Emeline Doud and Harmon French

Emeline Doud and Harmon French; Emeline/Fanny Griffin/ Edward Griffin/ James/ Samuel. Emeline Doud was born/baptized in Guilford, Connecticut on September 23, 1806 to Lyman Doud and Fanny Griffin. The original record of their family as found in the town records from Guildford is posted on the Blog. There are a number of families who trace their roots back to Emeline. A number of family histories for Emeline and her second husband Harmon French are in circulation. Among these histories there is an active debate on the parentage of both Emeline and Harmon. The purpose of this entry is to post a point around which these debates can hopefully be resolved. The particulars, as I understand them, are as follows. There is documentary evidence that Harmon French married Emeline “Frisby” in Montgomery, Massachusetts in February of 1825. Also at about the same time a Timothy Clark marries Eveline French also in Montgomery who town histories identify as Emeline’s twin sister. There is a good deal of interaction in the deed records between Timothy and Harmon suggesting some connection. Emeline and Harmon appear in the census records into the 1870s ending up in Hartford, Connecticut however, there is a difference in the dates of birth in the census records and that date recorded in Guilford, a situation that is not uncommon, census records having a good deal of variability. The census records do indicate that they were both born in Connecticut. There are questions as to the parentage of Harmon and there are a number of histories that have Lyman Doud’s wife listed as a Hannah Tooley. And then there is the question as to how Emeline born in Guilford, Connecticut ended up in Montgomery, Massachusetts. To find the answers to these questions we need to start in Guilford. There is some evidence that Harmon is part of the French family that is prominent in Guilford. In the Guilford records we find Thomas French who married Eunice Wheeler. Their first child was born in 1795. Records suggest Harmon was born between 1802 and 1806. At about the time Harmon was born Thomas disappears from Guilford and a Thomas French appears in Montgomery, Massachusetts. There was a strong migration from the Connecticut costal cities, like Guilford, north to the northern part of Connecticut and on to Massachusetts and even on to Vermont. Montgomery is along this axis of travel just off from the Connecticut River. The French family and the Doud family would have undoubtedly known each other in Guilford. So it is very plausible that Harmon would have met Emeline in Guilford and they then married and made their home in Montgomery where his family had moved. To provide some foundation for this discussion let me again refer you to the material on the blog concerning Emeline’s grandfather, Edward Griffin. In the Edward Griffin papers is a deed signed by his children and part of that record is the signature of “Lyman and Fanny Doud of Guilford”. We have the original record of their family from the town records of Guilford. And below we have the records from the collection to Alvan Talcott, a prominent physician of the time, who collected the histories for many of the families of Guilford. Of note in his history he writes that Fanny Doud is the daughter of Edward, that Emeline married Edward “Frisbie”. Absent from any of these records is the mention of a twin sister Eveline. I hope these records provide a foundation for the resolution of the uncertainties surrounding the history of Emeline Doud and Harmon French. We would love to have your input please submit your family histories to the Blog.