French, William P.
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- French, William P.
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LLI.AM
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FRENCH
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Th e following is Dr. French's autobiography
written December 31, 1935:
"I was born in Smithville, Lincoln County,
Ontario, November the 9th, 1849. Under the
ministry of Rev. Francis Berry, father of
Bishop .Berry, I was converted in my young
manhood and united with the Methodist Church.
Aft ~ completing the high school course in
myna ·ve village, I taught school for two
year , and then, believing God had called
me to the work of the Christian Ministry,
I entered Victoria University to better prepare myself for that work. I then joined the
London Conference of the ·1ethodist Church of
Canada.
"December the 28th, 1876, I married Mary E.
Swarthout, daughter of Isaac Swarthout, a
lumber merchant in Fairfield, Ontario. Af~
ter serving two years in the Canadian ministry, with a desire to enter the ministry of
the Methodist Church in the United States,
· I resigned and October, 1880, with my wife
and infant daughter, I came to Michigan and
was appointed pastor of the Williamsville
Circuit, Niles District, ichigan Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, by the
Presiding Elder, Rev. A . R. Bog gs, D. D.
[
" onday, September the 5th, 1881, at the
46th session of the 1vichigan klnual l:onference, held in the First Methodist Ep iscopal
Church, Jackson, Bishop Foster presiding, I
was received on trial in the conference.
Saturday, September the 9th, 1883, in the
First : ethodist Episcopal Church, Albion, I
was received into full membership in the
conference and the following day was ordained Deacon by Bishop Harris. Sunday,
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September the 27th, 1885, I was ordained
Elder by Bishop Warren in Powers Opera House,
Grand Rapids.
"In 1881, the year I was received on trial,
I was ap pointed to the Bangor charge, and,
followin g that, my appointments were Decatur,
Cooper, Richland, Vicksburg, Mendon, Homer,
Portland, Benton Harbor, Coldwater, Saint
Joseph, Lansing Central, Lansing District,
First Church, Kalamazoo, Niles District.
"From the first church I served as pastor
to the last, I received from the fourth
quarterly conference an unanimous invitation
to return with never one vote cast against
it on my charge. During the twenty-seven
years in the pastorate I held successful ·
revivals on the followin g charges: Cooper,
Richland, Mendon, Homer, Portland, Benton
Harbor, · Coldw~ter, Saint Joseph, Lansing
Central.
"In 1907 and again in 1911, I was elected a
delegate to the General Conference, and, in
1908, I received the degree of Doctor of
Divinity from Albion College. In ~ay, 1909,
I was appointed by Governor arner tne r ichigan delegate to the second National Peace
Conference held in Chicago.
Villi P1 svill e was the first charge I served
as paste and First Church, Kalamazoo, was the
last. Fro m that church I was a pp ointed
Superintendent of the Niles District, and,
a fter seven years on that district, having
spent forty years in the active ministry in
the Michigan Conference, twenty-seven ~s
pa stor and thirteen as district superintendent, six on the Lansing District and seven
on the Niles District, I was granted a retired relation at my own request Monday,
September the 25th, 1921, at the 86th session
of the l· ichigan Annual Conference held in
the ethodist Ep iscopal Peace Temple, Benton
Harbor, Bishop Theodore S . Henderson p residin g.
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Durin g my six years as superintendent of
Lansing District, in addition to the churches
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built at Grand Ledge, Pewamo, · iddleton,
and the fine parsonage at Belding, I organized the Michigan Avenue Church, Lansing,
selected the site, purchased and paid for
the lot, secured the appointment of Rev.
c. J. Kruse as pastor, under whose splendid
leadership the present church, costing
$30,000, was built and paid for. knd during my last year as superintendent of Niles
District, our church in Benton Harbor was
destroyed by fire and the present beautiful
Peace Temple, costing $260,ooq was built and one
of the most costly and beautiful stained glass
windows in the church was donated by
4r. J. N. Klock and dedicated to me as the
expression of a warm friendship formed during the years I was pastor of our church in
that city. The year before I was ap pointed
superintendent of the Niles District, the
district paid for ministerial support and
benevolences ~ 50,781, and my last year the
district paid for the same causes ~ 114, 622,
an increase of 63,841.
"Through all those years, ~ my wife was to me
a n helpmeet indeed. Though born and raised
in a home of wealth, where she had every
thin g she desired that money could purchase,
she never complained at the small salaries I
at first received and the rigid economy we
often found it necessary to practice, but
cheerfully and loyally stood by me and assisted and encouraged me in all my work from
the be ginning to the close of my ministry.
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"The fall I retired wife and I went to
Saint Petersbur g , Florida, for the winter,
where we purchased a winter home, intending
to spend our sum.. ers with our daughter and
her h usband, Dr. c. c. McClelland, in Detroit,
and at t heir summer home at Oxley, Ontario,
on Lake Erie, looking forward to the enjoyment to gether of several years of our well
earned rest, but the third season in our
southern home, at nine o'clock Tuesday morming , April the 8th, 1924, after a brief illness with pneumonia, the dear wife went from
me to the heavenly home. The funer a l was
held i n the h ome of our daughter, 878 Webb
Avenue, Detroit. Dr. ' . s . Rice conducted
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the service, assisted by Dr.
• H. Phelps
and Rev. Russell Bready, after which the
casket containing the loved form was placed
in the mausoleum in Evergreen Cemetery.
"I discontinued my annual trips south for
the winter in the fall of 1934 on account
of age and condition of health and am now
spending the full year with my daughter and
family in Detroit an d at Oxley, where I have
every care and comfort I could desire.
"Age and condition of health also prevent
my t a king any part in the work of the church.
But while I am no longer able to engage
actively in the work I so thoroughly enjoyed
for years, I find in these quiet years of
retirement great pleasure in thinking over
the past and basking in the afterglow of
those vanished years, as I have preserved'
in the golden caske t of memory as choice
flowers, many of the experiences of the
forty hap py years spent in the service of
the ; aster, tha t to me are s till fresh and
fr agrant with rare perfumes I now recall.
"Thoughts of the future also add to the
peace and enjoyment of the present; for
while age has come to me with the passing
years, and I realize full well tha t my sun
is now far down in the western sky, I am
resting contented and happy in the conscious
knowledge that it is not setting in clouds
and darkness, but that it is going down in
a calm, clear sky, lighted up with the
p ositive assurance of a glorious i mmortality. 11
De ath came to ,Dr. French February 16, 1938, at
the home of his daughter, 924 Chicago Boulevard,
Detroit, · ichigan.
Dr.
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s.
The funeral was conducted by
Rice, as s isted by "<'"l ev. N. P. Jerrett,
Rev. Thomas Brownlow &nd Dr. Qydney D. Eva.
wa. s in the
·~~ ausoleum
at Evergreen vemetery.
/
Burial