(The French family is included in the new book, Early Hamilton Settlers, by John Wilson)

John Lee McCarty French was “a genial, pleasant gentleman” who was one of the commission merchants at the wharf, when Ross's Landing was the city's commercial center. His fine home was on the block where the county courthouse now stands. Three of his nephews fell in the fighting at Chickamauga.

The French family was originally from Donegal, Ireland. William and Elizabeth French, parents of John L.M. French, made their way from Virginia to Rhea County at an early date. William French was on a Rhea County jury as early as 1809. He was one of the purchasers at the sale of the estate of Daniel Kennedy in 1810 - buying $8.50 worth of items, including a pot, crocks and a jug. William French acquired some 500 acres, including land “lying below the main valley road and next to Big Richland Creek.” He had a mill on the creek. A number of slaves helped operate his plantation. The site was
where the town of Dayton was later established.

However, French died in 1821, leaving his widow to raise five sons and a daughter. The sons were Joseph Harvey who was born in 1807, Timothy Fletcher who was born in 1810, William Baxter who was born in 1812, Allen Law who was born in 1814, and John Lee McCarty who was born in 1817. The daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born in 1819.

In his will, French made provision for the disposition of his slaves. It says, “My Negro girl Mina to my wife during her natural life; my little Negro girl named Harriett to my daughter Betsy Ann French, my Negro man and boy both named Joe shall remain with and labor for the support of my wife and family until the family are raised. It is my desire that my wife and children continue to live on my plantation until they are all of age, because I think it will conduce to the health of my family. It is my desire that they live on that part of my plantation that Charity Dunham now occupies and that they erect there at such cabins as will render them comfortable. When all the children become of age, my plantation and Negroes to be sold. Proceeds to my wife during her natural life and the residue to be divided among my surviving children.” He was buried at the French Cemetery on a high hill to the rear of the Rhea County Courthouse.

In 1822, Thomas N. Clark of Roane County bought 100 acres of the French place for $200. It was on the east fork of Richland Creek.

The eldest son, Joseph Harvey French, married Nancy Benson at Rhea County in 1831. Their children were James Madison, William Baxter II, Elizabeth Ann, Byron Brownlow, Timothy Allen, John Lee McCarty II and Joseph Harrison. William Baxter French, son of William and Elizabeth French, made his way to Knox County. There he married Isabella White, daughter of Hugh Lawson White and granddaughter of Knoxville's founder, Gen. James White.

John L.M. French in 1850 at Washington County, Tenn., married Catherine Ann King Findlay. She was the daughter of Alexander Findlay of Abingdon, Va. French traded from a row of one-story brick buildings at the wharf. French, who was “very precise in business,” prospered and was able to occupy a large brick house in a grove. It was above Walnut Street and faced Seventh Street in the direction of Lookout Mountain. Nancy Benson French had died in the 1840s and Joseph Harvey French passed away in the 1850s. Their youngest son, Joseph Harrison French, came to live with the John L.M. French family, which included a son, William.

John L.M. French had a religious conversion at a revival in Chattanooga in 1858. He became a Methodist minister, pastoring churches at Cleveland and elsewhere. Of his term leading the reorganization of the Charleston Methodist Church in 1868, Dr. David Sullins said he was “a superior pastor, and a better preacher no people ever had.”

At the time of the war, three orphan nephews of John L.M. French joined the Confederate forces, including Joseph Harrison French, who was in Co. A. of the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry along with many other Chattanoogans. At the battle of Chickamauga, he fought alongside his older brothers, Byron Brownlow French and Timothy Allen French. Two of the brothers died on the Chickamauga battlefield, and Byron Brownlow French was wounded and later died. The French brothers were buried at the Confederate Cemetery in Chattanooga. Timothy Allen French had been married at Chattanooga just
prior to the war to Catherine Orr. Due to the war, John L.M. French lost his fine property. However, the house survived, and Federal authorities allowed Mrs. Reese Brabson to stay there temporarily while her home nearby on East Fifth Street remained occupied.

At the time of the 1880 census, John L.M. French was a boarder with Moses Wells at Second and High. French was then working as a clerk on a steamboat. Moses Wells in 1860 had taken Catherine E. French as his second wife. She died in 1878.

John Lee McCarty French II married Mary Ann Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of the Rev. George Stewart and Catherine Elliott, who were from County Tyrone, Ireland. Their son, the Rev. John Stewart French, resided at Bristol, Tenn.

ANOTHER FRENCH HERE was Walter Scott French, whose father, John Hopkins French, was a horse breeder and farmer. The mother was Lucy Virginia Smith French, a well-known Southern writer. John H. French was the son of Robert and Mary Hopkins French who moved to McMinnville about 1820. The family was living near there when Walter S. French was born in 1854. He was tutored by his mother and local teachers, then he entered East Tennessee University. He later graduated from a business college at Nashville.

Walter S. French on Dec. 17, 1877, set out for Chattanooga “where without means and among strangers he began life anew.” He finally found a position with glass dealer P.C. Wilson at $20 per month. He proved a valuable employee and represented the firm at the banquet in 1880 where 2,000 guests celebrated the opening of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad.

French in 1881 married Ella M. Carpenter, whose family had lived at Indiana and then Cleveland, Ohio, before coming to Chattanooga in 1874. Her father, David T. Carpenter, had a home on Missionary Ridge. Walter S. French in 1883 joined with his wife's father and brother in establishing the Phoenix Foundry Company.