Jacob Sloat Fassett and the origin of the village name

Jacob Sloat Fassett was born on November 13, 1853, in Elmira, New York, and grew up at 460 West Church Street. The son of Martha Ellen Sloat and Newton Pomeroy Fassett, he was named after his maternal grandfather, Jacob Sloat, the Sloatsburg industrialist who built Harmony Hall. After Elmira Free Academy, he graduated with honours from the University of Rochester in 1875, studied law at the family firm Smith, Robertson & Fassett, was admitted to the bar in 1878, then pursued law and political economy at Heidelberg University, Germany. He returned to Elmira in 1882 to practise law.

District Attorney of Chemung County in 1878 and 1879, he then became owner of the Elmira Daily Advertiser, a political rival to Governor David B. Hill’s Elmira Gazette. Elected to the New York State Senate in 1883, he served from 1884 to 1891, chaired the Commerce and Navigation and Insurance committees, and was Senate president pro tempore from 1889 to 1891. A delegate to the 1880, 1892 and 1916 Republican National Conventions — serving as Temporary Chairman in 1892 — he was also Secretary of the Republican National Committee from 1888 to 1892. He sat in the 1894 New York State Constitutional Convention and, in 1918, chaired the Republican advisory convention, his last political role.

The name “Fassett” was first given to the railway station in 1905, then to the post office in 1906. In 1913, the parish was established as “Saint-Fidèle de Fassett.” The municipality, first called “La Petite Nation” and then “Paroisse de Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours” from 1883 to 1951, officially adopted the name Fassett on March 17, 1951.

Logging was then at its height in the region. Largely thanks to that industry, the municipality of Fassett once had more than 1,500 residents.

Jacob and Jennie Fassett donated $30,000 toward the construction of Fassett Commons at Elmira College, followed by another $10,000 when costs rose; Jacob actually favoured the name “Crocker Hall,” and the building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fassett also cleared athletic fields and built a clubhouse for children near Strathmont, donated the site of the Federation Building opened in 1908, and the couple supported a church, parks and social organizations in Chemung County. After his death, Jennie gave $60,000 for an Elmira College memorial reading room.

Saint-Fidèle church was built between 1917 and 1919. In 2000, its sacristy was converted into a place of worship on winter Saturday evenings to welcome the fifty or so parishioners from Fassett and the surrounding area who attended mass.

Jacob Sloat Fassett died in Vancouver, British Columbia, while returning from a business trip to Japan and the Philippines. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira. A lawyer, publisher, elected official, banker, businessman and philanthropist, he left his name to several places and institutions.

Because of demographic and economic changes, the church closed its doors for good on December 31, 2016, after welcoming the faithful for a final Christmas mass on December 24.

Fassett is a human-scale riverside municipality in the MRC de Papineau, in Quebec’s Outaouais region. Each village street carries part of its history, which the Municipality continues to document while showcasing its built heritage, municipal wharf and waterfront park.