Ebenezer D. Bassett was the U.S. Minister to Haiti that Frederick Douglass met in 1871. Years later, when Douglass, himself was appointed the Minister to Haiti, he hired Bassett to work as his personal secretary due to the fact that he was fluent in French while Douglass was not. The two worked together in Haiti until Douglass resigned from the position.
“…Ebenezer Bassett, a gentleman and a scholar, and a man well fitted by his good sense and amiable qualities to fill the position with credit to himself and his country. It is with a certain degree of pride that I am able to say that my opinion of the wisdom of sending Mr. Bassett to Hayti has been fully justified by the creditable manner in which, for eight years, he discharged the difficult duties of that position…”[1]
Ebenezer Bassett died on November 15, 1908 at the age of 75. He was buried in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.
Exact Grave GPS: 41.312895, -72.927030
[1] Frederick Douglass, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Boston: De Wolfe & Fiske Co., 1892), 510.
The Graves of Frederick Douglass 