This week’s In Remembrance memorializes Thomas French, Michael’s 4x Great Grandfather, who was born on this date in 1820.
Thomas Elmer French was born on July 8, 1820 in Ireland and arrived in the United States in January 1841 at the age of 19. He is one of our few known ancestors who arrived in this country through Ellis Island, and he’s memorialized on the American Immigrant Wall of Honor which was established by the Statute of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation to celebrate the opening of the Ellis Island Museum in 1990.
Not much has been confirmed about Thomas’ time in New York until his marriage in 1848. It’s possible he served in the US Army (a Thomas French, from Brooklyn, enlisted as a tailor in Apr 1840 and it’s possible our Thomas arrived a little earlier than recorded), or given his presence in St. Lawrence County it’s possible he was one of the scores of Irish workers involved in building the various canals in the area (as we saw with Daniel Leonard Link), but regardless we know he married Mary Jane Newell on 15 Jun 1848 in Governeur, NY. The couple moved to Wisconsin soon after and established a farm he would reside on the rest of his life.
His first child, Suzette Newell French was born in Wisconsin in the spring of 1849, and they would have 6 others who survived to adulthood (May, Charles, John Jay, Ada, Cora and William). Thomas applied for US Citizenship soon after his arrival in Wisconsin, renouncing his allegiance to Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland on his 30th birthday, 8 Jul 1850, and he was eventually Naturalized as a citizen.
The farm was 85 acres located just West of Franksville, straddling Kraut Road and running just East of Borgardt Road (Link). When Suzette married Addison Morse in 1869 they moved to a 130 acre farm on the West side of Borgardt Road, with Addison’s brother JB across the street and his 110 acres abutting Thomas’ farm’s Southern boundary. His family remained close his entire life, with most of his children living nearby and those that lived away visited often. In fact Suzette’s first son was named with her father’s middle name as his first: Elmer Addison Morse.
Mary passed away of a long illness in 1894, and Thomas survived her for another 12 years before passing away on 27 Mar 1904. He was remembered as a highly respected, a man noted for his good deeds and being every ready to help anyone in need, as well as one of the last remaining early settlers in the area.
