James Strange French (1807–1886) was a lawyer, novelist, and later hotel keeper.

Early life

James Strange French was born in

Dinwiddie County Dinwiddie County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,947. Its county seat is Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie County is part of the Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The f ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, in 1807. He was educated at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, then read law with his uncle Robert Strange in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Career

In 1831, French represented Nat Turner, as well as a number of other slaves accused of participating in

Nat Turner's slave rebellion Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831.Schwarz, Frederic D.1831 Nat Turner's Rebellion" ''American Heri ...

. French was joined in defending slaves by Meriwether Brodnax,

William Henry Brodnax William H. Brodnax (also Broadnax), (1786 – October 23, 1834) was a nineteenth-century American militia Brigadier General and American politician from Virginia. Pulliam 1901, p. 75 Early life Born in Brunswick County, Virginia, Broadnax grad ...

, Thomas Ruffin Gray, who published ''The Confessions of Nat Turner'' and is commonly referred to as Nat Turner's lawyer, and William C. Parker. Those assertions are not entirely true. Meriwether B. Brodnax (sometimes written Merewether B. Broadnax) was a prosecutor, and his brother

is not mentioned in the court minutes, but in Sussex Court minutes. William C. Parker was assigned by the court to represent Nat. In 1835, French helped secure the commutation of a sentence of a slave, Boson, who had been sentenced to death following the rebellion, then escaped from the Sussex County jail. French was the author of at least two novels. The first, ''Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett of West Tennessee,'' appeared in 1833. The second, ''Elkswatawa'', was set in the early nineteenth century. It was a romance set around Tecumseh's War. It portrayed Native Americans sympathetically and, thus, may contain some clues to French's attitudes towards the legal system's treatment of Natives and slaves. Edgar Allan Poe published a critical review of it in ''Southern Literary Messenger'' in 1836. Though they had studied together at the University of Virginia, Poe was quite critical of the plot and prose. French married Laura J. George on June 6, 1850, in "Willow Grove", Tazewell County, Virginia.

Death

French died on February 7, 1886, in Gordonsville, Virginia.

References

1807 births 1886 deaths College of William & Mary alumni University of Virginia alumni North Carolina lawyers 19th-century American novelists American male novelists Place of birth missing 19th-century American male writers Novelists from Virginia People from Dinwiddie County, Virginia {{US-law-bio-stub