STEPHEN FRENCH ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1632 FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester REMOVES: Weymouth by 1636 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Dorchester church prior to 14 May 1634 implied by freemanship. FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 [ _MBCR_ (javascript:APop(p13811,150,180);) 1:369]. EDUCATION: Made his mark to his will. OFFICES: Weymouth fenceviewer (for the upper end of the plantation), February 1645/6 [ _WeyTR_ (javascript:APop(p13812,120,144);) 1:14]. Deputy for Weymouth to General Court, 12 March 1637/8, 6 September 1638, 13 March 1638/9 [_MBCR_ (javascript:APop(p13811,150,180);) 1: 220, 235, 250]. Commissioner to end small causes at Weymouth, 6 September 1638 [_MBCR_ (javascript:APop(p13811,150,180);) 1:239]. One of three Weymouth members on colony committee to value livestock, 13 May 1640 [_MBCR_ (javascript:APop(p13811,150,180);) 1:295]. ESTATE: Granted 16 acre Great Lot at Dorchester, 16 January 1632/3 [ _DTR_ (javascript:APop(p13816,130,156);) 1]; granted 8 acre Great Lot, 1 December 1634 [_DTR_ (javascript:APop(p13816,130,156);) 9]; granted Lot #13, 4 acres, in Meadow beyond Naponset [_DTR_ (javascript:APop(p13816,130,156);) 321]. In 1636 he received a Weymouth grant of 21 acres [ _Weymouth Hist_ (javascript:APop(p13819,160,192);) 1:199]. In an inventory of Weymouth land made about 1643, Stephen French held three parcels: 10 acres in East Field (granted to him); 14 acres in Great Lots (first given to John Upham); and 3 acres marsh (first given to John Upham) [_Weymouth Hist_ (javascript:APop(p13819,160,192);) 1:196-97]. On 13 November 1658, "Hugh Roe" of Weymouth, currier, and his "wife that now is" sold to Stephen French, yeoman, twelve acres of upland by John Guppy's land in Weymouth [ _SLR_ (javascript:APop(p13821,140,168);) 13:242-43]. On 11 December 1671, John Tower Sr. of Hingham, planter, and Margaret his wife sold to Stephen French Sr. of Weymouth, yeoman, three lots of land in Hingham, each containing six acres [_SLR_ (javascript:APop(p13821,140,168);) 13:300-01]. On 18 November 1675, "Stephen French, Sr." of Weymouth, yeoman, sold to Roger Rose of Boston a parcel of land at Boston one hundred feet by twenty feet bounded by the sea at high water and Robert Marshall [_SLR_ (javascript:APop(p13821,140,168);) 10:260-61]. On 31 May 1678, Samuel Torrey sold to Stephen French Sr. of Weymouth his interest in a parcel of swamp at Great Swamp, containing three acres [_SLR_ (javascript:APop(p13821,140,168);) 13:303]. A large number of deeds between Stephen French and various Weymouth neighbors were brought to Boston for recording in May of 1685 [_SLR_ (javascript:APop(p13821,140,168);) 13:300-03, 315-20]. Most of them did not distinguish between Stephen Jr. and Stephen Sr., although they were executed in the elder Stephen's lifetime. Those not designated "Sr." have not been abstracted here, but may nevertheless pertain to him. In his will, written 17 March 1678/9 and proved 29 July 1679, "Stephen French of Waymouth ... weak of body" bequeathed to the church of Weymouth £4; to "my sister Mary Randal" £3; to "my two grandsons, Stephen & Samuel," all the land in Hingham "not yet enclosed", also a parcel of upland, also one third part of all my timber or woodlands in Weymouth to be equally divided between them when twenty-one years; to "my three granddaughters Mary, Hannah & Elizabeth" £10 each at eighteen; residue to "my son Stephen"; "also my will is that the deed which I lately made to my brother Searle (of a parcel of land, lying [in] Waymouth being a part of a lot commonly called the Spring [blot] lot) shall be acknowledged & confirmed." On 18 March 1678/9 Stephen French made insubstantial clarifications of the will [ _SPR_ (javascript:APop(p13826,90,108);) Case #1104]. No inventory of his estate survives. BIRTH: Possibly the Stephen French baptized at Misterton, Somer~setshire, 26 December 1600. DEATH: Weymouth between 18 March 1678/9 (date of codicil) and 29 July 1679 (will proved). MARRIAGE: By about 1635 Mary _____. She died Weymouth 6 April 1655. CHILDREN: i STEPHEN, b. say 1635; m. (1) Weymouth 19 September 1660 Hannah Whitman; m. (2) after 1679 Hannah (Jacob) Loring, daughter of _NICHOLAS JACOB_ (http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=greatmigrationindex&f3=jumptoNICHOLASJ ACOB) and widow of Thomas Loring [ _MD_ (javascript:APop(p13827,100,120);) 2:140]. ii SIA [perhaps intended for Josiah?], d. Weymouth 31 January 1656[/7?]. ASSOCIATIONS: On 29 July 1669 administration on the estate of Jacob French went to Stephen French, Sr., "on behalf of himself and his sisters" [_SPR_ (javascript:APop(p13826,90,108);) Case #500]. This Jacob French of Weymouth, who died 12 April 1669 and whose inventory showed four lots, miscellaneous items and a Bible, was certainly a brother to Stephen French, Sr. Stephen mentioned "my sister Mary Randol" in his will, and "my brother Searle" as well. Mary was likely the second wife of Robert Randall of Weymouth. "Brother Searle" was almost certainly Edward Sales of Weymouth. The deed mentioned in Stephen's will unfortunately was not recorded. Edward Sales's wife was Margaret _____. This family strongly resembles that of Richard French of Misterton, Somersetshire, who had (among others) Steven and Margerie with his first wife, and Mary and Joseph with his second. None of these children is mentioned in the 1638 will of their father [Abstract of Taunton Archdeaconry Court Wills, by H. R. Phipps, 1937]. COMMENTS: Despite claims by Savage and others that Stephen French came on the Mary & John, there is no record of him in New England until his receipt of a grant of land in Dorchester in January 1632/3, so he could well have been one of those from the West Country who came to New England in 1632 to join those who had come before. Stephen French's public career is unusual. In a two-year period from early 1637 to early 1639 he was entrusted by the town of Weymouth with a number of offices representing the town at the colony level, and then these honors were abruptly cut off, so that for the last forty years of his life he was almost invisible in the public records. Perhaps he was involved in scandal; perhaps he did not represent his town well. No evidence survives to explain this truncated career; but his son did reverse the family fortunes with a vengeance, and amassed both land and titles beyond most of his contemporaries.