The Biographical Dictionary of America/Bassett, James

​BASSETT, James, missionary, was born at Glenford, Ontario, Can., Jan. 31, 1834. He was educated at Wabash university, after which he pursued a theological course at Lane seminary, graduating in 1859. During the civil war he served in the Union army, after which he entered the Presbyterian ministry in New Jersey. He was assigned to missionary duty by the Presbyterian Board in 1871. He penetrated the interior of Turkey and of Persia, and during a residence in those countries covering many years obtained an insight into the knowledge of the manners and customs of their peoples, much of which he has given to the world through the medium of his various publications: "Among the Turcomans" (1880); "Hymns in Persian" (1884); "Grammatical Note on the Simnuni Dialects of the Persian" (1884); "Persia, the Land of the Imams" (1886). He also translated the gospel of St. Matthew into the Gaghatti Tartar dialect. In 1894 he returned to the United States.

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