Sylvester Hassell was born on July 28, 1842, in Williamston, Martin County, North Carolina.

He was an educator, scholar, writer, and Primitive Baptist preacher. He was educated at the Williamston Academy and then attended The University of North Carolina (LL.D., 1861, honorary M.A., 1867) where he was president of the Philanthropic Society. Afterward, he returned to Williamston to assist his father Cushing Biggs Hassell (1808-1880), a merchant and esteemed Primitive Baptist minister. He chose education as a career, teaching at Williamston Academy (1865-1868) and Delaware State Normal College (1869-1871). He was principal of William Collegiate Institute at Wilson (1872-1886). He succeeded his father as moderator of the Kehukee Primitive Baptist Association (1880-1928) and agreed to revise and complete his unfinished manuscript "History of the Church of God from the Creation" (1886). He was pastor at Skewarkey Primitive Baptist Church (1880-1928) and an associate editor of The Gospel Messenger, the monthly magazine of the "Primitive Baptist Faith and Order". In 1896, he purchased the monthly and moved it to Williamston.

In 1869, he married Mary Isabella Yarrell (1848–1871) and in 1876, he married Francis Louise Woodward (1859–1889). He died on August 18, 1928, in Martin County, North Carolina.