My sixth Great Grandfather is Cornelius Bassett. The first Bassett to set foot on American soil was a Pilgrim Father by the name of William Bassett who left his comfortable home in Plymouth, England and fled to Leyden, Holland with the others seeking a country where they could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience.
He did not sail on the first ship, Mayflower, but followed in the ship named Fortune which landed in Massachusetts Bay in the fall of 1621. Landing less than one year after the Mayflower they caused much excitement being taken for a French Man -of- War. The Pilgrims fired a volley but when they raised the English flag on the ship they were greeted with lusty cheers and fears changed to joy for friends joining them from the faraway land. In England Bassetts were titled people with land and fortunes. William Bassett the Pilgrim was married three times with no record of children from his first two wives being found, his third wife Elizabeth had seven children, the first of which he named William. That son married Mary Burt and they had a son which they named William born in Sandwich Mass in 1656 and which had a son named Nathan Bassett who had six children: Ruth, Samuel, Cornelius, John, Mary , Nathan, and William.
Samuel Bassett had five children: Liddy, Sarah, Samuel, Martha, and Cornelius.
Cornelius Bassett married Betsey Sawyer
Jonas Sawyer married Liddy Bassett (See Sawyer)
You might say the two families were really tied to each other.
Thurstine De Bassett came from Normandy and was Grand Falconer to William the Conqueror, and fought by his side in the Battle of Hastings 1066, when the Duke of Normandy routed the English under King Harold and took possession of the English Throne.