included under the topic Early Basset History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Basset Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Besset, Bessez, Besser, Bessey, Bessé, Bessée, Bezet, Bezez, Bezer, Bezé, Bezée, Bessait, Bessais, Bessaie, Bessaies, Bezait, Bezais, Bezaie, Bezaies, Du Besset, Du Bessez, Du Besser, Du Bessé, Du Bezet, Du Bezez, Du Bezer, Du Bezé, Du Bessait, Du Bessais, Du Bessaie, Du Bessaies, Du Bezait, Du Bezais, Du Bezaie, Du Bezaies, De Besseto, Bessette and many more.

Early Notables of the Basset family

More information is included under the topic Early Basset Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Basset Ranking

In France, the name Basset is the 709^th most popular surname with an estimated 6,833 people with that name. 1

Basset migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Basset Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

William Basset, from Middlesex, who arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 aboard the ship "Fortune" 2
Mrs. Elizabeth Basset, from Middlesex who arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 aboard the ship "Fortune" 3
William Basset in Virginia in 1622
George Basset in Virginia 1637
Francis Basset, who arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in 1682 2
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Basset Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Thomas Basset, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1700 2
John Basset, who arrived in Virginia in 1754 2
Claude Basset, who settled in Louisiana in 1756
Mrs. Marie Josephe Basset, (nee Richard), (b. 1755), aged 30, French widow traveling aboard the ship "L'Amitie" arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana on 8th November 1785 4
Miss Marie Basset, (b. 1780), aged 5, French settler traveling aboard the ship "L'Amitie" arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana on 8th November 1785 4

Basset Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

James Basset, aged 25, who arrived in New York in 1849 2

Basset migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Basset Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

Francois Basset, who landed in Quebec in 1643
Mr. Jean Basset, French settler travelling to Canada to work for Antoine Grignon, Pierre Gaigneur, and Jacques Massé, arriving on 22nd March 1657 5
Benigne Basset, who landed in Montreal in 1657
Jean Basset, aged 17, who landed in Canada in 1657

Basset Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Isaac Basset, who landed in Nova Scotia in 1749

Basset migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Basset Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

John Basset, aged 23, who arrived in South Australia in 1849 aboard the ship "William Money" 6
Mr. James Basset, (b. 1830), aged 21, Cornish settler convicted in Cornwall, UK on 29th July 1848, sentenced for 15 years for setting fire to a workshop that belonged to his employer, Mr. Coleridge, at Penzance, transported aboard the ship "Mermaid" on 30th December 1850 to Western Australia, Australia 7
Mr. Joseph Basset, (b. 1828), aged 30, Cornish settler convicted in Bodmin, Cornwall, UK on 28th July 1856, sentenced for life for burglary in the house of Mrs. Ryan at Falmouth, transported aboard the ship "Nile" on 18th September 1857 to Western Australia, Australia 7

Basset migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 8

Basset Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Henry Basset, who landed in Barbados in 1663 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Basset (post 1700) +

René Basset (1919-2021), French photographer who received the Niépce Prize in 1958
Anne Charles Basset de Montaigu, French Divisional General during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1789 to 1815 9
Francis Basset (1715-1769), Cornish landowner and politician
Sarah Basset (d. 1730), slave and alleged witch in the British colony Bermuda in the West Indies
Frances Basset (1781-1855), 2nd Baroness Basset, British peeress
Francis Basset FRS (1757-1835), 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset, an English nobleman and politician
John Basset (1791-1843), English writer on Cornish mining
Delfin Carbonell Basset (b. 1938), contemporary lexicographer
Basset Maguire, American Botanist

Citations +

http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Pilgrim Ship's of 1600's Retrieved January 6th 2023, retrieved from https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shiplist.htm
7 Ships Acadian Expedition of 1785. Retrieved 14th October 2021 from http://www.acadian-cajun.com/7ships.htm
Debien, Gabriel. Liste Des Engagés Pour Le Canada Au XVIIe Siècle. Vol. 6, Laval University, 1952. (Retreived 24th May 2018). Retrieved from https://lebloguedeguyperron.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/130-liste-des-contrats-dengagement-pour-la-nouvelle-france-releves-a-la-rochelle-entre-1634-et-1679/
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) "WILLIAM MONEY" 1848-49. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1849WmMoney.htm
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retrieved 30th May 2018). Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_australia_convicts.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789-1815. (Retrieved 2015, February 11) Anne Basset. Retrieved from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/c_frenchgenerals.html