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Place of Birth
Wisconsin, US
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Place of Death
Wisconsin, US
When John Basten was born on March 19, 1868, in Brown, Wisconsin, his father, Joseph, was 26 and his mother, Elizabeth, was 29. He married Pauline Maria Mathys (Basten) in 1891. They had seven children in 12 years. He died in 1941 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the age of 73, and was buried there.
From the records
John Basten has his own sketch in the 1913 history of Brown County, written when he was about forty-five. It gives his birth in Preble township on March 19, 1868. The state’s pre-1907 birth index has a John Basten born in Brown County on that date; the online index does not show parents, so the match rests on his name, the date and the county. He worked on his father’s farm until he was twenty, then worked for others; he married at twenty-three and spent two years in a furniture factory, saving until he could open a business of his own.
That business was the Chicago Saloon. After selling it he ran the Champion Hotel on Main Street in Green Bay for sixteen years, and in 1912 he moved to the saloon he was keeping when the book was written. The sketch notes that he belonged to the Order of Moose and took no active part in politics.
The book names his wife as Paulina Mathys, born in Preble township, a daughter of Andrew and Catherine Mathys, “both of whom were natives of Belgium.” Their seven children, all still at home in 1913, were Andrew, Catherina, Antony, Florence, Arthur, Clarence and Irene, and the family was Catholic.
Not yet settled. His death in 1941 and his burial in Green Bay come from the family tree; no public record of them has been found yet.
Sources for the records above
- Secondary history. Deborah Beaumont Martin, History of Brown County, Wisconsin, Past and Present, vol. 2 (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1913), pp. 165–166, sketch of John Basten. Read page 165 at the Internet Archive. A county history written from information the families supplied, not an original record.
- Index. Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Pre-1907 Vital Records, birth index: Basten, John, Brown County, March 19, 1868 (reel 10, record 671). Index abstract; parents are not shown online.
All sources accessed October 22, 2026.
Family research reference
View this person in Tyson R. Mosby’s Ancestry family tree (exported October 18, 2026). This reference supplements the biography and family memories preserved above. Ancestry tree entries are family research; conflicting details remain subject to review.