Robert James French. One of the vigorous young
business men of Boise City, where he is an expert abstracter, Robert
James French has a distinction such as belongs to comparatively few
young men already enjoying a substantial position in business affairs
in Oklahoma. He was born in Oklahoma, September 10, 1894, in a log
house on a farm in Lincoln County.
His parents are Hugh
R. and Mary Elizabeth (Davidson) French. His father was born in
Virginia in 1856, a son of Jehu F. and Sarah (Hazlett) French. In
1860 the French family moved from Virginia to Kansas, and acquired
land in Johnson County, where Hugh R. French was reared and engaged
in farming until 1889. Though be was a participant in the first rush
for Oklahoma lands in April, 1889, he failed to secure a claim at
that time, but in 1891, on the opening of the Sac and Fox reservation
he settled on a claim in Lincoln County. In that section of the state
ho enjoyed the position of a substantial farmer until 1906, when he
came out to the extreme western part of the state and located in
Cimarron County. Since then his home has been on a farm five miles
northwest of Boise City. His activities as a farmer and stock raiser
have enabled him to provide liberally for his growing family and
secure a competence against his declining years. He is active in
democratic politics and belongs to the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.
In 1882 at Lawrence,
Kansas, Hugh R. French married Miss Mary Elizabeth Davidson, who was
born June 30, 1857, at Tazewell, Virginia, a daughter of Samuel P.
and Millie (Taylor) Davidson, who were also natives of Virginia. To
their marriage were born seven children, four sons and three
daughters, namely: Edward Patton Hugh, born in Johnson County,
Kansas, April 23, 1883, is now a farmer in Baca Countv, Colorado, and
is a veteran of the
Spanish-American war, having served for three years with the American
troops in the Philippines; Ressa L., born December 4, 1885, in Coffey
County, Kansas, was married in 1906, to E. Alpha Leggitt, who died in
1913; Lawrence Charles, born January 29, 1887, in Leavenworth County,
Kansas, is now a farmer and livestock man in Cimarron County,
Oklahoma; Joseph Oscar, born in Leavenworth County, Kansas, April 3,
1890, is a cattle man in Las Animas County, Colorado; Robert J., who
was the fifth in the family; Hazel Dell, born in Lincoln County,
Oklahoma, April 14, 1896, is now deputy county treasurer of Cimarron
County; Louis Billy, born in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, August 13,
1900.
Robert James French
like the other children received most of his education in the public
schools of Cimarron County, and in 1909 graduated from the Boise City
High School. He taught school one year, and since then has followed
the business of abstracting. He is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, is active in church and social affairs, and in
politics is a democrat.