1.) Obituary. John C. Bassett, for thirty years a resident of Council Bluffs, died Saturday shortly before midnight at the home of his son-in-law, James L Wesley, 122 Graham avenue. The immediate cause of death was a stroke of paralysis, which followed upon an illness of twenty months.

Mr. Bassett was born in Wales and in 1859 went to Utah, where he became a member of the [Reorganized] Latter Day Saints' church. He came to Council Bluffs in 1867 and has resided here ever since.

Two sons and two daughters survive him. Mrs. James Wesley, John W. and D. H. Bassett of this city, and Mrs. R. O. Graham of Pinedale, Wyo. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 2 o'clock from the residence on Graham avenue. Interment will be in Fairview cemetery.
Source: Omaha Bee, January 2 1899

2.) Family's Appreciation
We desire to express our thanks to the many friends who so kindly assisted us during the sickness and since the death of our father, John C. Bassett.
Mr. and Mrs. James Wesley, John W. Bassett, E.[sic] H. Bassett.
Source: newspapers.com; The Daily Nonpareil
Council Bluffs, Iowa · Wednesday, January 04, 1899, p. 4

3.) Biography. By the time John Charles was 16, he was already spending his days underground working the coal mines. Education was for the wealthy, and the mines were the main source of employment for his area. He followed his father and uncles down the lung-clogging tunnels in order to carve out a living.

After John Charles and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Jones, had converted to Mormonism, they joined the historic Welsh immigration to the United States. On April 19, 1856, with their fellow Saints, the family sailed on the Samuel Curling. They had their first three children in Wales, which meant that the extreme discomfort of immigration was magnified by traveling with little ones. Through faith, severe hardship and determination, all but infant Hyrum survived crossing the Atlantic. They then proceeded to push a handcart across America's Great Plains. Zion was their goal--the Kingdom of God on Earth--Salt Lake City.

The family became disillusioned with their decision and traveled back to what was then the edge of the West--Council Bluffs, Iowa. They joined a people who also left the Mormon church and "reorganized" themselves into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Today this group is called the Community of Christ.

MOTHER: Mary Charles
FATHER: John Bassett, employed as a collier

WIFE: Mary Elizabeth Jones
MARRIAGE/BANNS: 4 Oct 1846
Llanelli, St Elli, Carmarthenshire, Wales

CHILDREN:
1. John Wesley Bassett
unmarried

2. Elizabeth Bassett
m. Frederick Hansen

3. Hyrum Bassett, 1855 - 29 Apr 1856
*Infant death (10 months old) on the ship the "Samuel Curling." See his profile for details.

4. Daniel H. Bassett
unmarried

5. Mary Ann Bassett
m. James Lee Wesley

6. Celia Bassett
m. Robert Oliver Graham

TIMELINE:
1841 Census: Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales; Collier (coal miner) age 16
1846 (4 Oct) "Banns" (Public intention to Marry)
1846 (30 Oct) Marriage (see wife's profile for source)
1851 Census: Llanelly, Wales; married with two children; employed as a coal miner
1856 (19 Apr) Part of the Welsh Mormon Immigration from Liverpool to Boston on the ship "Samuel Curling."
1860 birth of Daniel: Utah Territory
1863 birth of Mary Ann: Utah Territory
1865 birth of Celia: Salt Lake City, Utah
1871 (2 Nov) Baptism in the RLDS church, Council Bluffs, Iowa; source-church records
1880 Census: Council Bluffs, IA; Day Laborer
1882 Death of wife, Mary Elizabeth Jones
1885 Iowa State Census; Council Bluffs, Widowed, his youngest child, Celia, living with him; laborer
1899 Death, Council Bluffs

John Charles and Mary Elizabeth are buried in this cemetery near three of their children, John Wesley, Elisabeth (Hansen), and Mary Ann (Wesley). Celia (Graham) is buried in Pocatello, Idaho. Daniel died while visiting his sister in Pinedale, Wyoming.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
1. Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints about John C Bassett
Name: John C Bassett
Birth Date: Nov 1825
Birth Place: Carmarthenshire, Wales
Death Date: Dec 1898
Source: RLDS Deceased Files/ Council Bluffs, Iowa, RLDS Branch Records
Notes: John C. Bassett was baptized a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on 10 December 1877 at Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa, by Alva North. He was confirmed by A. North, L. Davis, and D. P. Hartwell. John was ordained an elder on 7 September 1879 in Council Bluffs by W. Gess and L. Davis. He attended the Council Bluffs, Iowa Branch.
Source Information: Ancestry.com. Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original data: Black, Harvey B. Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 6 vols. Provo, UT: Infobases, 1996. Private donor.

2. Mormon Handcart Company
"Latter Day Saints' Immigration," Deseret News [Weekly], 24 Aug. 1859, 197. NAMES OF PERSONS IN CAPT JAMES BROWN'S COMPANY, ORGANIZED AT FLORENCE, JUNE 12, 1859: … John Bassett and family …

3. https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu/mii/voyage/327?mii=on&given_name=John&arrive_port=&search_type=passenger&surname=Bassett&depart_port=&depart=&ship=Samuel+Curling&age=