Oscar T. Bassett
Oscar Thomas "O.T." Bassett was a prominent El Paso, Texas businessman. Bassett, California is named for him.
Early life and career
Oscar T. Bassett, son of Abner Snow and Betsey Bassett and grandson of Perez and Lydia Bassett, was born in Rutland County, Vermont and orphaned early. In the 1860 census, he was living in McHenry County, Illinois. With little formal education, he drifted in and out of the army before settling in Clinton, Indiana, where he was a contractor and lumber dealer. Bassett married Myrtle Alma Nebeker in 1879. A street was later named for him in Clinton.El Paso, Texas
Bassett moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 1879, where he started a lumber business. He arrived in El Paso, Texas in 1880 to buy real estate for the Texas and Pacific Railway and to investigate some Arizona mines. Bassett returned to Indiana for the birth of his son. His wife died soon thereafter, and Bassett returned to El Paso. On the way he stopped in St. Louis, Missouri to arrange financing for El Paso's first bank. He later became a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of El Paso, later known as the State National Bank. Bassett was also in the lumber business and was a large landholder. He had properties and banking interests in Oklahoma, Los Angeles and El Paso. He was president of the El Paso school board in 1882. Bassett also served as an El Paso city councilman.He died in his office above a lumberyard on January 3, 1898.