Bassetts Creek was named for Thomas Bassett, a British Loyalist and native of Virginia who migrated to the Tombigbee area from near Augusta, Georgia, circa 1772 to escape persecution by American patriots. In 1776, King George III granted him 750 acres on the west side of the Tombigbee River, five miles east of this site, where he established his residence and plantation. Bassett also received a Crown grant to lands at McIntosh Bluff. He was murdered by Indians circa 1780 on the east side of the Tombigbee near a creek that also bears his name. As a minor in Georgia, one of his guardians was General Lachlan McGillivray. Numerous Bassett descendants presently live in this area.