Panel Discussion – 13 Aug 2011

The Jeffersonville Library in Indiana is having a panel discussion on Daniel French and his shipbuilding and “Yankee” Steam Engine Patent, on August 13, 2011 in the early afternoon. The Henry French House, son of Daniel French, will be open for viewing in the morning.

House Location: 217 E. High St., Jeffersonville, Indiana
Library Location: 211 E. Court Ave. corner of Locust, Jeffersonville, Indiana, (812) 285-5630, or contact Pam at poohpss@aol.com

History of the Henry French House

Placed on the National Register in 1983, the Old Jeffersonville Historic District is bound by Court and Graham Streets, the Ohio River and Route 65. It is home to the 1837 Grisamore House and the 1832 Henry French House, both of architectural importance and on the National Register.

Eight Generations of the Henry French Lineage

1. Edward French 1612-1674 & Ann, Chart #4.

2. Joseph French 1628-1710 & Susanna Stacy

3. Joseph French 1653-1683 & Sarah Eastman, Salisbury, Essex, MA

4. Joseph French 1679-1756 & Abigail Brown, Salisbury, Essex, MA

5. Daniel French 21 Aug 1708-1 Sep 1783 & Sarah Gould, lived their entire lives in Salisbury, Essex, MA.

6. Daniel French #2 1745-1783 (or 1746-1784), b. in Kensington Parish (Berlin) CT, m. Eunice Hubbard on May 20, 1765 from the Berlin CT Marriage Records to 1800.

7. *Daniel French, 1770-1860, b. in Berlin, CT, m. Sarah, and moved to NY, PA, and OH. Daniel and family were in Philadelphia in 1812 where Daniel built the successful Delaware River steam ferry "Rebecca" for William Cooper. The New York Herald (10/30/1802) carries a notice of the death of Daniel's first wife Ruth. There is a suggestion in the French Papers (IN Historical Society) that Ruth and Sarah were sisters but no evidence has been found.

8. Henry French, 1812-1878 from Jeffersonville, IN, b. in Philadelphia on 19 Dec 1812, m. Julia Winter on 30 Jun 1835 in Port Fulton, Clark Co., IN. She was born 3 Dec 1815 in Greenpage, NJ, and died 15 Jul 1887. They had a daughter, Sarah Ann French, b. 22 Nov 1843 in Jeffersonville who m. Albert Prather.

*Daniel French (fl. 1770–ca. 1860) was born in Berlin, Connecticut, and later moved to New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio before settling in Jeffersonville, Indiana, around 1829. A mechanic and an inventor, French patented a steam engine with an oscillating cylinder in 1809. He built two steamboats in New York around the same time, a steam ferry in Philadelphia, and about six steamboats in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The Brownsville steamboats included the 75-ton Enterprize, the first of its kind to make a round trip voyage from Louisville to New Orleans, in 1815. French and his sons William, George, and Henry built about 20 steamboats in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Information contributed by Al Maass, eamaass@bellatlantic.net (undeliverable)

Websites about Henry and Daniel French

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_French_%28inventor%29
http://www.indianahistory.org/our-collections/collection-guides/daniel-french-papers-ca-1796-1816.pdf
http://www.frenchfamilyassoc.com/FFA/ARCHITECTURE/HenryFrench.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_French_House
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Steamboat_Museum
http://jefferson.lib.in.us/