george lane french

George Lane French, one of my 6th great-grandfathers, was born on April 4, 1741 in Weymouth, MA, as listed in the Weymouth Vital Records. His parents were Jonathan French and Jael Beal. The History of the Town of Hingham book states that George was baptized July 11, 1742 in Hingham, MA. His family must have lived in Weymouth at the time of his birth, but he eventually found his way to Hingham.

It seems that his family originally settled in Weymouth, but moved back and forth between Weymouth and Hingham, MA throughout the years. I have been able to find some information on George Lane French. The records I have found for him almost always list his middle name of Lane. Perhaps this was to distinguish him from other George French's in the area, or maybe the middle name has some important significance to the family. I did find George Lane French noted in a Lane geneaology book as listed in the will of Elizabeth Stowell Lane. George's mother, Jael French, is listed in Elizabeth's husband (George Lane)'s will.

I was not sure what the connection was to this Lane family, so I started to trace Jael's family back to see if there were Lanes on her ancestry. Using the following book, the History of the Town of Hingham, vol. 3, p 126 and p. 216 , it seems that Jael is the daughter of Elizabeth's Stowell's neice, as follows: Samuel Stowell and Mary Farrow have the following children...Mary, Samuel, John, David, Remember, William, Isreal, Elizabeth and Benjamin. Elizabeth is the woman who lists the French's in her will. A sister of Elizabeth's, Remember, marries Thomas Remington and they have Jael Remington (neice of Elizabeth Stowell Lane). Jael Remington marries Thomas Beal who have Jael Beal (daughter of Elizabeth's neice). Jael Beal marries Jonathan French and they have Abigail, George Lane, Theodore, and Hannah. As noted above, Jeal is mentioned in George Lane's will (Elizabeth's husband), and Jael's children are mentioned in Elizabeth's will. It seems like a distant connection to benefit from someone's will, but I am guessing Elizabeth and George Lane did not have children of their own and became close to this family and their children. After all, Jael and Jonathan French did name their son after George Lane.

I did find one other connection that George's mother Jael Beal may have had to Elizabeth Stowell Lane while reading through the Beal geneaology in the History of the Town of Hingham, vol. 2, p 54. Elizabeth Stowell Lane's mother Mary married secondly Joshua Beal (both widows). Elizabeth was only 16 years old, so Joshua Beal could have been close to Elzabeth, like a father. Joshua Beal is Jael's father's uncle (so Joshua Beal was Jael Beal French's great-uncle). I am sure that Jael and Elizabeth had a relationship due to this second marriage of Elizabeth's mother.

Getting back to George Lane French now, his first wife was Sarah Tower, married November 14 1762 in Hingham, MA. According to the History of the Town of Hingham, George and Sarah had 7 children together. Their first son, Joshua, died when he was 14 years old, and their last child, Sarah, died before she turned 1. I found records for only three of the children in the Hingham Vital Records. George's first wife died at a young age of 40, in 1783, only three months after she had her last child, Sarah.

Between the birth of his 6 children and the last child, Sarah, George enlisted for a very short time in the Revolutionary War. According to Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, "French, George Lane. Private, Capt. Pyam Cushing's co., Col. Lovel's regt.; service between March 11 and March 29, 1776, 2 days; company assembled to guard the shore." I searched for a pension file on footnote.com, but there were not any George French's from Massachusetts that filed a pension. I also searched for service records on footnote, but was not able to find any.

After Sarah's death, George married a second time in 1783, to Abigail Lewis. This marriage also ended with his wife's death in 1790. George then married a third time, in 1791, to Fanny James Humphrey. The History of the Town of Hingham book states that this family resided on Hersey Street in Hingham.



I searched the 1790, 1800, and 1810 censuses for Hingham and Weymouth for a George French. I was able to find a Geo. French in the 1790 census, listing in the household 2 males under the age of 16, 1 male over the age of 16 and 2 females. If we match these numbers up to the children listed in the History of the Town of Hingham book, we would have Perez under the age of 16, but Theodore would be about 18 years old. Of course, George Lane would be the male over 16. We still need to account for two females. One of the women living in this household in 1790 could be George's second wife Abigail, although she died in April of 1790. According to a wikipedia entry, the census was taken after she died, in August of 1790. That still leaves us with two females unaccounted for in this household. According to the vital records and the Hingham book, George did not have any daughters except Sarah, who died around 1782. This family does not seem to match up to George Lane French's family very well. I will have to check if there is another George French living in this area in 1790. (George does have a son George, but he does not marry until December of 1790.) The options left for George Lane French would be he was living with one of his sons or he was already living at the almshouse, which did not list residents in the census at this time. My next step will be to track George's sons in the census. I also did not see an entry for a George French in the 1800 or 1810 census in this area.

As stated in the excerpt above and in the Hingham Vital Records, George died on May 12, 1814 at the age of 72. The records of Hingham also state that both George and his 3rd wife Fanny died at the Almshouse in Hingham. The following is a passage in the History of the Town of Hingham, describing the almshouse in Hingham for the period that George and Fanny may have lived there.

I am not sure if the town's records for the meetings still exist, but they may provide names of the poor that were living at the almshouse. This would be interesting to see when George and his wife had to gain the support of the town.

to do list:
1. find records for George Lane French and Jael Beal French's children
2. find town records - may have information on almshouse
3. find where George and his three wives were buried - were George and Fanny buried separately as they died at the almshouse.
4. find if other George Frenchs would be living in this area in 1790 to match them up to the Geo. French entry on the census. update - found 3 possible george's living in 1790 - the one listed in census is probably george lane french's son george who marries delight rice - see next post
5. track George's sons through the census, see if he could be living with them. update - george not living with children - see next post