Richard Basse was born 2 Aug 1658 in Isle of Wight County and died 26 Dec 1722 in Norfolk County. Richard married first Jane Bryant and had several children with her born in 1681 to 1688 and then married second Mary Burwell 25 Aug 1695 who was born about 1680 in VA and died after 1722 in Norfolk County. Mary bore six sons and a daughter from 1698 to 1719. The Bass family had stayed on in the Isle of Wight and Norfolk County area of Virginia for a couple of generations, then like many other southeastern Virginia families began a southward drift and descendants show up in Craven, Dobbs and Wayne Counties and some finally land in Sampson County before 1790.

This migration probably began soon after Richard’s death and a wonderful document that has been preserved sets the stage. It was written by William Rudd, a clergyman, and its purpose is to introduce Richard’s sons to whatever church in North Carolina they may come to join. ”Richard Basse, son of John Basse and Keziah his wife was borned on ye second day of August in the year of our Lord 1665...The said Richard Basse took to wife Mary Burwell on ye 25 day of August in the year of our Lord 1695...Said Richard Basse, Sen., died in Nansiemum on ye 26 day of Decem. 1722. These are peaceful subjects of his Majesty George I, King &c, Def“r of ye Faith, numbered among ye Nansiemum People, freeborn, and worthie of ye Respectful Consideration of Christians in ye Church in Carolina as in Virginia, & intitled to the same.”

Then on 7 Jun 1739, Richard Bass (we’ll call him II) and his brother Andrew (two of the sons of Richard and Mary Burwell) were granted patents for lands in Craven County. Now part of Craven County becomes Johnston County in 1746, part of Johnston becomes Dobbs in 1759 and finally part of Dobbs becomes Wayne in 1779. Andrew dies in 1770, but his descendants are found in Wayne County in 1790. Most likely, Andrew actually settled initially in what would become Wayne County. The widow and most of the sons of Richard II are found in Sampson County in 1790. In his case, I think it means that he moved on from his initial land holdings in Craven.

Turning now to the 1790 Census for Wayne County, we find the presence of nine head of household persons named Bass whom we can enumerate in terms of their relationship to Andrew, the pioneer Bass in Wayne County, who died in 1770:

Richard — he was one of two sons of Andrew.
Andrew — he was the other son of Andrew.
Aley Sr. — I think this could be Alexander, a brother of Andrew. Another transcription of this Census however says this is Alice. She would be the widow of Andrew’s son also named Andrew.
Aley Jr. — could be the son of Aley Sr. or the son of one of his brothers.
Edward — one of three known sons of Andrew’s son also named Richard
Rice — actually Uriah, another known son of Andrew’s son Richard.
Joshua — the Lawther ancestor, son of Thomas.
Thomas — the Thomas in question, relationship to Andrew unclear
Abram — I have no idea who he is.

And a 1769 tax list for Dobbs County shows the presence then of these Basses: Aaron, Andrew, Andrew Jr., Matthew, Richard, Thomas, and Wright. The inclusion of the names of Thomas, Richard and the Andrews are consistent with what has been already stated. Wright may be yet another version of Rice or Uriah. That leaves Aaron and Matthew unidentified. Thomas will later have a grandson named Matthew, so this name may be a clue, but of what?

Now coming back to Richard and Mary Burwell’s sons — they were Andrew, Alexander, Richard, William, Uriah and Thomas. Andrew is the one we have been discussing who came to Wayne County and died by 1770. Richard is the one who received a land patent in Craven County but whose family then moves on to Sampson — where his sons William, Richard and Burell are found in the 1790 Census. Alexander may well be the Alexander found in Wayne in 1790. And that leaves William, Uriah and Thomas unaccounted for. There is some evidence that some of these sons, especially William, stayed on in Virginia and may have continued to intermarry with the Nansemonds.

But the logic that the Thomas in question is a descendant of Richard (died 1722) is as follows:

–Thomas is present in Wayne County in 1790 and every other Bass present there (except possibly Abram) is a descendant of Richard.
–Thomas’ son Joshua gets married by Andrew, Esquire, suggesting but not proving a familial relationship between them.
–Thomas, certainly, is a family name in this family which tends to name sons after fathers, uncles and brothers.
–Joshua, son of Thomas, soon after the death of Thomas, removes to Sampson County where there are known descendants of Richard Bass and Mary Burwell, specifically their grandsons, sons of Richard II.

One obvious idea is that Thomas, son of Richard, is one and the same as the Thomas we are trying to identify. The problem is one of age. Thomas, son of Richard, was born in 1719 and would have been 92 in 1811 — possible of course, but is it likely? The Thomas of interest could, though, be his son, but he also could be the son of Uriah, William or Alexander.

And another possibility is that he is not associated with this family at all and Joshua’s marriage by Andrew Bass was just coincidence and not the result of a familial relationship.

–The most compelling evidence that would support this argument is that the names given by Thomas and Nancy to their children are all ”non-Bass” names, to wit: Joel, Joshua, Jesse, Elisha and Everitte. Where did these names come from? Why no Andrew, Richard, Uriah, William? Jesse Flowers, a descendant as was William, of Simon Flowers of Wayne County was mentioned above as a purchaser of property in the estate sale of Thomas and Nancy Bass. That could be the source of at least one of the ”non-Bass” names. But I have studied the Flowers family of Wayne County and those other names do not seem to appear, so at this point it is still only speculation that Nancy was Nancy Flowers.
–While Thomas did not use ”Bass-type” names for his sons, his sons did to a certain extant. Joshua had two sons, one he named Isaac and the other Uriah. Elisha names one son after himself, another Matthew (as mentioned above) and a third the ever popular Andrew.

So, I simply do not know who Thomas’ father was, but my best guess is that it was one of the sons of Richard and Mary Burwell -- though not presumably Richard nor Andrew whose sons’ names I think are known. For the purpose of connecting Thomas Bass of the Lawther family tree to Richard Bass of Virginia, I have made him the son of Thomas who was born in 1719 and whose wife’s name was apparently Sophia. But take note that that is just a guess. Now Richard of Virginia, remember, as stated by Reverend Rudd was the son of John.

An Internet tree provides place of birth, date/place of death.