James Strange French (1807 – 1886) was an American lawyer, novelist, and later hotel keeper. He is best known for representing several slaves that were charged with participating in

Nat Turner's Rebellion Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, the rebels, made up of enslaved African Americans, killed b ...

in 1831.

Biography

James Strange French was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in 1807. He was educated at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...

and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, then read law with his uncle Robert Strange in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 1831, French represented several slaves accused of participating in

. French was joined in defending slaves by Thomas Ruffin Gray, and William C. Parker. In 1835, French helped secure the commutation of a sentence of a slave, Boson, who had been sentenced to death following the rebellion, then escaped from the Sussex County jail. French was the author of at least two novels. The first, ''Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett of West Tennessee,'' appeared in 1833. The second, ''Elkswatawa'', was set in the early nineteenth century. It was a romance set around Tecumseh's War. It portrayed Native Americans sympathetically and, thus, may contain some clues to French's attitudes towards the legal system's treatment of Natives and slaves. Edgar Allan Poe published a critical review of it in ''Southern Literary Messenger'' in 1836. Poe, who had studied with French at the University of Virginia, was quite critical of the plot and prose. French married Laura J. George on June 6, 1850, in "Willow Grove", Tazewell County, Virginia. French died on February 7, 1886, in Gordonsville, Virginia, at the age of 78.

References

Bibliography

* 1807 births 1886 deaths College of William & Mary alumni University of Virginia alumni North Carolina lawyers 19th-century American novelists American hoteliers American male novelists Place of birth missing 19th-century American male writers Novelists from Virginia People from Dinwiddie County, Virginia {{US-law-bio-stub