Robert Bassett (abt. 1614 - abt. 1670)

Born about 1614 in England

Husband of Mary (Unknown) Bassett — married about 1640 in New Haven Colony

Descendants

Died about 1670 at about age 56 in Hempstead, Long Island, New York [uncertain]

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Biography

Robert was born 1614 in England. He died circa 1670 in Hempstead, Long Island.^[1]

Robert Bassett was known as "Robert the Drummer." He removed from New Haven, Connecticut to Stamford, Connecticut about 1650. From there he went to Hempstead, Long Island after 1654 where he died in 1670 or 1676. He also was in Westchester County, NY.

Robert BASSETT ^[2] " ... was in New Haven in 1643, and was a shoemaker and town drummer; removed to Stratford

Robert married Mary in 1638 .^[3]

... this same Robert Bassett as a leader, with others, in 1653, made considerable stir on Stratford and Stamford against the government of the plantation which would not allow a man to vote unless he was a member of the church, and was tried for the offense at New Haven, but was excused upon some acknowledgments of error."^[4]

"He was known as 'Robert the Drummer.' He removed from New Haven to Stamford, about 1650, and from there he went to Hempstead, Long Island ..." he was in Long Island by 1654.

31st December 1656 Sunday. Mr. Baly made a prayer, which being concluded one Robbert Basset read a Sermon from a printed Book composed and Published by an English Minister in England.... In the evening we were invited to supper to Robbert Basset's, and having taken our leave we went to sleep at John Lords house. ^[5]

The following story appears on the Basset Family Website:

The documentary history of the state of New York, Volume 3 By Christopher Morgan, Edmund B. O'Callaghan Papers Relating to Westchester County 31st December 1656 Sunday. Mr. Baly made a prayer, which being concluded one Robbert Basset read a Sermon from a printed Book composed and Published by an English Minister in England.... In the evening we were invited to supper to Robbert Basset's, and having taken our leave we went to sleep at John Lords house; - - -

The following is from New England Ancestors, Winter 2008 - Volume 9, Number 1 Tales From The Courthouse Drinking with the Drummer by Diane Rapaport:

Robert Bassett, the town drummer, stood in the market square of 1640s New Haven every morning, waking residents with a thumping reveille. He drummed to assemble the populace for Sabbath meeting; he drummed to summon the militia on training day; he drummed to herald the start of a court session; he drummed for emergencies, when ships arrived in the harbor, and on many other occasions. All of that drumming required time and energy but did not bring Robert much money - four pounds was the annual salary funded from town coffers - and Robert had a young family to support and a mortgage to pay on his house "by the creek". When not drumming, Robert farmed his land and supplemented his income by making shoes, working at the shipyard, and taking whatever jobs he could find. Late one summer evening in 1648, he tried a new moneymaking venture, when ten thirsty sailors showed up at Robert's house "and called for sack".

Sack was the seventeenth century name for Spanish or Portuguese wine, and somehow, Robert had acquired a large quantity. He did not have a tavern license, but the sight of ten men at his doorstep, all ready to pay cash for alcohol, encouraged Robert to think creatively. Although the law prohibited dispensing small quantities of alcohol without a license, Robert knew of no rules regulating the retail sale of liquor in large quantities. Therefore, Robert convinced himself that nothing would be wrong with selling sack to the seamen, and letting them drink it in his house, as long as they bought enough of it. Three quarts, Robert decided, was a large enough amount. The men happily paid, and drank, and when they wanted more, Robert continued to dispense sack in three-quart amounts.

Before long, the men were "in their cups" and quarreling. A captain insulted a boatswain named Badger, calling him "Brother Loggerhead," and Badger challenged the captain to go outside and fight. They fell "first to wrestling, then to blows," but soon the struggle grew so fierce that the captain feared "the boatswain would have pulled out his eyes.... In this rage and distemper they tumbled on the ground, down the hill into the creek and mire, "shamefully wallowing" there. A mariner named Charles Higginson jumped into the fray, "siding with the boatswain", and the outnumbered captain, thinking that he was about to be murdered, broke away and yelled for help, running "about the street crying, 'Ho, the watch!'" All this noise alerted the night watchman, who rushed to the rescue. The captain stumbled back to shore for a hasty retreat, while Badger "fell a swearing....as if he were not only angry with men, but would provoke the high and blessed God". When the captain arrived at "the water side," however, he discovered that the tides were not cooperating with his escape, so he "returned to Robert Bassett's house, and there the boatswain fell upon him again". This time, instead of brawling in the street, the two men thrashed about and tried to kill each other inside the house, as Robert's wife and child screamed in terror. Robert, of course, had to do something to protect his family and to end this failed experiment in bartending. He "thrust the (captain) out of doors", threatening to "beat out his teeth" and "make him suck as long as he lived".

By now, although it was late at night and long past curfew, a crowd was gathering outside Robert's house. "The disorder was very great and very offensive, both to ye neighbors" and to others in the town, since "the noise and oaths (could be) heard to the other side of the creek". Somehow, in the confusion, the captain ran off again and managed, on this second try, to reach his ship and leave the harbor. Robert, Higginson, and Badger, however, were arrested and thrown into jail.

A few days later, released on bail, Robert appeared in court to answer for "several miscarriages, to the great provocation of God, (and) the disturbance of ye peace". An honest man, he denied nothing about the wild night of drinking and fighting; in fact, Robert confessed (and we can almost imagine him smiling wryly as he said this) that "he had not seen the like since he came (to New Haven)". But the judges were not amused. First, they scoffed at Robert's peculiar idea that he could legally sell "large" (but not small) quantities of liquor at his house without a license - "a most perverse interpretation and abuse of" the law, they said, "as if the court would further drunkenness, forcing men to drink more than they desired". Surely Robert should have known better, the judges decided, and they found him guilty - not only of allowing men "to come in, spend their money and sit drinking at such unseasonable hours," but also of "quarreling and threatening, with the spirit...of a man distempered with rage or drink". His punishment was a hefty five-pound fine. The other men got off with comparatively light sanctions. The captain (who sailed beyond the court's jurisdiction, perhaps with a mouthful of broken teeth) never appeared in court.

From Robert's perspective, his five-pound fine - more money than he earned all year as town drummer - probably seemed excessive punishment for someone who merely made a mistake about the liquor laws and then tried to restore order when other people misbehaved. He refused to pay the fine and demanded that the judges reconsider, but they were unsympathetic. Robert tried to raise more money at "ship work", but that kept him so busy in the fall of 1648 that he forgot to beat the drum for training day - with the result that the militia failed to show up. Robert remembered to drum the next time judges convened in New Haven, but he went home after the drumming and lingered so long over breakfast that he was late to court (where the local sergeant was complaining about Robert's training-day neglect). When Robert finally arrived in court, he argued and made excuses, and although the judges seemed annoyed, they decided to "pass it by for this time, without a fine".

The next summer, Robert notified New Haven officials of his serious financial problems, owing to "some loss he hath had", and his "doubts (about) whether he shall ever be able to pay" off the loan for his house. Perhaps that five-pound fine threw Robert too far into debt, or he was simply growing weary of drumming and disgruntled with life in New Haven. Whatever the reason, Robert soon resettled his family forty miles down the coast at the new town of Stamford.

But the long arm of New Haven authority reached even there, for New Haven claimed jurisdiction over Stamford. Robert became a leading spokesman for Stamford settlers, protesting New Haven rule, and he openly declared that "we can have no justice" from the New Haven courts. He ended up a prisoner for fomenting rebellion (a story worthy of another "Tales" column), and he was appointed chief drummer for a Stamford military expedition against the Dutch - a fight that never occurred. Maybe life still was not exciting enough for Robert after that, or he wanted (like the sack-drinking captain) to move beyond New Haven's jurisdiction. In 1654 he sailed his family across Long Island Sound, to try his luck in the New York Colony.

Research Notes

It has been suggested that Goodwife Bassett, who was executed as a witch in Stratford, Connecticut, in 1651, or soon thereafter, was the wife of Robert Bassett. ^[6] This was refuted by Donald Lines Jacobus.^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven vol. 1, p. 145.
2. ↑ Samuel Orcutt, History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880 (1880, Reprint: Bowie, Maryland, Heritage Books, Inc., 1998), p. 695.
3. ↑ Torrey, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700 page 50
4. ↑ Rev. Hollis A. Campbell, William C. Sharpe and Frank G. Bassett, Seymour Past and Present (Seymour, Connecticut, W. C. Sharpe, 1902), p. 379.
5. ↑ The documentary history of the state of New York, Volume 3 By Christopher Morgan, Edmund B. O'Callaghan Papers Relating to Westchester County
6. ↑ Orcutt, Samuel. The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880 (Springfield Printing Co., Springfield, Mass. 1880) Page 695.
7. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven vol. 4, pp. 953-955.

• http://www.bassettbranches.org/tng/getperson.php?personID=I3&tree=1B

• Cutter, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial Vol. 3, Page 1500, 1913 edition.

• Cutter, William Richard. Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut (Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911) Vol. 1, Page 500

• Jacobus, Donald Lines. History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (For the Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1930) Vol. 1, Page 36.

• Orcutt, Samuel. A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut (Press of Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven, Conn., 1886) Vol. 2 pp. 1121-1122