Thursday, February 22, 2018

As did AllenS, his Great-Grandfather served with honor



AllenS sent me a picture of his great-grandfather John O. French. He wrote:

"My great-grandfather John O. French served with the 1st Minnesota Volunteers (or something close to that).  After the battle of Gettysburg, he had 3 bullet holes through his clothes.  His famous quote was:  "I never missed a battle or a meal."  There's quite a lot of information about him in a book about the history of Becker County, MN.  He was a constable in Detroit Lakes MN.  He lived with my great grandmother Mary Ann Vizenor and they had 2 children together before they married, and went on to father 6 more children."

It looks like valor is hereditary in AllenS' family, that's for sure. Thanks for sending along that picture - once again, those 19th century guys had a style all their own - it has become clear to me that I need to find a better source for hats.

8 comments:

AllenS said...

Thanks, 60. The picture is on some sort of plate.

AllenS said...

Imagine what he looked like after eating a bowl of soup, or fried chicken.

chickelit said...

@AllenS: He’d wear it well.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

AllenS, that is a great picture. I concur with chick, he wears it well.

AllenS said...

Here's a couple of stories about him with more pictures --

LINK TEXT

Things were different way back then about police work. I'll look for another story about an arrest he made, and he kept the murderer at his house until he could take him somewhere that had a jail.

The Dude said...

Great story, but of course, I have to object to the use of the word "ironwood". That is a name applied to dozens of species of tree and were I working for the defense I would get that case thrown out on that taxonomy technicality alone.

Papers, don't leave home without them!

Trooper York said...

What a great post.

You come from a long line of heroes Allen and you have honorably followed in his footsteps.

Dad Bones said...

Very interesting story, AllenS, about your Civil War grandfather in the land of the lakes many years ago. I enjoy hearing about those times. I don't mean to change the subject but several years ago I ran across this series on the Chippewa and Ojibwa in that general area which includes some good stories and photos.