Source: Northern Alabama, Historical and Biographical (Birmingham, AL: Smith and DeLand Publishers, 1888), 159-160.
John B. Bass, M.D., was born in Jefferson County, Ala., January 7, 1845, and was educated partly at Ruhama (now East Lake). His first medical course was at the University of Virginia, in 1869 where he graduated in medical jurisprudence, and afterward took a diploma as M.D. at Washington University, Baltimore, February 22, 1870. He came to Ashville in 1870, began the practice of his profession, and has remained here until the present time.
Dr. Bass' grandfather, Burrell Bass, was of English descent. He served in the Revolutionary War, migrated from North Carolina to Alabama about 1813, and settled near where now stands the city of Birmingham when Alabama was yet a Territory. The Doctor's maternal grandparents were of Irish lineage, and came from South Carolina to Tennessee, and thence to Alabama the same year.
Dr. Bass' great-grandfather Bass was in the Revolutionary War. The Doctor's father, Andrew Bass, lived on a farm near Birmingham until the time of his death, in 1854. He served in the Confederate Army as a member of Company B, Second Engineer Corps, and operated with Gen. Leonidas Polk, and later in the Army of the Tennessee.
Dr. Bass was married in February, 1875, to Miss Annie E. Gunn, of Georgia. They have but one child, Hershel W. Bass.
The Doctor has eschewed politics, devotes his time exclusively to his profession, and has held every official position in the Saint Clair County Medical Society. He stands at the head of the profession in his county.
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