John French

Died	Billerica, MA
Town Founder
In Office	1654 - 1655
Select Board
In Office	1674 - 1687 1691 - 1692 1700 - 1703
Children	William (b. 1668-07-18)

John French was the eldest son of Lt. William French, the Cambridge settler who came from England in 1635 with Harlakenden and Shepard; Hazen gives John's birth as about 1635. He was one of the first men at Shawshin: his name is among the signers of the petition of October 1654 to the General Court, endorsed with the wish that "the Name of Shawshin henceforth may bee cal'd Billericay," which makes him one of the town's founders. He made his home south of Fox Hill on the east road, near his brother Jacob French, and Hazen says he "was often in the town's service."

French was a corporal in the militia, and in King Philip's War he paid for it. In the summer of 1675 he rode with Captain Hutchinson's and Captain Wheeler's troop toward Quaboag (Brookfield), and when the troop was ambushed on August 2 he was among the five wounded, listed by Bodge as "Corporal John French of Billerica" alongside the two captains. Hazen writes that he "carried through life the effect of the wounds received there." At home the selectmen assigned his family to the garrison in his brother Jacob's house, and soon afterward he had to petition for relief as "a poor, wounded man," harassed by the constable over his taxes.

He was a selectman for sixteen years between 1674 and 1702. On October 12, 1676, with Jonathan Danforth, Ralph Hill and Joseph Tompson, he signed the selectmen's petition asking the General Court to abate the war rates, because families had fled, garrison soldiers had to be billeted, and "many of our inhabitants are grown very low, several persons at this time having no bread corne." In 1671 he and his neighbor Thomas Richardson obtained from Richard Daniel, owner of the Shawshin farm, a private cart way across the farm to the country road, and in April 1683 "Corpo. John french" was one of the committee, with Tompson and the two Danforths, that settled the line with Andover at six miles from town to town.

French married four times: in 1659 Abigail Coggan of Barnstable, who died in 1662; in 1662 Hannah Burridge of Charlestown, who died in 1667; in January 1667/8 Mary Rogers, daughter of John Rogers, who died June 16, 1677; and in January 1677/8 Mary, widow of John Kittredge, who outlived him. His daughters married Dr. John Kittredge, Benjamin Parker, Nathan Shed, Thomas Abbot of Andover, Joseph Frost and Jonathan Richardson, and his son John married Ruth, daughter of Thomas Richardson. Corporal French died in October 1712 without a will. On October 27, 1712 his widow and children agreed that his second son William should "have & quietly possess ... all the Housing & Lands," the eldest son John having already had his portion by deed of gift, and that the widow should keep "the Lower room & chamber over it at the West end of the Dwelling House." The homestead stayed with William's family until 1766; the William French House that later stood on it, on Allen Road, was lost in 1976.

John French

John French

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