Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

End, where he owned large realty holdings.
His long acquaintance with mining
properties had raised him to the place of
expert on the determination of the value
of such properties ; and his advice on these
matters was eagerly sought by owners
and prospective investors. He was a man
of quiet manner, clear insight, vigorous
action, and keen judgment. He was de-
voted to his family and found his greatest
pleasure in their society. He was an
ardent lover of flowers and took great de-
light in his extensive grounds and green-
houses. He enjoyed an acquaintance that
extended the country over, and his passing
was deeply mourned by all who knew
him. He married, in 1871, Rebecca Eliza-
beth (Webb) Walters, daughter of Frederick
Cleveland and Cynthia Davidson
Webb. Their children: Edgar Webb, of
whom further; Frederick Cleveland, a
sketch of whom follows; William Ros-
coe ; and Margaret Harriett, who married
William H. Parks, of Springfield, Massachusetts.
(IV) Edgar Webb Bassick, one of the
leading manufacturers of Connecticut and
a financier widely known in that State,
whose vested holdings are centered in
some of the most important industries of
the country, was born in Elston, Kansas,
April 22, 1872, and removed with his par-
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Chase Bas-
sick, to Denver in 1879, and later to Bel-
fast, Maine. In 1880 he came with his
parents who settled in Bridgeport, where
he was educated at the hands of private
tutors and in the old Jones School and in
the public schools of Bridgeport, conclud-
ing his studies with a course at the Peekskill
Military Academy, Peekskill, New
York. His first employment was as office
boy and billing clerk with the American
Tube and Stamping Company, where he
remained two years. He then removed to
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Kansas City, Missouri, where he engaged
in the wholesale and retail notion busi-
ness. After a year spent in Kansas City,
at the request of Mr. Burns, of the old
Burns & Silver Company, of Bridgeport,
who asked him to return to that city to
enter his employ and to grow up with his
increasing business, although the offer
was not very alluring, he accepted it, beginning
at the very bottom rung of the
ladder. He worked his way upward un-
til, in 1897, he was made secretary of the
company. In 1898 his father died in Denver,
and the son went West and took over
his father's aflfairs and adjusted them
satisfactorily ; and in doing so he demon-
strated his capacity for doing things on a
large scale. In 1900 he returned to
Bridgeport and joined the Burns & Silver
Company, purchasing a stock interest;
and a few years before Mr. Burns' death,
in 191 1, he acquired a one-half interest in
the M. B. Schenck Company, castor manufacturers,
of Meriden, Connecticut. Upon
Mr. Burns' death, Mr. Bassick became
president of that company. When the
World War burst upon the nations Mr.
Bassick went to New York city, opened
offices and engaged in the sale of explos-
ives to the French government and of
large quantities of time fuses for the
Canadian government. He next purchased
the Universal Castor and Foundry
Company of Newark, New Jersey, and
shortly afterward organized the Bassick
Company, which took over the Burns &
Bassick Company, the M. B. Schenck
Company and the Universal Castor and
Foundry Company, capitalized at one and
one-half million dollars, preferred, and
three million dollars, common stock. Not
long after the United States entered the
World War, the great Bassick plants were
mobilized on war work, manufacturing
hand grenades and harness hardware. Mr.