Mr. and Mrs. F. P. French Died Only Four Days Apart

Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. French passed away during the past week, their deaths occurring but four days apart-a circumstance most unusual.

Mrs. French died Saturday after a year of failing health. Her husband became very ill soon afterward and died at 10:30 Wednesday night. Both suffered from hardening of the arteries and complications.

Both had lived in Mitchell County many years, experiencing the vicissitudes of pioneer life in the new country; both grew to fill large places in the community.

Mr. French

Franklin Pierce French was born at Alton, New Hampshire, April 3, 1854. He died at Osage, Iowa March 20, 1935. He was the son of John W. and Sarah Tuttle Nute French. The parents were of English stock.

With his family, Mr. French came to Mitchell County, Iowa when he was seven years of age, living at Osage and Mitchell for a short time. They then moved to what has become known as the old French homestead at Little Cedar, which they purchased at that time from the government. He attended the public schools of this community and the Cedar Valley Seminary. He then taught school for two years and then took over the home farm and engaged in farming until 1888 when he moved with his family to Osage. He was in the implement business in Osage for a number of years in partnership with S. W. Hill.

Mr. French is the last of a large family which consisted of eight other brothers and sisters. He was a member of Osage Lodge No. 102, A. F. &A. M.; Osage Chapter No 36, R.A.M.; and Coeur de Leon Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar. He has been a stock-holder and director of the Home Trust & Savings bank since its organization.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Harriet French, who passed away last Saturday afternoon and whose obituary appears herewith and gives further information about Mr. French's marriage and children. On the day after his wife's funeral, Mr. French went to sleep and was never conscious again.

Services will be held at the Shelledy Funeral Home, Friday afternoon, March 22, at 4:30 p.m. conducted by the Rev. Stiles Lessly, and burial by his wife's side in the Osage Cemetery.

(Newspaper clipping found in an old family scrap book)