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Richard Bassett (March 28, 1846 – February 21, 1905) was a Baptist minister and a Republican member of the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House memb ...

from Howard County. He was one of four

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

state legislators elected in Indiana in the 19th century.

Early life and education

Bassett was born in 1846 at Snow Hill, North Carolina, to free black parents. In 1848, he moved with his parents to a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

community in

Parke County, Indiana Parke County lies in the western part of the U.S. state of Indiana along the Wabash River. The county was formed in 1821 out of a portion of Vigo County. According to the 2010 census, the population was 17,339, an increase of 0.6% from 17,241 ...

. There his father, Zachariah Bassett, first began to preach. Both Richard and his brother Miles would follow their father into the ministry. In 1856, the Bassetts, along with the Artis and Ellis families, established a new African-American settlement in Ervin Township in Howard County. Known as the Bassett Settlement, the community grew to 11 families, and at its peak had its own school, church, and post office, as well as a general store and blacksmith shop. Bassett attended local Quaker schools. Bassett formally joined the Free Union Baptist Church at the Bassett Settlement in November 1864. In 1864, Bassett married Ann Hawkins, with whom he subsequently had six children. Upon her death in 1876, he married Nancy A. Hamilton, with whom he had four children. She died in 1888, and he later married Luvinie Reed in 1891.

Career

In August 1867, Bassett was ordained a Baptist minister at

New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 t ...

. In his subsequent career, churches where he served as minister included the Shiloh Church of Rising Sun (his first posting), the Second Church of New Albany (eight years), the Corinthian Baptist Church of Indianapolis (five years), the Free Union Baptist Church at the Bassett settlement, and the Second Church of Kokomo. (The Second Church of Kokomo served as the successor to the Free Union Baptist Church, which closed in the 1880s.) Bassett was particularly known for his work in the

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

movement, and was appointed "state Sunday-school missionary" in 1888. In 1892, Bassett was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives from Howard County. He served one term. He was the third African American legislator ever elected in Indiana, after

James Sidney Hinton James Sidney Hinton (December 25, 1834 – November 6, 1892) was a Civil War veteran and Republican politician, the first African American to hold state office in Indiana and the first African American to serve in the Indiana state legislature. ...

and

James Matthew Townsend James Matthew Townsend (August 18, 1841 – June 17, 1913) was an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister and a state legislator from Indiana. A Republican, he served in the legislature in the 1884 session. From 1889 to 1891 he was recorder at ...

. Staunchly religious, his vote in opposition to a resolution supporting the

1893 World's Fair The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

being open on Sundays attracted attention. Due to illness, however, he did not participate fully in the 1893

legislative session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections. ...

, and was obliged to be absent for part of it. Bassett's final post was at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Indianapolis, where he served from 1900 to 1903. In 1903, he suffered a stroke which ended his preaching career. Upon his death, plans were laid for a monument to be erected in Bassett's memory in Kokomo; it was to have been dedicated in 1906.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Richard 1846 births 1905 deaths People from Howard County, Indiana African-American Baptist ministers African-American state legislators in Indiana Members of the Indiana House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American clergy 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American politicians