FRENCH, Franklin P.

FRENCH, HADFIELD, NUTE, MOODY, HAIGHT, BARTLE, SHELDON, WINSHIP

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 9/9/2006 at 16:38:16

Franklin P. French, a farmer and capitalist of Osage, holding extensive landed interests, was born at Alton, New Hampshire, April 3, 1854. His father, John W. French, was a native of the Green Mountain state, born in 1816, of English parentage. At length he determined to try his fortune in the middle west, which was being rapidly opened up to settlement, and in 1854 he came to Mitchell county, Iowa. At that time he made extensive purchase of land, securing various tracts at different points between McGregor and Osage but did not remain permanently.

He had learned the shoemaker's trade and he afterward became a shoe manufacturer, employing fifty men and turning out about five hundred pairs of shoes daily. He also became a general merchant, his activity in that line, being confined to Alton, New Hampshire, where he engaged in the business until the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861 he disposed of his interests in Alton and again came to Iowa with the intention of remaining, for the lure of the west was upon him After first coming in 1854 he had made other trips and with his parents he spent two very severe winters, that of 1855 and 1856, near the present site of McIntyre, Iowa.

The district was then largely a wind swept prairie, covered in the winter by an unbroken, dazzling sheet of snow, but in June starred with a million wild flowers. In the spring of 1862 Mr. French again came to the west and prepared a home for the coming of his family, who arrived on July 8, that year. The family home was at first established near McIntyre for one year, then they spent one year at Osage but subsequently located on the home farm near Little Cedar, and here Mr. French remained up to the time of his death, which occurred on the 9th of June, 1877.

He had devoted the intervening period of fifteen years to general farming and was one of the representative and honored pioneer residents of the community. In Masonic circles he was very prominent, being master of his lodge at Stacyville for many years, or until a short time prior to his death. He also had membership in the Royal Arch Chapter at Osage.

In 1875 he retired from active business life, spending the succeeding two years in the enjoyment of a well earned rest. He had been married in 1837 to Miss Sarah T. Nute, who was born in New Hampshire in 1820. They became the parents of twelve children: Mrs. Delia V. Moody, of Osage; George W., who is living in Laporte City, Iowa; Mrs. Katherine Haight, of Osage; Seth, who makes his home in Rudd, Iowa; John C., of San Francisco; Franklin P.; James P., who is living in Wisconsin; Mrs. Clara Bartle, of Mitchell, Iowa; Belle, who died, in 1875; Guy, who died in 1897; and two who died in infancy. The wife and mother survived until 1893.

Franklin P. French acquired his education in the district schools of Mitchell county, spending his boyhood and youth on his father's farm and early becoming familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. When twenty-two years of age he purchased the old family homestead, together with other land and began farming independently. He engaged not only in the production of various cereals and general produce but also in the raising of cattle, horses and hogs, and as he prospered in his undertakings he gradually acquired farm after farm, buying and selling at different periods, while at the present time he owns three hundred and twenty acres of productive Mitchell county land. He also has two sections of Montana land, of which eight hundred acres are under cultivation; and four hundred acres of North Dakota land, located near Jamestown. This, too, is under cultivation. He likewise owns large tracts of Canadian land and he buys and sells farm land in all those different districts. From 1889 until 1900, or for a period of eleven years, he was engaged in the implement business in Osage, under the style of the Hill-French Implement Company.

In 1876 Mr. French was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Hadfield, who was born in Wisconsin in 1855 and is of English lineage. Her family were representatives of the nobility of England. The mother died before the removal of the family to Iowa, in 1868. In the meantime Mr. Hadfield had married again and he took up his abode in Mitchell county near Brownsville, where he died in December, 1914, having reached the very notable old age of ninety-five years. By his first marriage he had twelve children, seven of whom grew to maturity and by his second wife there were five children. Unto Mr. and Mrs. French have been born two children, namely: Gladys F. Sheldon, who is at home; and Gail Winship, who is residing a short distance from Osage.

In his political views Mr. French has ever been a stalwart republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He is a Mason of high rank, belonging to the lodge, chapter and commandery at Osage, and to the Mystic Shrine at Cedar Rapids. The father was also a worthy exemplar of the craft and his was believed to be the first Masonic funeral held in Mitchell county. The French family were honored pioneer settlers of this section of the state, making the journey here at an early date and traveling most of the way from Wisconsin with ox team and wagon. There were just five houses between McIntyre and Osage at that period. No well defined roads had been laid out, no farms were fenced off when they drove across the virgin prairie country to their new home. Wolves were frequently seen, and deer and other game were to be had in abundance. On one occasion Mr. French of this review was followed half way from Mitchell to Cedar by a pack of wolves, but managed to elude his pursuers. He can relate many interesting incidents of pioneer times when the work of progress and development seemed scarcely begun in this section of the state. His memory forms the connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present, and in the work of general improvement he has borne an important part.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, Pages 158-160