BASSETT, FRANK EUGENE AND MAUDE ETHEL (COMSTOCK)

by Thelma Bassett Pearman

Entry F19 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Frank Eugene Bassett. Early 1900's.

Frank Eugene Bassett was born in 1885 in
Red Willow county, Nebraska to John Wil-
liam and Elsie Janes Bassett and came by
covered wagon to the McPherson County
area in 1888. His first home was in southeast-
ern Grant County, Nebraska. Sometime after
1890, the family sold that property and
moved to southwest Hooker County, just to
southwest of Cody Lake. This was to enable
Frank to attend school, located in Bassett
Valley, Dist #5 McPherson County. When
not in school he went with his father much
of the time as he hunted and trapped wild
game. On one occasion he met Buffalo Bill
Cody who was a buffalo hunter also. Frank
helped to gather wood and buffalo chips for
fuel and picked wild fruit for his mother as
well as helped in the garden and carried water
from a well or nearby spring for drinking,
washing, etc.

Since the family moved around quite a bit,
living on free land, it is not known where all
Frank attended school but he was eager to
learn and loved school. Some of his teachers
were: Edna Winhurst, Virgil Shepherd, and
Mabel Sanders. He received an 8th grade
education and was asked to teach the Gardi-
ner School which he declined, sometime
about 1906. He started working for area
ranchers at an early age so was not home
much after that, especially during the sum-
mer.

After his father passed away in 1911, he
helped his mother a great deal. He filed on
a land claim east of A.J. Gragg's land in 1912
but sold it to adjoining neighbors in 1914 so
he could hilp his mother when she filed on
land west of A.J. Gragg's land. He helped
build his mother's house to secure her land.
Frank had known Maude when they were
kids and had corresponded with her after she
moved to Stockville with her folks. Frank and
Maude Comstock were married in September
1917 at Mullen, Nebraska and moved to the
Bob Phelps place which they leased and later
bought in 1919. Children born to them were
Richard Ray in 1918, Dorothy Irene in 1921,
Opal Thelma in 1922 and Jean Marie in 1923.
Frank continued to help his mother as his
brothers Bob and Dell had gone into the
army. The sisters, Cora and Minnie both
worked away from home as did Clyde. He had
cattle of his own and also did some farming.

In 1922, Frank's mother sold her land and
they moved her house to the Phelps place
where Frank and Maude lived. She lived
there until her death in November 1924. He
was buried at Eclipse Cemetery beside her
husband John.

Frank carried mail for a time from Mullen
south and did considerable road repair work
throughout his life. He loved to camp and
cook over a campfire. He taught many
youngsters how to build a campfire and cook
potatoes etc. over it. He had cooked for hay
camp crews in his younger days. He cut
timber on the Dismal River for fence posts
and corrals, camping along the river for a
week at a time. This was one of his greatest
enjoyments. He could always manage to grow
some potatoes and other vegetables during
the summer for the family's winter food. He
always shared with his neighbors and rela-
tives. Frank was a great story teller and had
a special talent for writing.

He bought the Ray Treton place containing
2 sections of land in 1940 and moved from the
Phelps place about 4 miles to the east on the
Ireton place. By 1944, the family had gone to
their own homes and work so he was left
alone. He never had stock of his own, rather
leased his land to neighbors and continued to
live on the place until he fell in 1968 at which
time he was brought to the Mullen Rest
Home where he remained in a wheel-chair
until his death in 1974.

Frank was buried in the Eclipse Cemetery
where he had spent much time planting trees
and repairing the church.