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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, Publ. 1901- Page 513-514
I. N. BASYE, a retired business man, now living in the village of Arthur, Grant county, was born in Jacksonville, Ill., June 8, 1832, son of Dr. J. J. and Annie (WATSON) BASYE. Dr. BASYE was born in St. Louis county, Mo., Sept. 24, 1799, and his wife in South Carolina, Dec. 28, of the same year; they were married in Missouri.
Dr. BASYE started life as a merchant in a modest way. He practiced medicine for over fifty years, and was a local preacher in the Methodist Church for more than sixty years. In 1836 he came to Grant county, Wis., and purchased 200 acres of land in the town of Clifton, which is now known as the "WELLS Farm." There he opened a general store, and while he improved his farm he also dealt in goods, which he shipped from St. Louis and hauled over country from Galena, Ill. Mr. BASYE had men employed in prospecting for Galena ore during the remainder of his life, in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, but was unsuccessful in locating any lodes. In 1840 he sold his farm to Francis MERRIT, and located in Platteville, where he opened a general store with his son-in-law, J. F. KIRKPATRICK. They continued same a few years, when he sold out to his son-in-law, and confined himself to his medical practice, which had become extended, and occupied his whole time. The Doctor was tendered many political positions of honor and trust, all of which he declined, contending that business and politics would not assimilate. In his later years he was an inmate of the home of his daughter, in the town of Lima. Mrs. BASYE, who had shared with him all his early hardships, died in Platteville, in October, 1873, and he followed her to the unknown land Jan. 8, 1877. She was a Christian woman, and reared her family in the church to which her life had been devoted. Twelve children were born to them:
(1) Eliza J., born in Illinois in December, 1820, married J. F. KIRKPATRICK, who was a merchant in Platteville for some years, and then in Cassville. While living in Cassville his wife died, leaving two children, Julia and Benjamin. Julia grew to noble young womanhood, and died, greatly regretted by a host of friends. Benjamin died when a child. (2) N. M., a farmer, born July 24, 1822, married and settled in Grant county. In 1871 he moved to North Dakota, where he purchased lands, and died, in 1889, leaving a son and a daughter in that State. (3) J. W., born in Illinois in October, 1823, died when a young man. He was an earnest Christian, and very prominent as an Odd Fellow, and was the first noble grand of Platteville Lodge, I.O.O.F. (4) Frances A., born June 9, 1825, was the wife of William CLIFTON, of Grant county, a farmer and popular citizen and official. They lived in Lima for some years, and then moved to the village of Arthur, where he died in 1885. Mrs. CLIFTON died in January, 1900, in Lancaster, and is remembered as a woman of unusual ability and strength of character. Four children are left of this union - Rev. Theodore of Chicago; Rev. J. J., in the ministry at Omaha; I. N., living in Platteville, a retired farmer and veteran pensioner; and Carrie, Mrs. ARNETT, of Fairfield, Iowa. (5) S. T., born Oct. 24, 1826, began life as a farmer in Grant county, and afterward was a merchant in the village of Arthur. He owned two or three farms in public affairs and church work, occupying various offices of trust in his town. He is now living retired with his daughter, at Grinnell, Iowa. Two daughters were born to him - Mrs. Anson BROWN, of Grinnell, Iowa; and Mrs. Frank CUSHMAN, of Evansville, Wis. (6) J. J., born in August, 1828, was educated in the old academy at Platteville, and studied medicine with his father. In 1850 he moved to California, where he was engaged in gold mining for six years. Coming back to Grant county, he there married Miss Hannah E. WILLIAMS in 1857, and they settled on a farm in the town of Lima, where they remained until 1863, after which he was a merchant and postmaster in the village of Arthur for about a year. In the fall of 1864 he died very suddenly of dysentery, leaving a wife and two daughters - Annie, wife of Mr. JEWET, cashier in a bank at Fergus Falls, Minn.; and Bessie, who is the wife of a Congregational minister in Massachusetts, and with whom Mrs. BASYE lives. (7) Eleanor S., born in Illinois April 28, 1830, died in 1846, in the bloom of her early womanhood, greatly beloved. (8) I. N. is the eighth in the family. (9) Mary M. and (10) Martha L., twins, were born in May, 1835. Mary was the wife of John HAMILTON, a merchant, who lived in Platteville, where she died in 1864. Martha died in 1843. (11) Maria J., born in 1837, died when six years old. (12) Sarah C., born in June, 1839, died in 1843, the three last named dying of small pox.
I. N. BASYE began his early education in 1837, in a little log school house, practically erected by his father, in the town of Clifton, and attended the old Platteville Academy, under Profs. CARIER, MAGOON, and PICKARD, who in 1852 erected the old stone academy at Platteville, now the State Normal. He finished his schooling at the M. E. Collegiate Institute, under Prof. John NOLAN. One of a Latin class of four students, consisting of J. M. ROUNDGREE, Louis ATWOOD, and J. M. HARLAN, of Kentucky, besides himself, Mr. BAYSE feels that in his early life he had good company.
Mr. BASYE left home after his graduation, and went into southwestern Missouri, seeking for Galena ore, and discovered what are known as the "Granby mines," in that State. Remaining there a year, he came back to Platteville, studied law with George W. LAKIN, and then taught in the public schools of Grant county. In 1853 he became a photographer, under the instruction of Hesler and Johnson, of Galena and Chicago, Ill., and established the first gallery in Platteville, which is still continued there, by J. L. NYE.
In September, 1857, Mr. BASYE married Miss Susan SLATER, of Platteville, daughter of Rev. Isaac SLATER, of Duquoin, Ill. After his marriage he taught school in Lafayette county, Wis., for two years, and in 1860 came back to Platteville, engaging with G. HEXTER & Co., as a salesman and bookkeeper, and later with PETTIJOHN & REWEY, in the same capacity. In 1863 he took charge of the general store of H. HOYT, with whom he remained seven months. In 1864 he bought out J. R. STEVENS of Platteville, and engaged in the grocery trade, which he continued for some time. At the death of his brother, J. J., who was postmaster and general merchant in the village of Arthur, he administered his estate, and combined his business, continuing at Arthur some two years. Selling out, he became again an employee of G. HEXTER & Co., at Platteville, and continued with them until 1870. That year he became manager for LAUGHTON & Sons, general merchants, and was with them some four years. At the end of that time the firm was changed to LAUGHTON brothers, and a year later Mr. BASYE entered again into the grocery business, owning one of the finest stores in the city, and doing a fine trade for some three years. Since 1884 Mr. BASYE has lived for the most part retired in the village of Arthur, where he is interested in the poultry business. He has been commissioner of highways for some six years, and notary public.
Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. BASYE, four are now living: (1) Katie, born in 1858, was a student of the State Normal at Platteville, and was one of the successful teachers of Grant county for several years. Going to California in 1881, she was for some years a teacher, and contributor to the local press, and then married Oscar DE WITTE, a fellow teacher. Mrs. DE WITTE died in 1886, leaving one son and one daughter, Eugene and Susie, who are now with their grandmother in Platteville, attending the Normal school. (2) Cora E., born in Grant county in 1860, obtained her education in the State Normal, and was for some years one of the successful teachers who have gone out from that institution. She is now the wife of J. H. CUSHMAN, of Platteville, and the mother of four children, Nettie, Dora, Katie, and Leon, all students of the Platteville Normal. (3) George T., born in November, 1864, lives at Pipestone, Minn., where he is engaged in the sale of Indian curiosities and jewelry; he is known as "Pipestone George" all over the country. (4) William R., born in Platteville received his education there. When fifteen years of age, he became foreman of the Platteville Democrat and was manager of that paper for a year. Becoming a fine musician, and a composer of music, he was a professor in the musical department of a ladies' college at Galesburg, Ill. Moving to Milwaukee he studied under a German teacher some two years, and taught for a time at La Crosse, Wis. At Winona, Minn. he established a Conservatory of Music. After his health shattered, and went to an infirmary in Chicago. There he remained for a year and a half, and was about to return to Platteville when he took a sudden relapse, and died June 29, 1900. His remains were interred at Platteville. As a composer and publisher of music he had attained considerable prominence, and from his pen had come a popular book of instruction in music which is quite generally used in schools and by private instructors. (5) Helen V., born in Platteville in 1872, had a normal training, and a fine musical schooling, appearing frequently before the public as a prominent soprano. She married George HUGHES, and they live in Omaha, where Mr. HUGHES is a motor conductor. They have two children, Lenice and a little son. (6) J. Virgil, born in Platteville, in 1873, the youngest of the family, lives at Owatonna, Minn., where he conducts a temperance billiard hall, tobacco business and news depot. He is married, and has one child.
Mr. BASYE has been an independent Republican, and has been active in local affairs. In religion he was reared in the Methodist Church. Mr. BASYE studied medicine with his father, and was his prescription and financial clerk for a number of years. He has instructed private and public classes in vocal music for over forty years, and is still active in training children in the Sunday-school and in the church. He established the first choir in the Methodist Church in Platteville, and trained same for eighteen years; he introduced the first organ into a Platteville Church, and organized the first choir in the Episcopal Church.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck