Ancestry of
Samuel F. B. Morse

Painter and Co-Inventor of Morse Code

William French

View famous kin of William French

• • 4th Great-grandfather of Samuel F. B. Morse — 7th Generation
  • Ahnentafel No:
  • 74 
  • Father:
  • William French 
  • Mother:
  • Elizabeth Newes   
  • Birth Date:
  • ABT 1604 
  • Birth Location:
  • prob. Twinstead, Essex, England 
  • Christening Date:
  •  
  • Christening Location:
  •  
  • Death Date:
  • 20 Nov 1681 
  • Death Location:
  • Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts 
  • Burial Date:
  •  
  • Burial Location:
  •  
  • Spouse Name:
  • Elizabeth -----
  • Marriage Date:
  • ABT 1623 
  • Marriage Location:
  •  
  • Children:
  
  

  Francis French

  Elizabeth French

  Mary French

  John French

  Sarah French (Ahnentafel No:37 )

  Jacob French

  Hannah French

  Hannah French

  Samuel French

  • Notes: 

  • This William is not the William French baptized at Halstead, Essex, England. (See NEHGR 65:284-86)

    There is some speculation that the father of William French was also named William French, son of Jacob and Susan (Warren) French. Evidence is needed to confirm or reject this claim. It is interesting that William named one of his sons Jacob.

• Additional marriages for William French

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  • Spouse:
  • Mary Lothrop
  • Marriage Date:
  • 6 May 1669
  • Marriage Location:
  • Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts

• Sources for William French

  • ¹ Early New England Families, 1641-1700, Thomas Lothrop (m. 1639), p. 3.
  • ² Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850, Billerica, Vol. 1, p. 85, Birth record for daughter Sarah French.
  • ³ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, JUL 1911, Vol. 65, Pages 284-286.
  • ⁴ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, JUL 1917, Vol. 71, Page 257.
  • ⁵ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 2023, Vol. 177, pp. 31-44.
  • ⁶ Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640, A Concise Compendium, Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society (2015), 122.
  • ⁷ Anderson, Robert Charles and others, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Vol. II, C-F, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society (2001), 588-593.
  • ⁸ Bond, Henry, Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts . . ., 2nd ed., Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic-Genealogical Society (1860), 367.
  • ⁹ Coburn, Frederick William, History of Lowell and Its People, Volume 2, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co. (1920), Part 2, Page 103.
  • ¹⁰ Crosby, Eleanor Davis, Simon Crosby the Emigrant: His English Ancestry, and Some of His American Descendants, Boston: Press of Geo. H. Ellis Co. (1914), 66, 92.
  • ¹¹ Hanna, Doreen Potter and Louise Potter, comp., A Potter-Richardson Memorial: The Ancestral Lines of William W. Potter of Michigan, and his wife . . ., (1957), 250-251.
  • ¹² Orcutt, Samuel and Ambrose Beardsley, The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880 with Biographies and Genealogies, Springfield, Massachusetts: Press of Springfield Printing Company (1880), 720.
  • ¹³ Roberts, Gary Boyd, Notable Kin, Volume 2, Santa Clarita, California: Carl Boyer, 3rd (1999), 36.
  • ¹⁴ Roberts, Gary Boyd, comp., Ancestors of American Presidents, 2009 Edition, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society (2009), 455.