280:, and settled in New Kent County, and may have donated the land for the county seat. His grandfather, also William Bassett (1670-1723), expanded upon the land he inherited, acquiring a second plantation and building the manor house (Eltham) where this grandson and heir would be born, as well as donated the land when the county courthouse was moved nearer his plantation. Grandfather William Bassett married a daughter of Lewis Burwell II, became the first member of the family to win election to the House of Burgessses (in 1693) and was selected for the Governor's Council in 1707. The other and last William Bassett to serve in the House of Burgesses was his son (this man's father), who died in 1744 during that service, leaving Burwell Bassett as his principal heir since the firstborn son had already died. Bassett's mother thus became a rich widow (whose second husband by law could control a third of her late husband's property until her death, with Burwell Bassett gaining control of 2/3s of the property on reaching legal age). She remarried, to Rev.
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pair until the
Assembly of 1772, when Bartholomew Dandridge became the other New Kent delegate until Lord Dunmore as the Colony's governor suppressed the assembly. New Kent County voters then elected Bassett and Dandridge then represented New Kent County in the first four of the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions. William Clayton replaced Bassett for the Fifth Virginia Convention and in the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates, as the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly came to be called following the former colony's first constitution. Iwever, in 1777, voters from New Kent, as well as nearby Charles City and James City Counties elected Bassett to the Virginia Senate, and he continued to win re-election until his death. Bassett also represented New Kent County in the Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788, which ratified the U.S. Constitution.
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New Kent County voters first elected
Bassett as one of their representatives in the House of Burgesses in 1762, following the death of Gil Armistead. While he served alongside Richard Adams for the remainder of the session, voters elected William Clayton in 1766 as his co-delegate and re-elected the
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In 1753, Burwell
Bassett married Ann Kidley Chamberlayne, but she died the following year and their daughter never reached adulthood. On May 7, 1757, Bassett remarried, this time to Anna Maria Dandridge, whose father was a member of the House of Burgesses. Her sister Martha Dandridge had married
296:, then a planter and military officer, who would rise to become General and President of the United States. Anna Marie Bassett bore four sons and four daughters, and those who reached adulthood continued Bassett family tradition by marrying into politically powerful families. Their son
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One of the wealthiest men in New Kent County, Bassett owned four plantations in 1782, including 5980 acres in New Kent County and another 1000 acres in
Hanover County (which the legislature split from New Kent County in his lifetime).
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won election to the
Virginia Senate seat his father had held for so long. In 1844, one of his descendants sold the Eltham plantation and 60 enslaved people at auction, as he had moved his residence to Clover Lea plantation.
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The plantation house burned in 1876, but the state of
Virginia erected a historical marker remembering this patriot Burwell Bassett and the Eltham manor house.
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Cynthia Miller
Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 92, 95, 98, 1090, 104, 106
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The second son (and fourth of sixth children) born to the former
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Lyon
Gardiner Tyler, "Bassett, Burwell" in Dictionary of Virginia Biography Vol. 1 (1915) pp. 181
232:(March 13, 1734 – January 4, 1793) was an American planter, patriot and politician from
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Leonard pp. 127, 131, 136, 139, 143, 147, 151, 155, 158, 162, 166, 170, 177, 181, 185, 189
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and a member of the
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Daniel Parke Custis, who would also leave her a wealthy widow, who married
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Serving with Richard Adams, William Clayton, Bartholomew Dandridge
455:"Sale of Eltham Plantation in Virginia | Bassett Family Association"
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in New Kent County. Burwell's first name reflects that of his mother's
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would continue the Bassett planter and politician traditions.
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379:. Vol. 1. Library of Virginia. pp. 384–385.
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526:Delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention
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470:"Bassett Branches Eltham Historical Marker"
531:Members of the Virginia House of Delegates
375:Buckley, Thomas E.; Tarter, Brent (1998).
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71:May 5, 1777 – January 4, 1793
511:People from New Kent County, Virginia
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343:Image of the Eltham historical marker
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219:Planter, militia officer, politician
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323:Burwell Bassett Jr.
298:Burwell Bassett Jr.
284:, president of the
230:Burwell Bassett Sr.
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506:1793 deaths
501:1734 births
274:Southampton
200:Nationality
188:Citizenship
123:Preceded by
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357:References
216:Occupation
252:in 1788.
114:1762–1776
110:In office
67:In office
242:Virginia
203:American
181:Virginia
479:27 June
278:England
236:in the
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304:Career
208:Spouse
481:2024
381:ISBN
183:, US
171:Died
151:Born
100:for
57:and
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