Claud Bassett data

My great-grandmother Leta Scott's fifth husband, Claud Nelson Bassett, was born on February 16, 1886 in Kalamo, MI. His parents were Albert Bassett and Sarah Paulding. According to the 1900 census, he was the fourth of eight children.

On March 21, 1907, when he was 21, he married Bertha R. Kohlman (age 22) in Palmyra, Lenawee, Michigan. He was a farmer. If she had an occupation, it was not listed in the marriage register. In fact, for the brides listed, there was not even a column for occupation. Bertha was born on June 21, 1936.

In 1910, according to the census, he was boarding at the Hewitt residence in Wolsey, Beadle, South Dakota, and his wife Bertha was not with him. Hewitt owned a residence, and obviously, a boarding house. Claud was a house carpenter.

On September 12, 1918, when he was 32 years old, Claud registered for the draft for World War I. He was living in Lewanee Township, Michigan with his wife Bertha at the time. Due to his age and the late date of registration, he most likely never served.

The 1920 census reports that Claud and Bertha were living in Madison Township, Lewanee, Michigan. He was a farmer. By the time of the 1930 census, Claud and Bertha were living in Bradford Township, Monroe, Michigan. He listed his occupation as a house carpenter.

Between the census and 1936, Claud and Bertha divorced, because when she died on June 21, 1936, she was listed as being divorced. She died in Toledo, Ohio at age 52.

In 1938, at age 56(!), Claud registered for the draft for World War II. At the time, he was working at Libby Owens Ford in the Research Department in Toledo, Ohio. He was living in Toledo, Ohio and listed Mrs. Emma Bassett as his contact.

Emma Bassett was his second wife. The 1940 census notes that Claud and his wife Emma were living with Fred and Marie Fischer, and he was brother-in-law to Fred. As of yet, I have not found Claud and Emma’s marriage record or if Fred was Emma’s brother or Marie was her sister.

In January 1946, Emma Bassett died.

On December 30, 1948, in Angola, Steuben County, Indiana, Leta Scott Fields married Claud Bassett. He listed his occupation as farmer and shared that he had been married twice previously; both wives had died. Leta noted that she worked at a shipyard and had been married four times previously; she divorced her first husband and the subsequent three had died, the most recent (who was Robert Fields) in June 1946. (She had, in fact, been married five times.) Both stated that they lived in Toledo, Ohio.

On October 14, 1952, Leta was granted a divorce from Claud in Lucas County. She alleged that he had been guilty of extreme cruelty. She also returned to the name Leta Fields.

Claud N. Bassett died on August 11, 1953, in Toledo, Ohio “after a 4-year illness.” He was 67 years old and living in the Lucas County Home for the aged. He had formerly been living with his brother Albert at the same address he had at the time of his divorce from Leta.