Of the many families living in the United States and Canada bearing the name in one of its forms, Bascom, Bascome, Bascum, Bascomb and Bascombe, the great portion descended from the English emigrant ancestor, Thomas Bascom, who came to America about 1634.
(I) Thomas Bascom came to America not far from 1634, at which time he was established at Dorchester, whence in 1639 he removed to Windsor, Connecticut, one of the second company that settled there. At Windsor three of his children were born. He later settled in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he was admitted to the church, May 14, 1661. In 1666 he was elected constable and was made freeman in 1670. Took the oath of allegiance, February 8, 1678-79, and died in Northampton, May 9, 1682. In his will he devises to his son, Thomas, all his "mason's tools," so that must have been his trade. There is no record of his marriage to his wife Avis. She died six years previous to his decease, February 3, 1676. Children:
- Hannah; married (first), John Broughton; (second) William James, and has [had] issue by both.
- Abigail, baptized at Windsor, Connecticut, June 7, 1640; married John Ingersoll, of Northampton, and had issue.
- Thomas, see forward.
- Hepzibah, born at Windsor, April 14, 1644; married Robert Lyman and had issue.
(II) Thomas (2), only son of Thomas (1), "the immigrant," and Avis Bascom, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, February 20, 1641-42. He and his wife Mary were admitted into full communion in the church at Northampton, Massachusetts, March, 1670, which must be about the date of their removal there from Connecticut. He died there September 11, 1689. There is a conflict of authorities as to whether his wife was Mary Newell or Mary Baldwin, who died February 3, 1676. As his "widow Mary" settled his estate in 1689, it may have been Mary Newell. The records only show that her name was Mary. Children:
- Thomas, married Hannah ————, and had eleven children;
- John, died young;
- John, see forward;
- Mary, died young.
(III) John, youngest son of Thomas (2) and Mary Bascom, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, October 14, 1672. He removed to Lebanon, Connecticut, where he died June 27, 1755, according to the town records "in ye 84 year of his age." He married, December 12, 1700, Thankful, born at Hadley, January 12, 1679, daughter of Thomas and Abigail Webster, of Northampton, and granddaughter of Governor John Webster and his wife Agnes.
(IV) Ensign Daniel, only child of John and Thankful (Webster) Bascom, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, February 13, 1703, died at Lebanon, Connecticut, March 17, 1761. After his marriage he removed with his father to Lebanon, where he died. His gravestone, on which he is styled "Ensign," could be seen in 1870 in the Goshen burying-ground. He married, February 27, 1723, Elizabeth French, died February 15, 1749. He married (second), October 11, 1750, Mary, daughter of Rev. John Bliss, of Hebron, Connecticut. Children by first wife:
- Abigail, married Ephraim Wilcox;
- Daniel, born February 13, 1727;
- Elizabeth, married David Bartlett;
- Thankful, married John Strong;
- Sarah, married A. Root;
- Mary, married Samuel Allen;
- John, December 9, 1736;
- Elihu (see forward);
- Jonathan, September 14, 1740;
- Billee (William), October 3, 1742;
- Eunice, married Joel Strong;
- Abiel, born October 13, 1753;
- Olive, married Thomas Howes;
- Rachel, married Ebenezer Northam.
(V) Elihu, third son of Ensign Daniel and his first wife. Elizabeth (French) Bascom, was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, January 13, 1738-39. He settled at Lebanon, but soon removed to Greenfield, Massachusetts. After the death of his wife he went to Vermont, residing in Chester, then, in 1808, to Crown Point, New York, and later to Springfield, Vermont, where he died. He married at Northampton, Massachusetts, September 21, 1762, a kinswoman, Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Bascom. She died March 30, 1783. Children:
- Abigail, believed to have married Milzer Wentworth and settled in western New York;
- Elizabeth, married John French and settled in Kingston, Canada;
- daughter, born and died July 7, 1767;
- twin sons, born and died March 21, 1768;
- son, born and died March 8, 1769;
- Rachel, married Henry White, of Shelburne, Vermont;
- Thankful;
- Daniel (see forward).
(VI) Daniel (2), youngest son of Elihu and Elizabeth (Bascom) Bascom, was born at Gill, Massachusetts, October 15, 1780, died at Crown Point, New York, April 21, 1852. He was an early settler at Crown Point. He married Roxena Wood, born at Montague, Massachusetts, December 24, 1786, died January 3, 1851. Children:
- Albah, married Jane Warner, and died at Liberty, Randolph county, Illinois, leaving issue.
- Zilpah, married Job Town, of Crown Point, New York, and had issue.
- Daniel Wood, see forward.
- Roxena, married Nelson Robinson, of Waterville, Wood county, Ohio.
- Williard, married Hannah Stewart, removed to Michigan, thence to Buchanan county, Iowa.
- Jason W., married Elizabeth Downs.
- Betsey, married (first), Arad Robinson, (second) Hiram Sartwell, of Ticonderoga, New York.
- Jonathan, married Elvira Spicer, removed to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
- Ezra, died in infancy.
(VII) Daniel Wood, son of Daniel (2) and Roxena (Wood) Bascom, was born at Chester, Vermont, October 16, 1807. He settled at Crown Point, New York, where he was known as "Judge Bascom." He married, August 28, 1836, Pamelia Shearer, born October 18, 1817. Children:
- Chester, born September 6, 1837, married, at Crown Point, October 9, 1862, Helen Fobes, and had issue;
- Jennie, born June 7, 1842;
- Henry Clay, see forward.
(VIII) Henry Clay, son of Judge Daniel Wood and Pamelia (Shearer) Bascom, was born at Crown Point Center, Essex county, New York, September 3, 1844. He was educated in the district school and studied law in his father's office. He entered Fort Edward Collegiate Institute, and for a year after his graduation was employed as a tutor. He then entered the employ of the Vedder Pattern Works Company, at Troy, New York, as accountant and correspondent. This connection was never broken until his death, several years prior to which he became sole owner of the works. He was an energetic, successful business man and stood high in commercial circles. He was even better known by his vigorous newspaper writings, his platform utterances, and his hearty endorsement of the cause of prohibition. He was a delegate to the National Prohibition conventions of 1884 and 1888, and for several years represented New York on the National Prohibition committee. In 1885 he was the Prohibition candidate for governor of New York. He was known all over the land as a bold, fearless, outspoken champion of reform, and those whom he could not reach from the platform he reached with his pen. He was widely known through his forceful, vigorous articles in the press of the country, and as the author of Requited; or A Knight in Livery, an epic, of which the brilliant Frances E. Willard said: "It is unique, sonorous in rhythm, musical in rhyme, lofty in purpose and teaching." He was a devoted Methodist, and especially interested in Sunday school work. While he neglected no church duty, the Sunday school was his favorite field. He was superintendent of that department of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in Troy. He married (first) Lizzie, daughter of Judge R. J. Saxe, of Sheldon, Vermont, no issue. He married (second) Ellen Lucina Forbes, born in Fort Edward, New York, who survives him, a resident of Troy, New York, where she devotes much time to furthering the cause of temperance. She is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Lansingburg, New York, having been president (1910) twenty-three years.
(The Forbes Line)
The name Forbes is of Scotch origin, and has been spelled in the town records of New England, where the family first settled in America, Ffarrabas, Fferebas, Fairowbush, Fforbus, Forbes, Farebush, Forbush, Furbush, Fforbes, Farabas, Fobes and Fawbush. It is stated in Burke's Heraldry that the surname Forbes was assumed from the lands of Forbes, in county Aberdeen, Scotland, granted by Alexander II. (1249), to the progenitor of his noble family. John De Forbes, the first on record, was a man of rank and importance in the reign of King William the Lion (1214). Following him was a long line of descendants of whom William Forbes, of Tullickerne, Scotland, wrote in 1580: "In all ages since our first aryse; we might compair with neighbors for greater loyalty and valor for pietie (which we think truly enobleth a familie); to witness, the many bishops and doctors at home and renowned divines abroad. Like as the root was ever done, so the several branches of the house thought it their greatest honour to honour God in their generations. As to their loyalty it was never stained."
John Forbes, a native of Scotland, handed down by tradition as the son of Rev. John Forbes, who was moderator in 1605, at Aberdeen, of the general assembly of the church of Scotland, came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1636, and was subsequently a resident of Duxbury and Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He was one of the original proprietors of the latter town, where he died in 1661. He married Constant Mitchell and had children: John, Edward, Mary, Caleb, William, Joshua and Elizabeth. The descendants of these sons now constitute the Scotch branches of the Forbes family in America.
A branch settled at East Haven, Connecticut, and from them, Ellen Lucina Forbes, wife of Henry Clay Bascom, descends. She is the daughter of William Forbes, who was born in 1811, in Shoreham, Vermont, died in Fort Edward, New York, 1865. Her mother, Esther Joyce (Adams) Forbes, was born in West Haven, Vermont, 1820, died at the residence of her daughter in 1906, at Troy, New York. Mrs. Bascom had sisters: Dr. Lucy Forbes, a practicing physician of South Orange, New Jersey; Lydia, deceased, and Emily Adams Forbes, married Richard Kempshill, and has one child, Clara Kempshill, who married William Meyer, of Peoria, Illinois; they have one child, Richard K. Ellen L. (Forbes) Bascom is a granddaughter of James Forbes, who was born in Connecticut, married Betsey (Merry) Merritt, of Sand Lake, New York, and died in Shoreham, Vermont, in 1816.