--- title: Concerning Bass description: Do you have a common last name whose origin you have always wondered about, such as Lewis, Adams, or Bass? image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Samuel-Bass-1-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Concerning Bass [January 30, 2015](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass) [Critical Analysis](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/critical-analysis), [Spotlight](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/spotlight), [Research Methods](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods), [Research tips](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-tips), [Family stories](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-stories) [Andrew Krea](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/akrea) [![Samuel Bass 1](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Samuel-Bass-1-1.jpg?width=239&height=260&name=Samuel-Bass-1-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Samuel-Bass-1-1.jpg)Do you have a common last name whose origin you have always wondered about, such as Lewis, Adams, or Bass? Did you ever wonder if you were related to a famous person with the same surname? A helpful research tip to figure this out is to search for information regarding the first ancestor that you can find in America, and then attempt to find common ancestral lines. [![Ann Bass 2](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Ann-Bass-2-1.jpg?width=234&height=265&name=Ann-Bass-2-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Ann-Bass-2-1.jpg)Using Bass as an example, two of the first settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were Samuel Bass and his wife, Ann Saville, who came to Roxbury, Massachusetts, circa 1630. Their names have been found in church records in Roxbury and also in Braintree, Massachusetts. Samuel Bass eventually became a deacon, and their gravestones are still intact within Hancock Cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts.[[1]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass#_ftn1) Research into the Bass family reveals that there was a man named Perkins Bass, a son of Joel Bass and Cathleen Wright Burnham, and a descendant of Samuel and Ann (Saville) Bass.[[2]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass#_ftn2) Perkins Bass was born on 30 April 1827 in Williamsburg, Vermont, raised on a farm, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1852. He studied law and began practicing in Chicago. Perkins was actively involved in the Chicago educational community, and the Perkins Bass Elementary School in Chicago is still a fixture there. He was a good friend of Abraham Lincoln, for whom he campaigned, and after Lincoln’s election in 1860, Perkins Bass was appointed United States District Attorney for Northern Illinois. He went on to have a son, named Robert Perkins Bass, who became the 62nd Governor of New Hampshire and a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Another famous Bass family member who traces their ancestry back to Samuel and Ann Bass was George Henry Bass, born in Wilton, Maine on 22 July 1843, a son of Seth Bass and Nancy Russell.[[3]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass#_ftn3) George Henry, or “G.H.” to his friends, founded the Bass Shoe Company in 1876, eventually calling it G.H. Bass and Company. He began with six employees, and the machines were run by hand and foot power. By the time of G.H. Bass’s death in 1925, his company was creating 900 pairs of shoes per day, had 160 employees in the factory in Wilton, and was selling shoes all over the world. Sometimes your ancestry can reveal fascinating information concerning people that you did not know you were related to, such as a governor whose father was a friend of Abraham Lincoln, or the founder of a famous shoe company. A helpful research hint is to find the earliest possible ancestor with that surname, and search for common ancestral lines. You never know what interesting information this tactic can reveal! ### Notes [[1]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass#_ftnref1) www.findagrave.com. [[2]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass#_ftnref2) American Genealogical Research Institute, *Bass Family History* (Washington, D.C.: Heritage Press, Inc., 1978), p. 71. [[3]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass#_ftnref3) Bass, Lizzie E., *Jeriah Bass and His Descendants* (Augusta, Me.: Kennebec Journal, 1962), p. 120. ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/concerning-bass) - - - More - - ![Andrew Krea](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported%20images/82181800cbb007fb327c515dd94ce6ab%3Fs=200%26d=identicon%26r=g.jpeg) ## About Andrew Krea Andrew Krea holds a B.A. in English Literature from Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts, and a Master’s Degree in Library Science from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. He has previously interned at the Massachusetts Historical Society. His areas of interest and expertise include New England research, specifically genealogies dating back to the inception of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and researching and writing historical narratives of family genealogies.[View all posts by Andrew Krea →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/akrea) [← "Speak, memory": Part One](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/02/speak-memory) ["A narrow escape" →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/01/narrow-escape) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Recent Posts [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) [Research…in a Miniskirt? A ‘Style Guide’ to a Genealogist’s Wardrobe](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/research-in-a-miniskirt-a-style-guide-to-a-genealogists-wardrobe) ### Archives - [October 2014 (27)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/10) - [December 2015 (24)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/12) - [July 2020 (24)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2020/07) - [April 2014 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/04) - [July 2014 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/07) - [December 2014 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/12) - [July 2015 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/07) - [March 2017 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/03) - [May 2017 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/05) - [August 2017 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/08) - [January 2018 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2018/01) - [March 2014 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/03) - [August 2014 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/08) - [April 2015 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/04) - [September 2015 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/09) - [October 2015 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/10) - [March 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/03) - [June 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/06) - [August 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/08) - [September 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/09) - [November 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/11) - [December 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/12) - [January 2017 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/01) - [June 2017 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/06) - [November 2017 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/11) ### Categories - [Family stories (1260)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-stories) - [American History (1137)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/american-history) - [Critical Analysis (1126)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/critical-analysis) - [Research Methods (881)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods) - [Brick Walls (674)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/brick-walls) - [Object Lessons (617)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/object-lessons) - [Spotlight (617)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/spotlight) - [Genealogical Writing (554)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/genealogical-writing) - [Research tips (510)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-tips) - [Serendipity (479)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/serendipity) - [Road Trips (393)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/road-trips) ### Recent Posts [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) [Research…in a Miniskirt? A ‘Style Guide’ to a Genealogist’s Wardrobe](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/research-in-a-miniskirt-a-style-guide-to-a-genealogists-wardrobe) ### Meta - [Log in](https://vita-brevis.org/wp-login.php) - [Entries RSS](https://vita-brevis.org/feed/) - [Comments RSS](https://vita-brevis.org/comments/feed/) - [WordPress.org](https://wordpress.org/) ### Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. ### Archives - [October 2014 (27)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/10) - [December 2015 (24)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/12) - [July 2020 (24)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2020/07) - [April 2014 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/04) - [July 2014 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/07) - [December 2014 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/12) - [July 2015 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/07) - [March 2017 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/03) - [May 2017 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/05) - [August 2017 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/08) - [January 2018 (23)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2018/01) - [March 2014 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/03) - [August 2014 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2014/08) - [April 2015 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/04) - [September 2015 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/09) - [October 2015 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2015/10) - [March 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/03) - [June 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/06) - [August 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/08) - [September 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/09) - [November 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/11) - [December 2016 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2016/12) - [January 2017 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/01) - [June 2017 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/06) - [November 2017 (22)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/archive/2017/11)