Richard Basse Sr. (1658 - 1722)

Born 2 Aug 1658 in Nansemond County, Virginia Colony [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Bryant) Basse — married 6 Nov 1680 in Virginia Colony, British America

Husband of Mary (Burwell) Basse — married 25 Aug 1695 in Virginia Colony, British America

Descendants

Died 26 Dec 1722 at age 64 in Nansemond County, Virginia Colony

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Pamela Bass [send private message]

Biography

There is a controversy surrounding the marriage of Richard Basse to Mary Burwell, See below.

10 Richard Basse, seventh of the eight children of John and Elizabeth/Keziah Basse, is said to have been born in Nansemond County, Virginia, on August 2, 1658. This information comes from a certificate said to be in the possession of family members. The certificate says that Richard married Jane Bryant on November 6, 1680; that she died on February 14, 1690, having borne six children in nine years; and that Richard then married Mary Burwell on August 25, 1695 and had six more children by her. Dowd, Sylvestri, and the Nansemonds have produced court records proving that Jane Basse was still alive at least as late as 1701. They claim that the certificate is a forgery; that Richard never married Mary Burwell; and that the last four children (at least) attributed to Richard were probably grandchildren of John's brother Edward (who may also have married an Indian, but if so she was a Chowan rather than a Nansemond). In any case, Richard Basse is said to have died on December 26, 1722. http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/families/bass.htm

Richard, son of John Basse and Elizabeth Nansemond, was born 2 August 1658 in Nansemond, Virginia Colony. He passed away on 26 December 1722 in Nansemond.

For reference, the following certificate has been quoted in whole or in part on a number of websites. It appears to have been written in consideration of the planned move of the family of Richard Bass (Richard died in Virginia) from Virginia to North Carolina. It is purportedly held by the Bass family of Bowers Hill, Virginia, and is said to be on file at the University of Virginia Library. Confirmation of the accuracy of this certificate and its location would be appreciated.

"In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Richard Bass, son of John Bass and Keziah his wife was borned on ye Second day of August in the year of our Lord 1658. Jane Bryant was borned on ye 17th day of December in the year of our Lord 1665. They were married according to the Canons the 6th day of November Anno dom. 1680. The said Jane Bass departed this life on ye 14 of February in the year of our Lord 1689/90, the mother of Charles Basse, Samuel Basse, James Basse, Matthew Basse, Keziah Basse, and Anna Basse, all Baptized Christian persons. The said Richard Basse took to wife Mary Burwell on ye 25 day of August in the year of our Lord 1695 and begat Andrew Basse, Alexander Basse, Richard Basse, Mary Basse, Uriah Basse, and Thomas Basse, every one a Baptized Christian.

Said Richard Basse, Senior died in nansemond on ye 26 day of December 1722.

These are Peaceful Subjects of his Majtie. George I King and Defr. of Ye Faith numbered among ye nansemond People ffreeborn and worthie of ye Respectful consideration of Christians in ye Church in Carolina as in Virgina and entitled to the Same.

Wm. Rudd, M. G. and Cl. Parish of Elizabeth River in Virga."

The statement that Richard was married twice, to Jane Bryant and Mary Burwell, has been contested by the Nansemond Tribe of Virginia based on the existence of a land transaction filed in Henrico County, Virginia, dated 31 (?) February 1703/4, recorded 1 March 1703/4 for Richard Bass, Sr. of Henrico Co., in which "Jane, wife of Richard relinquished dower rights." This document has been misread; the name is actually Bays, not Bass.^[1] This Richard Bass was never in Henrico County and never owned land there.

Notes:

Here is what DNA informs us. A descendant of Richard Basse and Mry Burwell tested his DNA at FTDNA, His SNP is R-S1051 which is a subclade of the R1b1b tree.

A descendant of Richard Basse and Jane Bryant also tested their DNA and they are R-U105, which is also R1b1b.

The two are mutually exclusive S1051 is Scottish, the Scots first came to Londinium with the General Agricola who invaded the north and brought back thousands of slaves. U105 is Frisian and came to England with William in his right flank of Mercenaries, the Frisians also were traders and had been crossing the channel before and after Williams invasion in 1066.

I've done some further research and found that there were indeed two Richard Basse living in the James/Elizabeth river community at the same time.

My next comment concerns the parentage of the Richard Farrar who married Mary Burwell, was he the son of Richard and a Nansemond Indian woman, daughter of a weorance the Christianized Robyn?

The problem arises because some who claim decent from the Nansemond tribe, are aware of the will I mention below, and claim that the mother of Richard Basse who married Mary Burwell was the daughter, Keziah, of Robyn the weroance (chief) of the Nansemond Tribe

The Nansemond tribe disavows that and the extant record from a prayer book is that her name was Elizabeth, not Keziah.

Richard Basse m. Mary Burwell is my ancestor, and I am convinced that this Richard of Scottish ancestry, is not the son of John Farrar and his Nansemond wife Elizabeth. But is another Richard Basse of which there were more than one living in the James and Elizabeth river communities.

The will of Richard m. Mary Burwell

Five of his descendants have tested BigY at FTDNA, and all have the SNP R-FT375005 in their SNP tree, three are terminal SNP R-YP374005, all three also have SNP Y=YP5905 which is the terminal SNP of Farrar-393 as determined by over 20 members of the Farrar Farrow project at FTDNA testing positive for this SNP, and all are descended or claim descend from Farrar-393

A certificate held by the Bass family of Bowers Hill, Virginia states:"In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.Richard Bass, son of John Bass and Keziah his wife was borned on ye Second day of August in the year of our Lord 1658. Jane Bryant was borned on ye 17th day of December in the year of our Lord 1665. They were married according to the Canons the 6th day of November Anno dom. 1680.The said Jane Bass departed this life on ye 14 of February in the year of our Lord 1689/90, the mother of Charles Basse, Samuel Basse, James Basse, Matthew Basse, Keziah Basse, and Anna Basse, all Baptized Christian persons. The said Richard Basse took to wife Mary Burwell on ye 25 day of August in the year of our Lord 1695 and begat Andrew Basse, Alexander Basse, Richard Basse, Mary Basse, UriahBasse, and Thomas Basse, every one a Baptized Christian.Said Richard Basse, Senior died in nansemond on ye 26 day of December 1722.These are Peaceful Subjects of his Majtie. George I King and Defr. ofYe Faith numbered among ye nansemond People ffreeborn and worthie of ye Respectful consideration of Christians in ye Church in Carolina as in Virgina and entitled to the Same.Wm. Rudd, M. G. and Cl.Parish of Elizabeth River in Virga."The Nansemond tribe has a problem with the above. From their explanation of declination for membership letter, posted on the Bass Genforum:"Listed among the generations of John and Elizabeth is a son, Richard. Richard was born in 1658 and according to Bell’s book, he married Jane Bryant in 1680 and they had 6 children. Jane is said to have died February 1689/90.The book then lists Richard as marrying Mary Burwell (August 1696) and they had 7 children. Mary died after 1719. Sounds reasonable enough, Jane died, he needed someone to help out, he married Mary.Unfortunately, there exists a document in the courts that give the following information: Henrico Co., VA Deeds 1677-1705 31 Feb 1703/4/ 1 Mar 1703/4 “Richard Bass, Sr. of Henrico Co. for 1700 pads tobacco to William Lewis of same I OOA land on the north side of White Oak Swamp next to William Ferris, Richard Ferris, Nicholas Amoss and William Porter; pane of 403A. Wit: VV1/liam Blackman & C. Evans.

Sources

1. ↑ Weisiger, Benjamin B. III. Henrico County, Virginia Deeds 1677-1705, p 129.

• Source: S-2125913075 Repository: #R-2145093391 Title: Public Member Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.Original data - Family trees submitted by Ancestry members.Original data: Family trees submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. Page: Ancestry Family Tree Data: Text: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=1387159&pid=649
• Repository: R-2145093391 Name: Ancestry.com Address: http://www.Ancestry.com Note:

County Formation:

• Upper Norfolk County formed 1637 from New Norfolk County; renamed Nansemond in 1642; incorporated as City of Nansemond in 1972; merged with City of Suffolk in 1974.
• Lower Norfolk County formed 1637 from New Norfolk; became Norfolk in 1691; merged with City of Chesapeake in 1963.

Y-DNA = R1b M269 L47

Acknowledgments

• This person was created through the import of mostrecentforgramps.ged on 13 September 2010.
• Thank you to William Farrar for creating Bass-1534 on 24 Aug 13.
• WikiTree profile Basse-66 created through the import of garner ancestry_2012-08-11.ged on Aug 11, 2012 by John Stroud.
• Thank you to Jennifer Tuggle for creating WikiTree profile Basse-105 through the import of Tuggle Family Tree.ged on Dec 29, 2013.
• ancestry.com