New Britain herald., 1927-03-14
BASSE7TE FAMILY
 HISTORY PUBLISHED
Work Tells Of Matters Pertain
 ing to New Britain

Buel B. Bassette Of Emmons
 place has the satisfaction of wit
 messing the fulfillment of 20 years
 of effort as his book, "One Bas-
 sette Family in America With All
 Connections in America and Many
 in Great Britain and France"
 comes off the press. There are S77
 pages in the volume, it weighing
 nine pounds.
 The work covers to some degree
 the history of New Britain. for the
 first Bassette family here was that
 of Judge Ozias F. Bassette, who
 occupied a farm on the west side
 of South Main street in 1888 when there were hardly more than 1,500
 people in town. He was the judge
 who called the first city meeting
 of New Britain by order of the legislature, when New Britain was set off from Berlin in 1850. The
 book runs into the Lewis family also, which both Camp and An- drcWs refer to as having built the
 first house within the confines Of New Britain. This Lewis family. too, had the honor of having establish ed the first blacksmith shop in the south end of the city, just north of Christian Lane. while the Rich ards family. also covered in the book. has the honor Of having es- tablished the first blacksmith shop in the north, or Stanley Quarter section of the city. These black smith shops were the beginnings of New Britain's big industries. In Revolutionary war days the Rich ards family owned and occupied the old skinner House." pictured in Camps History, which in those days was the most prctentiou. mansion in town.
 Several features, entirely new in genealogical studies, distinguish the work. Since practically all of the material comes from the public records 1t purports to show what the ancestors did to help make America from the very beginnings of New England. However, it dif- fers from most works in that they avoid the uncomplmentary court records. while this book records the uncomplimentary with the same consistency as the compli- mentary. A complete life story of each ancestor. as told by these public records, is attempted. This covers maternal as well as patornal and, to accomplish this, each family is run in two columns, the grandmother's story appearing in the left column and the grand fathers story in the right column.
 A special new feature makes each paragraph appear with the date and reference. the original reference always taking precedence whenever available; and each para graph appears in chronological or der, each life beginning with birth and then following through town meeting, land, general court, coun- y court and probate court records. This involves nearly 200 complete wills and inventories. Quaintncss is added to the work by retaining the l original language and spelling of he ancient record quite generous-N y, this at the same time increas- | ng the historical value and the l authority Of the record. Each fam {! ly treated has at least one histori- al setting whereby some world !, igure or red letter event Of the | world at that date is weavcd ap- /! into the text. This ties ' he life into contemporary history !! md gives a little better base for i, estimating character.
 Mir Bassettc estimates that so per cent of the matter has never appeared in print before. and ap- oeals for more public interest in he matter of publishing the more lncient records of every town and ! >ourt before rust and decay eat any lecper into these old and priceless archives of New England.
 A British air force aviator, in q single scatter. flew upside down for 'Our minutes and 45 seconds thus