Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Karen D. Foster for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================== U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================== Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ========================================================================== SOURCE: History of Genesee County, Michigan pub. Everts and Abbott - 1879 Page 276 - 277 HENRY FRENCH Henry French was born in Woodstock, Windsor Co., Vt., in the year 1813. His father, Apollos French, came from Taunton, Conn., at an early date, and settled in the place where our subject was born, where he married Miss Abigail Carpenter. The fruit of this union was as follows: Robert, Rhoda, Betsy E., Ira, Ebenezer, Henry, George,and Joseph, — all living except George and Rhoda. Mr. Apollos French died at his son's residence in Flushing, and was buried in Flint. Mrs. French died in Vermont, and was buried there, previous to her husband's coming to Michigan. At the age of fifteen, Henry French was bound to Tracy Bingham, in Woodstock, Vt., and lived with him until be attained the age of twenty-one. He subsequently worked for Mathew Cushing and Seth Brewster, and until he started for what was then considered the "Far West," the State of Michigan, with his brother Ira. They traveled by wagon and canal to Albany, rail to Schenectady, thence by canal to Buffalo, and by steamer to Detroit. Remain- ing in Detroit but a single night, he started out (in company with his brother and two young men) on a prospecting tour in the new country, arriving at the village of Flint (consisting at that time of a few frame houses) about the 18th of October, 1835. He located on section 36, township 8, since called Flint and Flushing, taking up one hundred and nine and a half acres of land. Constructing a log house, he commenced his labors, fully prepared for the hardships and privations which all early settlers had to undergo. ========================================================================== Page 277 He married in Flint, in November, 1835, Miss Abigail Maria Ensign, of Greenwich, N. Y. By this union were born a family of four children, viz.: George, Althsea, Rhoda, and Henry H., — all living. Mrs. French departed this life the 16th of November, 1871, and was buried in the Flushing cemetery. He married, June 23, 1872, for his second wife, Mrs. Susan Delbridge, widow of William L. Delbridge, with whom he now resides. Mr. French, by his industry, has acquired a competency sufficient to enable him to live in ease. He has enjoyed the full confidence of his townsmen, they having successively elected him town treasurer and justice of the peace; the latter position he filled for six years. At the present time (September, 1879), he is sixty-six years of age, and seems to be possessed of as much energy as a young man of thirty. He believes this to be the result of a life of total abstinence. ========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our free online information by going to the following url: http://www.us-data.org/ ==========================================================================