Edward French was an American lawyer, civil war veteran, professor at Wells College, and early pioneer to California. Starting in 1868, Professor Edward French taught Latin, literature, chemistry and mathematics at Wells College. He was induced to take a faculty position at Wells College by his wife to get her brother's new college up and running. French was also a botanist by avocation. In 1888, French decided to move the family to Southern California, part of "a mass migration to Southern California promoted by an aggressive publicity campaign orchestrated by Los Angeles boosters and driven by a fare-price war between the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

and Santa Fe railroads". French bought a small fruit ranch in

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

, but the ranch failed to prosper, their home fire, the business collapsed in the depression of 1893, and the ranch was foreclosed at auction. French took a job teaching in the Los Angeles public schools. With failing health (cataracts), he lost the teaching job. He lived out his days in the Los Angeles Old Soldiers' Home as a resident employee, taking a clerical position in the records office.

Family

Edward French was the son of Illinois governor Augustus C. French and Lucy Southwick French. He was the brother of Augusta French Wicker, husband of Mary Wells French, the brother-in-law of

Wells Fargo and Company Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

founder Henry Wells, the brother-in-law of railroad baron

Cassius Milton Wicker Cassius Milton Wicker (August 25, 1844 – November 2, 1913) was a railroad manager and banker.Lewis Randolph Hamersly, John W. Leonard, Frank R. Holmes (1907) Who's who in New York City and State, Issue 3. p. 1348. New York: L.R. Hamersly & ...

, the father of Helen, and poet

Nora May French Nora May French (1881 – November 13, 1907) was an American poet and member of the bohemian literary circles of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club which flourished after the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. Biography French was b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Edward Wells College faculty Educators from California Year of birth missing Year of death missing