Henry F. French
Henry Flagg French (August 14, 1813 – November 20, 1885) was an agriculturist, inventor, lawyer, judge, postmaster, assistant district attorney, and assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury.[1]
Early life
Henry Flagg French was born in Chester, Rockingham County, New Hampshire on August 14, 1813 to the Honorable Daniel French (1769–1840) and Sarah Wingate Flagg Bell French (1782–1878). He died November 20, 1885 in Middlesex County, Concord, Massachusetts. He is buried at Exeter Cemetery, in Rockingham County, New Hampshire.[2]
Education
He received his general educated at Pinkerton Academy in Derry and then at Pembroke, and after that at Hingham, Massachusetts. He first studied law at his father, Daniel French's law office, and attended Harvard Law School.
Marriages
On October 9, 1838 he married Anne Richardson (1811–1856), daughter of William Merchant Richardson (1774–1838), chief justice of New Hampshire . They had four children: Henriette Van Mater French Hollis, (1839–1911); William Merchant Richardson French, (1843–1914); Sarah Flagg French Bartlett, (1846–1883); and, Daniel Chester French, (1850–1931).[3]
Three years after Anne Richardson's death, on September 29, 1859, he married Pamela Mellen Prentice, (1821–1895). They had no children.[4]
Career
He was admitted to the bar on August 14, 1834. He practiced law in Chester for five years, until his father's death in 1840. In 1839 he succeeded his father as Post Master in Chester. He then moved to Portsmouth where he lived for one year and then in 1842 he moved to Exter and continued to practice law there until August 1855. He was a county solicitor from 1838 to 1848 and a bank commissioner from 1848 to 1852. He was justice of the court of common appeals from 1855 to 1859. He was district attorney for Suffolk County from 1862 to 1865. From 1852 to 1859 he was President of the Rockingham Agricultural Society. From 1865 to 1866 he was president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College.[5] In 1852 he received honorary Master of Arts degree from Dartmouth College. On August 15, 1855 he was appointed justice of the court of common appeals. He held that office until August 1, 1859.
In September of 1859 he opened a law office in Boston, Massachutes. In 1860 he moved his family to Cambridge, MA where he continued to live for some years. On November 19, 1862 he was appointed assistant district attorney and held that position until July 1865. In September 1865 he moved to Amherst, MA. In 1867 he resumed his law practice in Boston. In 1876 he was appointed, by President General Grant, 2nd assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury. He held that position until 1885.[6]
Invention
He popularized an underground drainage system which was coined the "French Drain". His drains were made of sections of roofing tile laid with a 1/8 inch gap between the sections.
Publications
He authored a book about the drainage system called: The Principles, Prospects and Effects of Draining Land with Stones, Wood, Plows and Open Ditches and Especially Tiles: Including Tables of Rain-Fall, Evaporation, Filtration, Excavation, Capacity of Pipes, Cost and Number to the Acre of Tiles. (New York: C. M. Saxton, Barker & Co., Agricultural Book Publishers, No. 25 Park Row, 1860.
References
- ↑ Owings-Stone Family Page
- ↑ Owings-Stone Family Page
- ↑ Rootsweb Ancestry
- ↑ Rootsweb Ancestry
- ↑ Massachusetts Education
- ↑ Rootsweb Ancestry