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Tombstone of Samuel Bassitt (1795-1865)

The tombstone of Samuel Bassitt is located in the old Sproat Cemetery on Wolfe Road in Bath Township, Allen County, Ohio.  It is in the back row, near the south end of a line of tombstones marking the graves of many early Bath Township residents who immigrated from Trumbull County, Ohio and were associated with the Bassett, Doud, and Edgecomb families.  The only stone to the south of Samuel's is the stone which may be of his daughter Mary.    In 2007, a large conifer tree has nearly overtopped the stone, shading it and making it difficult to read (see below). 

In 1975, the situation was quite different.  The stone was in the open and more easy to read in afternoon lighting (see above).  Since this tombstone is the only known source of information about the birth date of Samuel Bassitt, and since it is difficult to read, a careful analysis of its text is in order.

Analysis of dates based on enhanced image and historical data:

It is known that Samuel died in 1865. So that date provides samples of the style of the digits 1,5,6, and 8. It is also clear from the image that the month of death was April. The digits of the day of the month appear to be 1 and 6 with both of those digits matching the known samples of 1 and 6 from the year. Therefore the date of death appears to be April 16, 1865. According to family legend, when Samuel was on his deathbed he wasn't told about Lincoln's death because as an ardent Republican, it would have been too upsetting to him. Given that Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865, both the date of death and the family legend are supported.

There is no known record of Samuel's exact date of birth (i.e. month and date) from any source other than this tombstone. The 1840 census lists him as aged between 40 and 50, giving a birth date between 1790 and 1800. The 1850 census lists him as aged 56. That makes his birth date about 1794 (depending on when the census data were collected). The 1860 census lists him as aged 64, which places his birth date at about 1796. Assuming that he was born approximately 1795, his age at death would be approximately 70 years. Because the script type of the age is different from that of the death date, we do not have any numerals to compare with for the age. However, it is clear from the image that his age was 70, which is in agreement with the census data. The character following the 70 is not clear, however it would logically be a symbol for years and given that, it can be assumed that the character is a capital "Y". It also appears from the end of the date that the abbreviations are followed by periods. So the two characters following the "70" are "Y."

The typical format for ages on tombstones of that era was years, months, days. However, there are not enough characters for all three age units. The next to last character clearly looks like a lower case "d" rather than an "m". So it must be assumed that the last set of age characters represent days. Given the apparent position of a large round character between the "Y." and the "d.", the lack of other marks indicative of characters before or after it, and the necessity of spaces before and after it, it appears that there is only a single numeral for the days unit. The roundness of the character makes the only possible numerals 0, 2, 3, 6, 8, or 9. 0 can be eliminated if there is a single digit. Of the remaining possibilities, 9 is the most likely. The bottom of the numeral does not look straight or pointed enough to be a 2. There does not appear to be any indication of a mark on the lower left part of the numeral, which would argue against 6 or 8. The large indentation in the upper left of the numeral is more consistent with a 9 than a 3. Comparison with other tombstones in the cemetery shows that Ezra Edgecomb's was probably carved by the same mason. The style is identical to Samuel Bassitt's and the date is about three years later. His stone reads June 21, 1868, 55 Y. 7 m. 27 d. (corroborated with known dates). The 2 in the 27 is not at all the same as the day digit on Samuel Bassitt's stone. So it can be concluded with some confidence that Samuel Bassitt's birth date was April 7, 1795. Given the uncertainty in the identity of the day digit, his birth date could be as late as April 13, 1795 if the digit were a 3.

In recognition of Samuel's role as family patriarch and early Bath Township pioneer, in 2007 a new marker was placed near the original stone, providing easier access to the historical information contained in the marker. 

Comments?  Questions?  Contact Steve Baskauf