Volney L. Bassett Biography
As published in
"The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement,
Organization, Progress and Achievement"
by Frank H. Lyman Vol. 2, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1916.
Mr. Bassett was married on the 25th of December, 1855, to Miss Adeline Foster,
who was a daughter of Andrew W. Foster and Prudence (Cornwall) Foster and was
born in Oswego County, New York, on the 26th day of September, 1831. The Foster
family is one of the oldest in Massachusetts ?{what follows is a list of
illustrious Fosters, none of whom I have been able to directly connect to our
Foster family} William Foster, the grandfather of Mrs. Bassett, was born on the
22nd of November, 1783, and followed agricultural pursuits in Oswego County, New
York. He fought in the War of 1812 and while at the front participated in the
Battle of Sackett's Harbor. He married Olive Bettis, who was born July 10, 1785,
and who passed away on the 19th of February, 1877. They had a family of thirteen
children, all of whom are deceased save Julia, who was born on the 12th of
February, 1830, and is the widow of Joseph Hicks, her home being at Genoa
Junction. Mr. & Mrs. Andrew W. Foster were both born in New York and resided in
Oswego County for many years. He was a carpenter by trade but on removing to
Kenosha County, Wisconsin with his family in 1841, purchased a farm of sixty
acres in that township about three miles northeast of Salem Station. His wife,
who was born in 1808, passed away in 1895, when in her eighty-seventh year. In
early life they belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church but later became
identified with the Spiritualists. They were the parents of six children: Mrs.
Adeline Bassett; Betsey A, the wife of Fred Plank of Petaluma, California;
Andrew W, who died in Genoa Junction in 1900; Leander E, who died when nineteen
years old; Orlando J, a resident of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; and Julian A, of
Salem Station. Mrs. Bassett was one of the first teachers of Kenosha County,
opening her first school in her father's bedroom with a few children in
attendance.
Source: Foster Roots and Branches