ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202
COLLECTION: OGL #1362
DATES:1804-1991
SIZE: .75 linear feet
ACQUISITION: The Mary Margaret French Frank Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Mary Margaret French Frank, Grand Forks, North Dakota, on June 30, and July 14, 1997 (Acc.#98-2195).
ACCESS: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.
RELATED COLLECTIONS:
Dr. Richard Frank Papers, OGL#1328
Dr. Harley E. French Papers, OGL#142
The roots of the French family have been traced as far back as the 1200s. The man believed to have started the French family was Samuel French the Joiner who was born in Dorset, England, on May 15, 1687. He immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1688 of 1689, and settled in what is now Stratford, Connecticut.
Mary Margaret French Frank was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1912 to Harley and Mabel (Townsley) French. She was a 1930 graduate of Grand Forks Central High School. During that time she was involved in Glee Club, was the programming chair of the Student Club, Assistant Editor of the school newspaper the Centrilian, and was also a member of the Volleyball and Soccer teams.
Mary Margaret French graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1934 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the College of Liberal Arts. She was a member of the women's social sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, and the honors society Phi Beta Kappa. She taught in North Dakota and Iowa from 1934 to 1941. She also received a Master of Art degree in English Literature from Wellesley College in 1937. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1943 to continue teaching, before returning to Grand Forks in 1945 to teach piano. In 1955, she earned a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois and was named the head of the Grand Forks Public Library. She was married to Richard Frank in 1957 and lived with him in Grand Forks until his death on March 1, 1995.
The Mary Margaret French Frank Papers include a number of items relating to the genealogy of the French family. Two different books, Ancestors and Descendants of Samuel French the Joiner, and The Family of David Scott French, examine the history of the French family from the 1600s through the 1900s. The Mallory and French papers establish a connection between the two families four generations before Mary Margaret French Frank was born in 1912. This folder is followed by one which contains material related to French Frank's immediate family.
Those folders that do not deal specifically with the genealogy of the French family include a folder on Samuel S. Townsley, who was French Frank's Grandfather on her mother's side. Mary Margaret French Frank contributed one of her mother's letters which was used in the publication Humanities on the Frontier. Blance Harding was a friend of both Mary Margaret French Frank and her mother, Mabel. John French Jr.'s connection to the other French family could not be established, while the folder on Skulda Banner, an author who wrote about a woman who left home to become a teacher in North Dakota, has no relation to the French Family.
15 photographs of various members of the French family were separated and added to the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection. One oversize folder was placed in the Oversize File Cabinet. The folder contains an original deed for land owned by a "John Whitney" in the Province of Upper Canada. The deed appears to date from 1804. Whitney's relation to the French family is unknown.
Box 1
Folder
15 photographs were seprated and added to the Orin G.Libby Photograph Collection.
| OGL#1362 - 1 | Picture of David S. French (c. 1865-1867) |
| OGL#1362 - 2 | Picture of Hiram L. Perkins taken in his Civil War uniform (c. 1865) |
| OGL#1362 - 3 | Carrie Lorinda (Slack) French (c. 1885) |
| OGL#1362 - 4 | Albert Alvin French (c. 1893) |
| OGL#1362 - 5 | Minnie Adelle French (c. 1900) |
| OGL#1362 - 6 | Delbert Delvin French - 1903 |
| OGL#1362 - 7 | Harley, his Mother, and Mary Margaret - 1916 |
| OGL#1362 - 8 | Hulda Mallory and Burton L. French - September 8, 1936 |
| OGL#1362 - 9 | Albert, Delbert, Minnie, Roy, (Mrs.) Albert, Burton French - September 10, 1936 |
| OGL#1362 - 10 | Mansfield and Burton L. French - September 10, 1936 |
| OGL#1362 - 11 | Photo taken at the home of Albert A. French, Theresa, New York. Clarence, Burton, Mary, Roy, Ethel, Frank, Ruth, Clara, Clara, Minnie, Nellie, Albert, Delbert, Ruth Ester, Marion, Mary Elizabeth, Alvin Eugene, John Albert - (c. August 10, 1937) |
| OGL#1362 - 12 | Roy, Harold, Clarence, Mary, Ruth, Clara (c. August 10, 1937) |
| OGL#1362 - 13 | French Family - August 1, 1937 |
| OGL#1362 - 14 | Old home of David S. French - Undated |
| OGL#1362 - 15 | Burton and Harley French - Undated |
One oversize folder was placed in the Oversize File Cabinet. The folder contains an original deed for land owned by a "John Whitney" in the Province of Upper Canada. The deed appears to date from 1804. Whitney's relation to the French family is unknown.
| Original Donation | First Addition: 1926-1984 |
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