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Capt John French II

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Birth	:	26 Jan 1749 Avon, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Death	:	24 Jul 1806 Avon, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Burial	:	Ashland Cemetery, Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate	:	42.0942726, -71.0190353
Description	:	Son of one of the "Christmas Day twins", he had a large family of record, by his first wife Damaris. His children were baptized in a church that served what was then a still large Stoughton. His family's section had not yet spun off and renamed itself as Avon, so old sources only mention Stoughton. We lack a stone. We only have what serves as a cenotaph, his name remembered on his first wife's stone, placed where she grew up. Might he be buried with his second wife, cemetery unknown? Or, with his son Daniel... Read More	Son of one of the "Christmas Day twins", he had a large family of record, by his first wife Damaris. His children were baptized in a church that served what was then a still large Stoughton. His family's section had not yet spun off and renamed itself as Avon, so old sources only mention Stoughton. We lack a stone. We only have what serves as a cenotaph, his name remembered on his first wife's stone, placed where she grew up. Might he be buried with his second wife, cemetery unknown? Or, with his son Daniel in the Avon Cemetery? His own stone lost, though Daniel's survives. Scroll to ...Bottom (Grave List) =========================================== SIX CHILDREN. Their births span 1780-1794. They were born after his marriage to Damaris in 1779, but before her death in 1795. Thus, Damaris is inferred as their unnamed mother. "... of Capt. John French 2nd and his wife" Sopha 1780; Artemas 1781; Olive 1784; Daniel French, on "Octr. 15h, 1786"; Sidney French I, on "Decr. 12h, 1788"; John [3rd] 1790; Anna 1793. ENDICOTT: The births come from an 1896 book, which focused more on Canton, Mass., "The Record of Births, Marriages and Deaths and Intentions of Marriage", Frederic Endicott, editor. Endicott compiled different periods for Canton and for Stoughton, as they split off from the "South Precinct of Dorchester". Many deaths were said to be never recorded and perhaps only half of the births. This family's births, on p.131, seem complete, however, as no other early source mentions added children. NOTES. StoughtonHistory.com says, "Artemas was aged 80 yrs., listed as an 'idiot' residing at the Stoughton Poor Farm, in the 1860 Census." Canton.org says that their colonial legislature gave Stoughton the right to split apart from the rest of the "Bleu Hills" of Dorchester in Dec. 1726, being six miles from the closest church (at Milton?). When Canton was given similar rights to tax for its own church, it then split from Stoughton, in 1797. Was "East Stoughton" considered in the Canton portion? SIDNEY FRENCH THE JR. StoughtonHistory.com quotes material from a family genealogy written by Sidney French's son (that Sidney French b. 1815). Published in 1870, it currently is best viewed at mocavo.com. What are the differences? First, Sidney the Jr. gave "Zelopha" for the daughter born 1780, not Sopha. Zelopha would be a proper spelling turning into Sopha due to a dialect that left letters left out. (This is a clue to the past, as lowland Scots and Danes' descendants in northern England would often do contractions, turning "can not" into "can't", Hellene into Ellen, Alexander into Xander and so forth). Zelopha turned into Z'opha with a soft Z in someone's dialect. The dialect could be the mother's, the father's, minister's or all three. Second, Sidney described a document by the twins' father, the original Dependence French, giving his sons, the twins, land that fell in three different "divisions". Having land in three divisions may have let them claim residence in three different church parishes. That was important as a person was assigned a church based on residence. Perhaps remote from all of the older churches, this allowed them to change churches, going in one division for awhile, then another, accounting for some flitting back and forth by Capt. John as he widowed and remarried. The idea of three divisions is complicated. Randolph split from what had been the west-southwest of Braintree, in addition to Avon splitting from what had been Stoughton. Finally, Sidney the junior maintained, wrongly, that Capt. John was the son of twin Dependence and Mary Linfield. Endicott's book makes it clear this is wrong by giving this John a number. For this John to be "Capt. John French 2nd", he had to be the son of somebody people thought of as "John 1st". (How might people could become confused? The two names were used and re-used for multiple generations. John the 1st's brother was called Dependence, the two related by birth or baptism on the same day, Christmas Day. The twins' father was the John French, who had married Mary Vinton. His father was their grandfather, the very first one to be called Dependence French, out of his marriage to Rebecca Fenno, as his first wife died very young, with only enough time to have one child. That Dependence had, not only an an elder brother named John, but also his own father named John, the two becoming the first John Frenches to live in Braintree. Four out of five men in THIS John's direct male ancestry thus were called John. ) LOCATIONS SPLITTING APART. The east side of Stoughton became East Stoughton. Its northeast corner then, in order to improve its services, separated further, as Avon, now a far south suburb of Boston, then rural. That last renaming took place well after this John's death. The main sources giving his death place as the "mother town" of Stoughton already had been written. Their street in Avon was then a country road, mere blocks from Randolph's western edge. If his death place were not Avon, it would have been Randolph, where many family remained and where, if he still owned land there, he had the right to serve as a selectman. A John French of his era is seen in the books as that. Thus, if wishing to find the cottage farmhouse built by his father (still standing), you'd look in Avon, next door to Randolph, as there was no reason to move the house to what is left of old mother Stoughton. YEAR. His own death year? It is not in any obvious official record. Nor is it cited on his first wife's stone, as she died before him. Yet, 1806 is often given with a month and day in family histories written fifty to a hundred years after he died. We report 1806, not as a precise fact, but only: (a) to place him in the right generation and (b) as the year of 1806 was not a random chance, but apparently inferred by years of a John French's service as selectman at next-door Randolph. The service was during this John's second marriage, which was to Eunice Wales, whose family was active in the local churches, like everyone else, scattered in different directions across old Braintree and maybe Randolph. There were too many John Frenches to say for certain that he was the selectman. We are prepared to change this if anyone uncovers an old record in some dusty church cabinet. REMEMBERING HIM DECADES LATER. A DAR source written a century after his death confirmed his role as a captain in the American Revolution. That source did not state his father's name, perhaps not knowing about his children's birth records. Again, his children's birth/baptismal records say that he gave his own name as "Capt. John French 2nd". Thus, he regarded his father as Capt. John French 1st. Sources choosing the other twin were written much later, decades after the death of the 1st, by descendants and in-laws. Such late "rememberings" could not be expected to be as accurate as this John's own records for his children, done in his own day. Distant in-laws on the French side wrote the "Thayer Memorial". They also mis-cited this John's father as Dependence. That information was then quoted by "The Vinton Memorial" (Rev. Vinton was related to his grandmother, Mary Vinton). The three sources, Sidney French, the Thayers, Rev. Vinton, all use the same reconstructed death year for this Capt. John. Since there are no records, that would happen only if copying one another, or if his stone was still readable at the time. ==================================== KEY SOURCE: The 1907 book, "Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution", Volume 23, p. 247 ==================================== His great-great-granddaughter, Lizzie French Piper, submitted his and her information to the DAR as application 22709. Born in Greenfield, Mass., she was the wife of Edward Piper, daughter of Ansel French, granddaughter of Ansel Beal French, great-granddaughter of Sidney French. The DAR biography gives his dates, as years only, saying he married m. Damaris Howard after serving in the Revolutionary War, in 1779. He served as Corporal and Sargeant in the Massachusetts militia. (Note that "Capt.", the title used at his children's births, would have referred to his title in the local militia, post-War. Note also that marching boundaries for local militias often lined up to match church attendance areas. These were what some would call parish lines, but the Puritans called them precinct lines. Each church doubled as a meeting house for those governing that town, the goal to have one church per town and one town per church, both organized together.) ======================================= FINDING THE AVON HOUSE. Both twins at some point lived in the part of Stoughton to become Avon. They would be across the street from each other, seen on an old hand-drawn map archived at Avon-MA.gov, given in a town history that cites relevant dates. The twin John French had moved there by 1745, the twin Dependence, by 1750. Their houses were perhaps built later, their new locations being close enough to their earlier homes that each could have "commuted" to a summer shanty until ready to build something permanent. The twin John went to church in Stoughton. The twin Dependence attended in North Bridgewater, later to become Brockton, so he may have held land in both places. John's first wife, Damaris, who died rather young, in 1795, was buried in her home town. This was also in N. Bridgewater, what is now called Brockton, adding to the difficulty in separating this John from his twin in peoples' minds. Was he buried in Damaris' cemetery? There's no gravestone photo online, no inscription recorded in their book of records. As he re-married (to Eunice Wales of Stoughton), could he be buried with her? There are too many John Frenches to track him well. Thus, we are very fortunate his wife's stone named him, and to see her name also in Ms. Piper's DAR application. 2018 UPDATE, Jun 25: Thank you to FindaGrave member, Stephen French, id 48975622, descended of twin Dependence, for confirming which John was the twins' father. This writer's spouse descends of the twins' younger brother, Abiathar French, who went to western Massachusetts with the Bryants and a sister-I-law who had married a Howard. Abiathar's son by the same name would migrate with his own sons and other family and neighbors to northeast Ohio, the so-called Western Reserve, just east of Cleveland, there well before the War of 1812. ========================================================== This Findagrave page will be hard to find using Findgrave search, so putting him in a virtual cemetery is recommended if wishing to find him easily. Copyright by JBrown, Julia Brown, Austin, TX, Sept., 2015, revised 2017, 2018. Permission given to Findagrave for use at this page.

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Capt John French II's memorial?
Capt John French II's memorial is located at: Ashland Cemetery, Brockton, Plymouth County, USA.
When did Capt John French II death?
Capt John French II death on 24 Jul 1806 in Avon, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Where are the coordinates of the Capt John French II's memorial?
Latitude: 42.0942726
Longitude: -71.0190353

Family Members:

Parent

Spouse

Damaris Howard French

(1757 - 1795)

Siblings

Ruhamah French Ames

(1757 - 1803)

Children

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Ashland Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0942726, -71.0190353

2. Mulberry Street Cemetery (Defunct)
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0933960, -71.0161800

3. Calvary Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0917015, -71.0056000

4. Saint Patricks Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0889015, -71.0068970

5. Union Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0838100, -71.0092200

6. First Parish Burying Ground
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0704190, -71.0181560

7. Thayer Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0880241, -71.0505142

8. Avon Cemetery
Avon, Norfolk County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1187401, -71.0309982

9. Our Lady of Sorrows Convent Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0742280, -70.9946250

10. Leach Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0811005, -70.9863968

11. Snell Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0716670, -71.0427170

12. Wendell Cemetery
Holbrook, Norfolk County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1232986, -71.0139008

13. Porter Family Cemetery
Stoughton, Norfolk County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1063300, -71.0614000

14. Pride of Brockton Cemetery
Stoughton, Norfolk County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1061000, -71.0617500

15. East Main Street Cemetery
Avon, Norfolk County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1262300, -71.0363000

16. Saint Michaels Cemetery
Avon, Norfolk County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1285210, -71.0299835

17. Thompson Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0603380, -71.0054430

18. Melrose Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0931015, -71.0678024

19. Richards Family Burial Ground
Abington, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1266400, -70.9788900

20. High Street Cemetery
Whitman, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0859750, -70.9566920

21. Dunbar Family Cemetery
West Bridgewater, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0510900, -71.0443700

22. Cobb Family Burial Ground
Abington, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1288300, -70.9755300

23. Old Coweeset Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0588200, -71.0649940

24. Coweeset Cemetery
Brockton, Plymouth County, USA
Coordinate: 42.0569000, -71.0661011