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French Family Asociation The Official Website of the Surname French Famous Frenches Jesse French, 1845-1927 Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, England; Nashville, TN; St. Louis, MO; New Castle, IN Last updated by Mara French on 7/16/09. Send corrections or additions to Mara French. |
Contents
Jesse French & Sons Piano Company
Jesse FrenchÕs Passport Application for Business
Related Family Members: Lumsden, Gennett, Davis
Pedigree Chart of the Lumsden-French-Gennett Families
Descendants of Jesse French in 2009
Jesse FrenchÕs Passport Application for Business
The U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925, say that Jesse French was b. 23 Jul 1846 in Devonshire, England and a U.S. passport was issued to him on 6 May 1920, and that his father Jacob French was a naturalized citizen of the U.S. It states his father, Jacob French, immigrated from the Port of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, in 1834 and that he resided about 12 or 14 years, uninterruptedly, in the United States from 1834 to 1848 in New York, and that he was a naturalized citizen of the United States. Jesse French had obtained his previous passport in Nashville, TN, ca. 1895. Jessie was obtaining a new passport at age 74 to visit France, Italy, and Belgium on business. He intended to leave from the port of Montreal, Canada, and sail on the Scotian steamer on the 18th of Jun 1920. Jesse states that his father, Jacob, came to the United States as a mere lad with his father who was a printer for an establishment perhaps called Bradshaw. In 1834 Jacob would have been 30 years old, not really a mere lad.
Related Family Members: Lumsden, Gennett, Davis
Pedigree Chart of the Lumsden-French-Gennett Families from Joan Smith, Ref. [2].
Extended Family Photograph, dated 1897, Jesse French is 57.
John LUMSDEN (Mollie's uncle; her father James' brother) + his 3 daughters (Mollie's 1st cousins) & their husbands (FRENCH, FIELD, GENNETT...all in that Starr piano/record business together). Taken in St.Louis, we think, just before they built the mansion.
Back row (left to right): 12, 13, 9, 8, 5, 10, 7, 6, 14
Front row (left to right): 15, 17,
2, 16, 1, 3, 4, 11
1 -John LUMSDEN
2 --Lucetta Cristman-Lumsden
3 ---Caroline/Callie
Lumsden-French
4
----Jesse
French
5 -----John Lumsden French
6 -----Horace Edgar
French
7
-----Jesse Lumsden French Jr.
8 ---Maria
Lumsden-Field
9
----Oscar Addison
Field
10 -----Lucetta Lumsden
Field
11 -----Oscar
Addison Field, Jr.
12 ---Alice Lumsden-Gennett
13 ----Henry
Gennett
14 -----Harry
Gennett
15 -----Fred
Gennett
16
------Rose Gennett
17 ( unknown woman)
(Joan Smith [2] is still trying to identify #17, the unknown woman...hoping it's Mollie Lumsden-Richards, only child of John Lumsden's brother James. Mollie had given Callie (cousins, 4 years apart in age) her photo (below), taken around age 18, in album Ed French inherited. Might the face of that unknown woman resemble Mollie-at-age-50? (in 1897 photo, same row, Callie was 46). On the back of this photo, Mollie writes to her cousin Callie French ÒDonÕt forget to tell me when you write what Lizzie said in that folio – you must tell me! M.E.Ó
Maria Lumsden (left above) and Alice Lumsden (right), 1874
Alice Lumsden Gennett (left above) and Harry Gennett, 1877
Lucetta Crisman Lumsden and John Lumsden, 1874
Lucetta Crisman Lumsden (Mrs. John Lumsden) taken in St. Louis, MO
See website: http://www.columbiagypsy.net/lucris.htm
Lucetta Cristman (John Henry) Born, 3 Dec 1828, in
Germantown, Montgomery Co., OH. Died, 21 Jun 1905, in St. Louis, MO.
Extra 4: 1870, in Nashville, Davidson Co., TN. Census: 1900, in St. Louis, MO. Census: 1880, in Nashville, Davidson Co., TN.
Census: 1860, in Nashville, Davidson Co., TN. with
Rose Gennett, April 1899, Dolby's
An address: "Mrs. Lucetta
Lumsden/ 102 Sth 13th St/
Richmond Ind" ca. 1897. Same
as daughter Alice.
Lucetta lived at 4362 West Pine
Blvd. in the 1900 census with her grandson John French and servants Henrietta
Smith, born in Germany, age 45 and William Collins, 32, born in Illinois. She
owned her home (free) and was "living on estate of husband." She had
had four children, three of which were living.
She is interred in the Bellefountain
Cemetery in St. Louis according to E. Conrad.
E. Conrad: "My dad was very fond of
Grandmother Lumsden. Dad had one of the first cars in
Richmond. Grandmother Lumsden loved to go for a ride
on Sundays, so Dad had a buggy top put on to keep the sun off her."
Obituary, June 1905: "The funeral of Mrs. Lucetta Lumsden who died early
yesterday morning at 4038 West Belle place, will take place from that address
at 2 o'clock this afternoon. Rev. G. W. King of the First Presbyterian church will officiate. Six of the grandsons will act as
pallbearers. Mrs. Lumsden, who was 77 years of age,
was the widow of the late John Lumsden, a former
well-known business man.
"Born
in Germantown, Ohio, in 1828, she moved later to Nashville, Tenn., where, at
the age of 20, she married the late John Lumsden, who
died in 1898, shortly after their golden wedding.
"Mrs.
Lumsden was one of those staunch pioneers whose
characteristics changed not with the change of fortune. She possessed a
marvelous memory, and her personal reminiscences of the civil war times
contained in themselves a fund of interesting history. She had a penchant for
compiling clippings andher library contained
scrapbooks and files which would be of great value to any institution of
learning. As a thorough and constant reader of the newspapers, Mrs. Lumsden had no superior and no move of importance among the
world's news escaped her eye or comment. Her philanthropies were of the
unostentatious sort."
Newspaper Article, "Richmond Woman Shares in Big St.
Louis Estate:" "When young she nursed friends and
relatives through three cholera epidemics in Ohio. She was a great newspaper
reader and has files dating back to the civil war period. She was recognized as
a brilliant letter writer. "Under
the terms of the late John Lumsden's will, the Lumsden estate, worth over $1,000,000 and stock in the
Starr Piano factory in Richmond, Ind., will now be divided equally between
three daughters, Mrs. Gennett of Richmond, and Mrs.
O.A. Field and Mrs. Jesse French, both of St. Louis. She married John Lumsden.
James Lumsden and Mrs. James Lumsden (Aunt Libby), 1874
Clara Davis (adult), Mr. Davis – 1877
Nellie Davis and Clarence Adell
Davis - 1877
Henry Gennett and H. Edgar
French - 1897
Descendants of Jesse French in 2009
The following list of people are not all descendants, but people interested in Jesse French ancestry.
1. Kevin Edgar French and his wife Laura, and their son William Jesse French are direct descendants of Jesse French. Email: french0626@gmail.com
2. Joan and Tom Smith, JoanTomSmith@hotmail.com. I'm looking for living LUMSDEN descendents, including ALICE (LUMSDEN) GENNETT (b. 5-5-1859 TN; d. 1-28-1952 CA). In 1876 she married HENRY GENNETT (b. 9-13-1852, d.6-3-1922 OH?; 8th of 9 children). [I once contacted Judith GENNETT, whose husband I believe is from Alice/Henry's son CLARENCE's line, but she hasn't filled me in on who came directly after them or explained yet her(husband's) connection.] If you are related to Lumsden-Gennett offspring (including those from Clarence/Harry/Frederick/...GENNETT) -or- know anymore about the GENNETT connection to LUMSDEN brothers [JAMES/GEORGE/JOHN, who partnered with John L.'s 3 daughters' husbands (...Jesse French + CAROLINE LUMSDEN; Wm. Payne + AMELIA LUMSDEN; Henry GENNETT +ALICE LUMSDEN) in that family business selling/mfg Pianos in IND, TENN, elsewhere U.S...], kindly let me know! I'd especially love Any/All *Photos* of these distant cousins!!! PLEASE contact me: < JoanTomSmith AT hotmail DOT com >.
3. Judith Gennett, www.columbiagypsy.net, website: http://www.waynet.org/nonprofit/gennett.htm and http://www.columbiagypsy.net/lucris.htm
4. Donna Kennedy Nichols, email: nicholsg@bellsouth.net or greytdogs21uv@qwest.net or 3dknichols8@earthlink.net (probably last email is correct). I know Jesse French of Jesse French and Sons Pianos. His son, Jesse French Jr, married my grandfather's sister, Edith Kennedy (she was known as Nell). My Aunt Nell and Uncle Jesse lived in Ocala and I spent much time with them when I was a child, and knew their grandchildren. Part of the year they were in New Castle, IN, and were either with Horace and Mable French or at our house. My grandfather, Aunt Nellie's brother, was Dr. Walter Urban Kennedy. They were born in Murrayville, IL. They also had a brother, John, who lived in California. In fact, he was in CA when their mother Kathleen Steuart died in Winchester. Helen Kennedy, born in IL in 1880's, married Jesse French, probably from New Castle, IN. They owned Jesse French and Sons Piano Factory. One of Uncle Jesse's brothers was Horace French who lived in New Castle. Uncle Jesse and Aunt Nell had at least 2 children - John French who did live in Tallahassee, FL and Caroline who married Richard Banta of Crawfordsville, IN. Jesse and Nell French lived in Ocala, Florida for many years. I have recently found some things belonging to my cousin Betty French Kelly, daughter of Horace, that I would like to give to a member of her family. It is a lace handkerchief she carried at her wedding in 1934. Her oldest son was Arthur French Kelly, born abt. 1940. My Uncle Jesse and Aunt Nelle lived in Ocala for their permanent home, but he was the son of Jesse French Sr. who began the company. Am trying to locate family members of Jesse French family. Uncle Jesse was of the Jesse French and Son's Piano Company. He lived part of the year in Ocala, FL with my aunt, Helen Kennedy French. Rest of the year they traveled. He died in Canada before 1952. Aunt Nellie (Helen's nickname) carried his ashes back to New Castle, IN in her purse in an urn. where he is buried in a family plot. One son was John who lived in Tallahassee, FL. He had 2 sons. They also had a daughter, Caroline, who married Richard Banta, author of The Ohio, in the River's of America series. They lived in Crawfordsville, IN. Uncle Jesse also had brothers Horace and Edgar French who lived in New Castle, IN, and also a sister. I moved in 2001 and lost one contact of someone who sent me information on Jesse French and Son's Pianos which was founded in either Birmingham or Nashville.
5. Deborah Young. (Cannot locate her email) I would like very much to talk with you about this French line. I have been searching for information on this piano and organ company that had an office in Birmingham, Alabama and in the early 1900's opened a branch office in Pensacola, Florida. My ggrandfather was the manager for this company in Pensacola. Appreciate any help that you can give.
6. Lumsden Genealogy: http://www.columbiagypsy.net/jonlum.htm
7. Marvin C. French, 6349 Jess Ct., Saint Cloud, FL 34771-9482, 407-892-6003, Fremav@yahoo.com.
8. Henry, Maxine, William, Bill, and Don French, 1907 Sawyer Place, McLean, VA 22101-5524, 703-893-8524, email: hfrench@aol.com
9. Laurel Martin (do not have email). She is a widow and owns the original of the multi-family photo on this website. Her mother-in-law was Rose Gennett, the little girl sitting on a lap in front row of that photo) mailed it to me out of her family album, so I could make quality reprints. I sent an enlargement to the Starr-Gennett Foundation, who had never seen it, either. – Joan Smith
10. Edgar French, mail: epb5151@att.net, he sent most of the photos on this page in a zip file. It was the photo album of Callie French, inherited by Edgar French. His grandfather was Horace Edgar French who lived in New Castle, IN, and operated the French piano factory until around the late fifties or early sixties.
11. More Email relatives: el2@evansville.edu, jacobsc@stcecilia.edu (Chenoa Jacobs), skelly@depaul.edu (Steve Kelly), hchisoc@kiva.net, jrwbl@msn.com, lumsden@cableone.net, lhenry@stei.com, deborah.may@nashville.gov, aheagney@slpl.org, ic0102@slpl.org, jhashman@afam-il.org, reference.tsla@state.tn.us, lou@sweetwaterinsurance.com, alinjerry42@yahoo.com (Alison Kelly and Gerald Frantzen --- great-great grandchild of Jesse French), bass456@earthlink.net, golfkelly@earthlink.net
12. mcfly_davis, related through O. K. Houck. Her mom is a Houck from Bardstown, KY.