Basset

The following history on the Basset line includes segments from these books:
 "Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell" , "Paternal Ancestry Of Homer Beers James"

"Few families in the early annals of England can boast of a more eminent progenitor than the Bassets, and the descendants of few of the Anglo-Norman nobles attained a high degree of power than those of Ralph Basset, who was Justice of England under King Henry I. We find his son Ralph, in the reign of King Stephen, abounding in wealth, and erecting a strong castle upon some part of his inheritance in Normandy. Ralph Basset, the Justice of England, required none of the artificial aids of ancestry to attain distinction; he had within himself powers sufficient at any period to reach the goal of honor, but particularly in the rude age in which he lived. To his wisdom we are said to be indebted for many salutary laws, and among others for that of the frank pledge. Like all the great men of his day, he was a most liberal benefactor to the church."

01. Thurstan, the Norman

02. Ralph Basset I, son of Thurstan died in 1120.

03. Richard Basset I, son Ralph succeeded his father as Justice of England, which high office he filled in the latter part of King Henry I.'s reign, and through the whole of King Stephen's. In the 5th year of the latter monarch, he was sheriff of Surrey, Cambridge, and Huntingdonshire, with Aleric de Vere; and he served the same office for Essex, Hertford, Buckingham, Bedford, Norfolk, Suffolk, Northampton, and Leicestershire. He married Maude Ridel only daughter and heiress of Geoffrey Ridel, Lord of Witheringe, by Geva, daughter of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester.  Geoffrey was a powerful feudal baron.  Richard died between September 16, 1144 and May 29, 1147.

04. Ralph Basset, son of Richard died in 1160.

05. Ralph Basset, son of Ralph died in 1211.

06. Ralph Basset, son of Ralph of Drayton, Staffordshire, and Colston, Nottinghamshire, died between 1254 and 1261.

07. Ralph Basset, son of Ralph, Lord Basset of Drayton, Staffordshire, was killed at the battle of Evesham on August 4, 1265.  He married Margaret De Somery.

08. Ralph Basset, son of Ralph, Lord Basset of Drayton in Staffordshire, died in Drayton on December 31, 1299.  He married Hawise.  Joan De Grey is often incorrectly listed as the mother of Margaret (I had traced a line of Joan to Lady Godiva).  Weis Ancestral Roots say that it is Hawise and Cokayne's Complete Peerage says it is Joan.  There are a couple of good newsgroup threads on this subject: (Here and Here).

 09. Margaret Basset, daughter of Ralph and Hawise was born abt. 1280 in Drayton, England.  She married Edmund Stafford, son of Nicholas Stafford and Alionore Clinton in 1298.  Margaret died on March 17, 1336.  I descend from their son Ralph Stafford who married Margaret D'Audley.

DE SOMERY