4o8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tary education at the pi;b!ic schools of his 

 native city, after whicli he took the Arts 

 course in the Philadelphia High School, 

 and later took a special course at FrauK- 

 lin College, Ohio, where he received the 

 degree of Master of Arts. Devoting his 

 attention to educational work he for sev- 

 eral years specialized in American History 

 and Politics, and made extensive original 

 researches in American Ethnology and 

 Archaeology, and is considered an author- 

 ity on these latter subjects. Professor 

 Lampen has always aimed for a high plane 

 of work in his chosen profession. Enter- 

 ing educational work in 1894 he remarked 

 to an associate that he expected to reach 

 a college presidency "in ten years" ; he 

 realized that goal in one week less than 

 the time set, being called to the presidency 

 of Bellevue College, Bellevue, Nebraska. 

 He has been honored with several degrees 

 by various educational institutions. 



Professor Lampen has a national repu- 

 tation as an educational and historical 

 writer, and he is also the author of a 

 number of poems which have received fa- 

 vorable mention and criticism. He has at- 

 tained his high rank in the face of almost 

 jnsurmountable difficulties, among them the 

 total loss of sight for a time, and four years 

 under the constant care of an oculist. From 

 the time he left Philadelphia High School 

 he paid his own way as his father had 

 done before him, never receiving any out- 

 .side assistance. In 1895 Professor Lampen, 

 while superintendent of the Indian School 

 at Philadelphia, was sent of a special mis- 

 sion by the United States government to 

 the Chippewa Indian reservation. He served 

 with the Second Regiment Pennsylvania 

 Infantry for four years (1894-7, inclusive), 

 and joined the Nineteenth Regiment in 

 1898, with the hope that it would take him 

 to the front in the Spanish-American war, 

 the Second Regiment having refused him 

 admission by reason of the condition of his 

 eyes. He volunteered for service in the 

 war against Spain eight times, and he is 

 said to have suggested and planned the 

 trip across Cuba taken by Lieutenant Row- 

 an of the regulars to connect the armies 

 of the United States with the Cuban forces. 

 Professor Lampen has always kept up a 

 lively interest in Bucks county, the birth- 

 place of his parents, and during the great- 

 er part of his life has spent a portion 01 

 each year within her borders, and has al- 

 ways considered himself as belonging to 

 the county. Religiously he has always been 

 actively associated with the Presbyterian 

 church. He has never married. 



youth, learning the trade of a tailor, which 

 he followed during life. In 1848 he re- 

 moved to Prospectville, and resided there 

 two years, and then removed to Camden, 

 New Jersey, where he lived until his death, 

 in April, 1875. He married Sarah Daniels, 

 a native of Philadelphia, and they were the 

 parents of nine children ; Annie, residing 

 in Philadelphia ; William, a painter in Phila- 

 delphia ; Samuel', the subject of this sketch; 

 Andrew, a machinist in Camden, New Jer- 

 sey ; Hartley, died in infancy : Edward, a 

 prominent merchant and shipper in Cam- 

 den, New Jersey ; Harvey and Frank, who 

 died young; and Jennie, now living in New 

 York City. Sarah, the mother, died in 

 187 1. 



Samuel Bassett was educated in the high 

 school of Camden, New Jersey. He served 

 an apprenticeship of three years at the 

 machinist trade in Camden, and then re- 

 moved to Upper Makefield township, Bucks 

 county, where he, has since resided, with 

 the exception of two years during which 

 he was proprietor of a restaurant at Car- 

 versville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He 

 has since been engaged in farming in Up- 

 per Makefield, where he has a farm of 

 thirty-seven acres, and for several years 

 has run a commission wagon to Philadel- 

 phia markets. He is also agent for com- 

 mercial fertilizers. In politics he is a Dem- 

 ocrat, and has for several years taken an 

 active part in the councils of his party in the 

 county. He was elected to the office of 

 county commissioner in the fall of 1902. 

 He is a member of Tuscarora Tribe, I. O. 

 R. M., of Lambertville, New Jersey. Mr'. 

 Bassett married, January 28, 1875, Lizzie 

 Wesner, born June 9, 1853, daughter of 

 Stephen and Emma (White) Wesner, of 

 Upper Makefield, and they are the parents 

 of two children ; Frank, born January 6, 

 1876: and Howard Eldridge, born January 

 II, 1879. Mrs. Bassett is an active member 

 of Thompson Memorial Presbyterian 

 Church, of Lower Solebury, Bucks county. 



SAMUEL BASSETT, one of the pres- 

 ent board of county commissioners ot 

 Bucks county, was born at Prospectville, 

 Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, Janu- 

 ary 24. 1850, and is a son of Samuel T. 

 and Sarah (Daniels) Bassett. Samuel T. 

 Bassett, the father, was born in Phila- 

 delphia, and resided in that city during his 



STEPHEN B. TWINING, deceased, 

 was born at Dolington. in Lfpper Make- 

 field township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 January 19, 1844, and was the oldest son 

 of Charles and Elizabeth (West) Twining. 

 The pioneer ancestor of the Twining family 

 was William Twining, who came from 

 England to Massachusetts about 1640, and 

 in 1643 settled at Yarmouth, removing later 

 to Eastham, iVIassachusetts, where he died 

 in 1659. He took an active part in the 

 affairs of the Puritan colony, and held 

 man}' offices of public trust. He married 

 .A^nne Doane, who died February 27, 1680. 

 Thev were the parents of two children. 

 William. Jr., and Isabel, who married 

 Francis Baker. 



William Twining, Jr., married Elizabeth 

 Deane, daughter of Stephen Deane. of 

 Plymouth, in 1652, and had children 

 as follows: William, born February 28, 



