San Bernardino County and Riverside County, California Biographies

History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties 
By: John Brown, Jr., Editor for San Bernardino County 
And James Boyd, Editor for Riverside County 
With selected biography of actors and witnesses of the period 
of growth and achievement.
Volume III, the Western Historical Association, 1922, 
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


GEORGE A. FRENCH
 
      George A. French came to Riverside on a three months' vacation from his New 
York practice, but liked the Gem City so well that before his vacation expired he 
purchased a half section of land and remained here. For several years he lived out 
in the open, ranching, and is still interested in ranching and citrus fruit growing, 
though for nearly a quarter of a century the law and politics have absorbed almost 
entirely his energies. He is one of the influential republican leaders in Riverside 
County, has represented the party in caucas and primary and in state and county 
conventions under the old election laws, and is still a member of the County Central 
Committee. While his early life was spent in New York City, Judge French represents 
a distinctive part of old New England, Vermont. The Frenches are of Welsh decent. 
During the Revolutionary period the family furnished supplies to the Continental 
Army in Vermont. His grandfather was a successful lawyer of that state, and for a 
number of years held the office of district attorney of Chittenden County. Judge 
French is a son of Charles O. French, who was born at Williston, Chittenden County, 
Vermont, February 24, 1839, and as a young man became a resident of Burlington, 
where he graduated from the University of Vermont. During the Civil War he served 
in the Twelfth Vermont Volunteers with the Army of the Potomac , and at the close 
of the struggle was commissioned captain. After the war he became proprietor of 
a book and stationery store at Burlington, but seeking a larger field of activities, sold 
out in 1876 and removed to New York City, where he entered a general publishing 
business, an enterprise that proved highly successful and grew to one of extensive 
dimensions, largely under his directions and as a result of his management. He was 
in this business until 1910, when he sold his interests and came to Riverside to live 
with his son. While in New York he was president of the Delores Valley Mining 
Company from 1882 to 1887. George A. French, a son of Charles Q. and Mary H. 
French, was born at Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont, July 5, 1868. Up to 
the age of eight years he attended public school in that city, afterward in New York, 
and in 1880 entered St. Paul's preparatory school at Concord, New Hampshire, 
graduating six years later. In 1889 he received the Bachelor of Arts degree from 
Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut, his alma mater three years later conferring 
upon him the degree Master of Arts. He began the preparatory course of lectures in 
the fall of 1890 in the law department of Columbia University at New York, but the 
next year entered the New York Law School, graduating L. L. B. in 1892. Judge 
French was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New York State, and although 
a young man his abilities quickly attracted a large and important clientele in New York 
City. After a year of very hard work he took a vacation, traveling in Europe from October, 
1893 to June, 1894. He then visited Riverside, and its attractions proved a dominating 
influence sufficient to wean him altogether from the East. He bought a two hundred 
and forty acre ranch, and for three years lived outdoors, busied with its work and 
superintendance.He then moved into Riverside and resumed the practice of law, to 
which he has given his time ever since. He still owns a hundred sixty acres of farming 
land near Winchester and also a five acre orange grove in Riverside. In 1907 he was 
appointed judge of the Police Court by Mayor S. C. Evans, and by reappointment from 
succeeding mayors held that position until 1915. Since 1918 he has been assistant 
city attorney. During the World War he gave to the cause and needs of the Government 
call upon his time and finances, and was also a member of the Second Company of the 
California Home Guards. Socially and fraternally he is a member of a number of 
numerous organizations, including the New England College Club, College Men's 
Association of Southern California, National Geographic Society, Psi Upsilon fraternity, 
Royal Arcanum and Independent Order of Foresters. At Riverside, July 25, 1899, 
Judge French married Miss Alice Lindenberger, of Winchester. Her father, Hon. F. T. 
Lindenberger, represented the district in the State Legislature in 1897. The four children 
of Judge and Mrs. French are: Dorothy E., a student in the Riverside Junior College; 
Mary H.; Charles Oliver and David G., pupils in the Riverside schools.

Pages 1062 to 1065.
Transcribed and submitted by Sally Kaleta, January 2010.