Territorial House 1857 (District 10); Democratic Constitutional Convention 1857 (District 10); House 1873 (District 34)
Party when first elected: Democratic
Counties Served:
Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Pierce (defunct), Renville, Sibley, Steele
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Date of Birth:
9/30/1829 (uncertain)
Birth Place:
Luxemburg
Birth County:
Birth Country:
Germany
Date of Death:
1/10/1901
Gender:
Male
Religion:
Reported Minority: None Reported
Other Names:
| Alternate Spelling of Last Name: Bassen |
City of Residence (when first elected):
New Ulm
Occupation (when first elected):
Lawyer
EDUCATION
Schools in Germany; At Least Elementary School;
Fribourg College; Attended College;
Studied Law; With Silkman and Gunnison, and Judge McArthur, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Admitted to the Bar, 1853
OTHER GOVERNMENT SERVICE
County Government:
Brown County, Minnesota (County Recorder);
18?? to 18??
Military:
Minnesota Assistant Adjutant General (Appointed by Governor Lind);
18?? to 1???
[Appointed]
Municipal Government:
New Ulm, Minnesota (Elected to Numerous Local Offices);
18?? to 18??
[Elected]
Military:
Local Militia Regiment, New Ulm, Minnesota (Indian Expedition, Colonel);
185? to 1861
Territorial Democratic Constitutional Convention:
10th Council District, Minnesota Territory;
07/13/1857 to 08/29/1857
[Elected]
State Secretary of State:
Minnesota (He Was the First Minnesota State Secretary of State);
05/24/1858 to 01/02/1860
Military:
1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company H (United States Civil War, He was the First Recruit, Private, 1st Lieutenant, Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant);
04/29/1861 to 05/04/1864
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
Spouse:
Single (when first elected); Mary (married in 1869)
Children:
Five children: (at least 1 son and 2 daughters)
Family Members Who Have Served in the Minnesota Legislature:
GENERAL NOTES
Toensing lists his birth year as 1820. The Fifteenth Legislature of Minnesota, St. Paul: Press Printing Company, 1873 lists 1830. The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment registry lists 1829.
Toensing, Minnesota in Three Centuries, and the Minnesota Journal of the House, 1857 list his last name as Baasen. The Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1872 lists Bassen.
He moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1849, when he was 19. He moved to New Ulm, Minnesota in 1855 or 1856 (most sources list 1856).
"The democrat served as a representative in the state legislature of 1873, being elected form Nicollet County, where he resided form 1870 to 1876." (Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment Registry)
He opened the first law office in New Ulm. (Holcombe, R.I. MN in Three Centuries, Vol. 2)
He "was elected as a Democrat to the post of Minnesota's first secretary of state." (They Chose Minnesota: a Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups, 1981, p. 202)
He "was the first known Luxembourger in southern Minnesota." (Busch, Fritz. "Exhibit Features Luxembourgers." New Ulm Journal, Jan. 9, 2009)
He suffered from senility and developed gangrene of the foot two weeks before he died at the Soldiers' Home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His funeral and burial were held in New Ulm, Minnesota.