Mr. Bassett was born in Schuyler County, Ill., March 27, 1837. His father died before his birth, and his mother, whose maiden name was Abigail Carlock, died when he was a small boy. He passed his boyhood days in Schuyler and Fulton Counties, enjoying but limited educational means, yet, nevertheless, attaining such proficiency in his studies as to lay a solid foundation upon which he afterwards erected the superstructure of his legal knowledge. He was brought up to hard labor on a farm. After the breaking out of the war, he watched its course with patriotic interest and at the age of twenty-three, left his agricultural pursuits to enlist his energies as an assistant in recruiting troops for the army and January 1, 1862, had his name enrolled as a member of Company E, Fifty-third Volunteer Infantry. His coolness and courage on the battle field and his constant devotion to duty soon won him the merited approbation of his superiors, and gained him promotion from the ranks, successively as Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain. His first engagement was in the battle of Shiloh, and he took part in the Siege of Corinth, was at Hatchie and did gallant service at Vicksburg. At Jackson, Miss., he was in the hottest of the fight July 12, 1863, and after being slightly wounded was taken prisoner, and then for some time he experienced the hardships and privations of life in the Rebel prisons. He was taken to Libby and was one of the one hundred and ten who escaped from that prison February 9, 1864, he being recaptured the fourth night out and returned to that horrible place of confinement, and with sixty others was put into a dungeon. When Grant was marching into Richmond they were taken out and sent to Danville, thence to Macon, Ga., and from there to Charlotte, S. C,, where they were for awhile under fire of one of our guns, and from that city were dispatched to Columbia, S. C. In that place nine prisoners, Mr. Bassett amongst them, escaped at the hour of midnight, November 10,1864, were out fifty-two nights and finally arrived at Knoxville, Tenn., January 1, 1865. They reported to the Secretary of War and were ordered to Jackson, Mich., to assist in drafting men and sending them to the front. April 12. 1865. he was mustered out of the army, having done honorable service for over three long years.

After the war Mr. Bassett returned to his farm labors and quietly engaged in rural pursuits until the following year, when ambitious to enter the professions and make something more of life than he could otherwise, he commenced the study of law at Pekin, with Capt. A. W. Bull, and after pursuing a thorough practical course was admitted to the bar in 1868. He first established himself at Pekin, and four years later, in 1872, opened an office in Peoria where he has since resided. He continued in practice until 1882. A man of pleasant address, ready tact, frank and ingenuous, our subject is very popular among all classes, and this, together with his great energy and pluck, has been the means of placing him In a prominent position in the political and public life of the county and State. Though this district is strongly Democratic, his popularity has carried him through on a Republican ticket, and he has been elected to two of the most important offices within the gift of his fellow citizens. In 1884, he was elected to the Lower House of the General Assembly, and in 1888, to the Senate, and is still State Senator. He has made an excellent record as a member of the General Assembly, and guards the interests of his constituency with zealous care.

Mr. Bassett has established an exceedingly pleasant home in Peoria, and to the wife who presides over it with grace and cordially aids him in extending its hospitalities to their many friends, he was united in marriage November 22, 1865. Mrs. Bassett's maiden name was Anna E. Gould, and she is a daughter of David Gould, of Michigan.

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