When Mary Lee Bassett was born on 21 May 1934, in Gorman, Eastland, Texas, United States, her father, Carlton Vice Bassett, was 27 and her mother, Doris Catherine Hamrick, was 22. She married Billy Jack Cottrell on 31 August 1951. She died on 3 February 2015, in Harris, Texas, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Downing Cemetery, Downing, Comanche, Texas, United States.
English (of Norman origin): from Old French basset ‘of low stature’, a diminutive of basse ‘low, short’, either a nickname for a short person or a status name for someone of humble origins.
Altered form of French Bessette 1 or Besset (see Bessette 2).
History: William Bassett (c. 1598–1667) came to Plymouth, MA, from Kent, England, in the 1620s; c. 1650 he moved to Duxbury and subesequently to Bridgewater. He had many prominent descendants, among them one of the earliest families on Martha's Vineyard. — The surname Bassett of French origin (see 2 above) is listed in the register of Huguenot ancestors recognized by the Huguenot Society of America.
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