In the death of Samuel Andrew Bassett, New Haven lost one of its valued citizens and representative businessmen, yet one whose nature was not centered alone upon commercial interests. He found time for the higher things of life and those interests which have cultural value. He was born in the town of Seymour, in New Haven county, Connecticut, September 1, 1833, and was a descendant of an old and prominent New England family. His father, Samuel Bassett, also a native of Connecticut, was a paper manufacturer of what was then known as Humphreysville, now Seymour, and at that place spent practically his entire life. He wedded Mary Andrew, who was also a resident of Seymour. 

Samuel Andrew Bassett acquired his early education in the Glendenning Academy at Seymour and afterward attended the William H. Russell Military School at New Haven, from which he was graduated. He was first employed in his father's paper factory and after working there for a few years went to New Milford, where he became a clerk in the store of A. W. Mygatt. After a brief period he removed to New Haven and found a position in the shoe store of Bristol & Hall, shoe manufacturers and dealers. When the business was sold out to W. B. Fenn, Mr. Bassett remained with the house and when it became known as the New Haven Shoe Company, he became one of the stockholders and was quite active in the management of the business. He was associated with the shoe trade for over a half century and was very active in the control and direction of the store with which he was connected. He was a thoroughgoing businessman, noted for his honorable dealings and his spirit of enterprise. No one ever questioned the reliability of his methods, for integrity was synonymous with his name.

Mr. Bassett was much devoted to his home and family. In Christ church, on the 24th day of January, 1865, the Rev. Joseph Brewster performed the wedding ceremony that united the destinies of Samuel Andrew Bassett and Miss Sophia Phillips, of New Haven, a daughter of Thomas and Sophia (Humphrey) Phillips, the former a well known resident of this city. Mrs. Bassett is now residing on Edgewood avenue and has many friends in New Haven, who know her as a lady of culture and refined taste, a devoted wife and mother. She was a member of Christ Episcopal church for a number of years, later transferring her membership to Trinity Episcopal church. By the marriage there were two children. The daughter, Mary Elizabeth, became the wife of Joseph Leon Langbank and now resides with her mother. Thomas Andrew was married October 30, 1895, to Natalie Wilson, of Bridgeport, and they became the parents of two children, John Humphrey Phillips and Sophie Louise Bassett, but the latter died young. Thomas Andrew Bassett passed away October 6, 1905.

The death of Samuel A. Bassett occurred at his home on High street in New Haven, August 1, 1906, when he was approaching the seventy-third milestone on life's journey. He was a citizen of the highest type, a man of sterling character and actuated in all that he did by a stalwart Christian spirit. He held membership, first, in Christ Episcopal church and, later, in Trinity church, of which he was a communicant for many years, and he also belonged to Brooks Club of Trinity church, which was named in honor of Bishop Phillip Brooks. He belonged to Wooster Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of New Haven, and also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Seymour. In politics he was an ardent republican but not an office seeker. He was on the contrary a man of domestic taste, devoted to his home and family and finding his greatest happiness at his own fireside. He was also a lover of nature and fond of things beautiful. He enjoyed yachting and fishing, and was a great lover of the arts. He was also much interested in music, possessed a splendid voice and for many years was a member of Christ Church Choir. He also belonged to the Mendelssohn and Gounod Societies, excellent choral organizations of New Haven, and he was one of the organizers of the Apollo Club, a well-known musical male club of New Haven. He thus did much to further the interests which remove man from the sordidness that entire concentra-tion upon business often brings and he did much to further an interest in those lines which uplift the individual and bring a breadth of thought, interest and purpose. He stood as a high type of American manhood and chivalry, and his was the nobility of a refined nature and of Christian character.