Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

FASSETT In very early New England records this name is given as Fassell and Fassett. The first settler of his cognomen in America was John Fassell, who was made freeman in Dedham in 1654. Nathaniel was of Concord in 1666, and Patrick was in Malden, where he had a son born in Oct., 1672, and removed to Billerica, where he was an accepted inhabitant June 2, 1679. John Fassett, son of Patrick, clerk and deacon of the Separatist Church, in Hardwick, which was practially the nucleus of the settlement of Bennington, Vermont, in 1761, was a leading man in that company of wise and brve pioneers who resisted the encrochments of New York and laid the foundations of Vermnt, making the names of "Green Mountain Boys" famous. Patrick Fassett and his wife, Sarah, came from Rock Fassett Castle, Ireland, and settled in Lexington, Mass. There is a tradition that the ancestors of the family were refugees who fled from Scotland to escape religious prosecution, and that the name Fassett was assumed to conceal their identity, the original family name being MacPherson. Some branches of the family spell the name Fawcett or Fossett. (I) Francis Henry Fassett, son of John and Betsey (Turner) Fassett, was born in Bath, Maine, June 25, 1823. Family tradition states that Richard Fassett came to this country as a cabin-boy on the flagship of the English fleet which came to this country at the time of the French and English war of 1756. He deserted from the army and settled soon after at North Yarmouth, Maine. He is also recorded as having served in the revoltionary army 1775 and 1777. In the "Genealogy of the Mantague Family" we find the following: Fassett - Fawcett is probably from Forcett, a township in the Wapentake of Gillingwest, North Riding of Yorkshire, England. The family were early settlers in Lincolnshire, where their coat-of-arms is recorded. The family of Fawcett is of antiquity in County Durham, England. The family of Godfrey Faucet is of great antiquity in County Kent, from the time of the conquest. Francis Henry Fassett, when seven years of age, began to attend Master Joshua Page's school, in the old Erudition schoolhouse, and continued at intervals until he was fourteen, and then became a clerk in the general store. After four years' service there he was indentured to Isaac D. Cole, then a leading carpenter and builder, to learn the carpenter's trade. He remained with his master until he arrived at his majority, and then began business for himself. He had a natural aptitude for this business and from the first drew is own plans. He took such contracts as he could get in Bath for twenty years, and had then outgrown his environment; seeking a larger field he settled in Portland in 1864. While in Bath he was always with the progressive element and connected with those enterprises which were intended to benefit the town. He traveled much in the prosecution of his business, and obtained many valuable ideas of construction and architecture in various large cities. Among the organizations with which he was connected in Bath were the fire department and the band. In the two years following his removal to Portland he had become well acquainted with the people of that city, had done considerable work in the line of construction, and established a reputation for ability and reliability as a builder second to none. So when the great fire of 1866 swept away most of the business part of the city, he was well prepared to obtain as many contracts as he could fill; and from that time was one of the leading carpenter contractos of Maine. He has put up buildings in every part of the state, among the principal of which are the Maine General Hospital, the Alms House, the Second Parish Church, the City Hall, which was destroyed in 1866, and Keith Theater, one of the completest edifices of the kind in the country - all in Portland. Mr. Fassett was an old line Whig in his youth, and cast his first vote for Henry Clay. When the Whig party disrupted he joined the Republican party, and has ever since been a supporter of its principles. Mr. Fassett has voted at every presidential election but one since 1844. Francis H. Fassett and Mima Ann Welch were married in Bath, Maine. She was the daughter of Ezekiel and Temperance Welch; was born July 12, 1825, died Dec. 9, 1857. Children: Edward, William, Walter and Annie. Edward receives extended mention below. William graduated from Bowdoin College; practiced law, and died in Denver, Colorado. Walter resided in Kansas City, Missouri, where he died leaving one child, Arthur F. Annie died young. Mr. Fassett married (second) Harriet Hudson, daughter of John B. Hudson, of Bath, Maine. Children: Frederick G., Mima and Harriet. Frederick G. married Cora Jordan and has three children. Mima and Harriet are single. (II) Edward, eldest child of Francis H. and Mima Ann (Welch) Fassett, was born in Bath, April 13, 1848. He was educated in the public schools and Eastman's Portland Business College, and at the age of seventeen years went to Syracuse, New York, to learn the machinist trade. A year later he returned to Portland, to assist his father in the rush of business incident to rebuilding after the great fire. Illness of Mrs. Fassett necessitated a change of residence for her, and the years between 1876 and 1891 were spent by Mr. and Mrs. Fassett in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Denver, Colorado, and Kansas City, Missouri, where he engaged in the practice of architecture. In 1891 Mr. Fassett returned to Porltand and joined his father in business, and the two have since been associated, the younger man taking upon himself the greater part of the hard work in the last few years. Mr. Fassett is a Republican in politics and an Episcopalian in religious faith. While in the west he became an Odd Fellow and a Free Mason, and is now a member of those bodies. Edward Fassett married (first) in New York City, Armenia Angevine, born in New York City, June 1, 1848, died in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Oct. 27, 1876, daughter of ____ and ____ (Gibson) Angevine. Children: Mamie Angevine, who died at sixteen years of age. Grace Burnham, who married E. C. Higbee of La Crosse, Wisconsin. He married (second) Lucia K. Gile, born in Franklin, N. H., daughter of Alfred and Lucinda Gile. Children: Francis H. G., Wallace Flagg, Welch (died young), Malcolm Edward, Alice Mary and Harold Stedman.