George Washington French (1823 – December 8, 1887)"A Distinguished Thomaston Man Dead", The Portland Daily Press (December 12, 1887), p. 1. was a justice of the Dakota Territorial Supreme Court from 1869 to 1873.The South Dakota Supreme Court: A Photographic History (2015), p. 3.
Life and career Born in Thomaston, Maine,"Nubs of News", The Bismarck Tribune (December 31, 1887), p. 1. French began his career of public service as a county clerk in Maine.Yale Historical Publications: Miscellany, Issue 64 (1956), p. 118. In 1869, Dr. Burleigh, a longtime friend of both French and President Andrew Johnson secured the appointment of French as chief justice of the Dakota Territorial Supreme Court, to succeed Ara Bartlett. His tenure yielded an unflattering anecdote in Doane Robinson's History of South Dakota:Doane Robinson, History of South Dakota, Vol. I (1904), Chapter LXXVIII, p. 463-469.
On March 15, 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant nominated French for a second term on the territorial supreme court, but withdrew the nomination within days and instead nominated Alanson H. Barnes to the seat.Frank B. Miller, "George Washington French," unpublished biography, Rockland, Maine, November 1913, located in the Biography File, Historical Research and Publications Division, Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department, Cheyenne (typewritten).
Following his service in the Dakota Territory, French served as Secretary of the Territory of Wyoming from 1875 to 1879, and later returned to Thomaston, Maine to practice law. An 1880 report erroneously identified French as having been appointed chief justice of Arizona, the appointee actually having been C. G. W. French."Old Necessity", Black Hills Weekly Pioneer (February 7, 1880), p. 1.
Personal life and death French died after a short illness at the residence of Oliver E. Copeland, in Orlando, Florida, at the age of 64. French had travelled there three weeks earlier to spend the winter, his wife and son having stayed in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
References