Bascom Gravestone Photos

I have personally photographed hundreds of Bascom gravestone photos over the years, and cousins have submitted several via email.  I have far more than I can post on the web site, but on this page I've shown some of the very oldest Bascom graves.

Carved stones were not commonly used until the mid-1700s.  In fact, very few graves from the 1600s can be found in all of New England.  In the 1600s graves were typically marked with a wooden cross or unlabeled stone, and therefore most of the early grave sites have been lost. 

Although we know the first three generations of Bascoms (Thomas I, Thomas II, Thomas III) were recorded as having died in Northampton, the grave locations are are not known.  It is not likely that gravestones marked these early graves.  However, from the fourth generation of Bascoms onward there are many gravestones.

In Southampton we have this first gravestone, of Jonathan Bascom, his wife Mindwell King, and son Elisha who died in the Revolution.

Jonathon was the son of Thomas Bascom III, thus the fourth generation Bascom in America.

From 1761 we have this gravestone in Connecticut for Ensign Daniel Bascom, in the fourth generation in America, he is the son of John Bascom and great-grandson of Thomas.   No dates are carved on the stone, but the town records his death on May 17, 1761, making this the oldest I have found.

In full this stone reads:

In memory of Mr. Joseph Bascom he died Sep ye 11th 1764 in the 55^th year of his age.  Death is a debt to nature due, that I have paid and so must you.

Here lies ye body of Samuel Bascom who Died Noo'r 22 1765 in ye 76th year of this Age.

Rebecca Brooks was born Rebecca Clary who married Ezekiel Bascom, and after Ezekiel's death she married Nathaniel Brooks.  Nathaniel was captured by Indians and taken to Canada where he died.

Ezekiel and Rebecca are the ancestors of the New Hampshire Bascoms who started the Bascom Reunion Association.

Moses is the son of Ezekiel Bascom.  (Thomas - Thomas II - Thomas III - Ezekiel - Moses)

He is burried in Gill Massachusetts where he was an early founder of the town.  The farm on which he lived is still there today, on Bascom Road.  There are by my count 16 Bascom graves in the cemetery at the end of Bascom Road, mostly children of Moses.

The Moses Bascom farm was recently put into a land trust, to preserve the land from being developed.

Moses' son, Rev. Ezekiel Lysander Bascom married the famous American folk artist Ruth Henshaw Bascom.

Elias lived in many places.  Born in Hatfield, Massachusetts he moved to Northfield, Mass. and later to Newport, New Hampshire.  The last of his children were born in Newport and many lived out their lives there.  However, Elias moved on to Orwell, Vermont with some of his sons.  Both the Orwell and Newport Bascoms grew to be large branches of the family.  There are Bascom Roads in both Orwell and Newport where the family resided.

Elias was a deacon at the Orwell church, and lived to be 96 years old.