Dr. Joseph H. France

Notes:

Biography:
Obituary from the Naples News, 29 April 1925:
REV. J. H. FRANCE
Death and Sketch of the life of Dr. Joseph H. France
The despatch to relatives in Naples of the death of Dr Joseph H., France received here last Friday was not unexpected as his death was momentarily expected as he had been at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for the past month and it was generally known that he would not recover. He died of pneumonia at the age of 77 years.
Dr. France was the beloved pastor of the Presbyterian church for 15years coming here from Canandaigua. About a year and one half ago he resigned on account of poor health and with Mrs France went to Orlando Fla., while there be was pastor of a church. While pastor here the church prospered spiritually and materially, under his administration 180 members were added to the church roll. When he tendered his resignation the honor of pastor emeritus was conferred on him.
He was a graduate of George Washington University and valedictorian of his class. After his graduation he took up the study of law in Kansas City, Mo., The call to the ministry caused him to givo up law and he attended the William Jewell college ln the above city. On October 10, 1871 at Lathrop, Mo., he was ordained and began his ministerial career. He served Lathrop, Cameron and Marabon, all small settlements.
From these small charges he accepted a position in Kalamazoo, Mich a large and important church. His next charge was Lowville, N. Y., then Canandaigua, then Johnstown, coming to Naples, October 1, 1908. His first wife was Miss Hannah F. James of Richmond, Va. She died in Naples in 1912 and was buried in Washington, D. C.
Dr. France was an outstanding figure in the Presbytery. and served as delegate to the Synod and General Assembly, serving several times on judicial committees. For many years he was a member of the Mental Hygiene and After Care Committee of the Willard State Hospital for the insane.
Prominent among his noteworthy lectures were "Humorous Side of a Parson's life," and "Present Day Vandalism.” Many of his discourses were published by request, one of the most noteworthy being, "Sunset, and Sunrise Beyond the Sunset."
Besides. his widow, formerly Elizabeth Pottle, Dr. France is survived by three sons, former Senator Joseph I. France, of Maryland; Royal W. France of New York and Clemens J. France; and three daughters, Mrs. William R. Nesbitt, pastor of the New Covenant church of Baltimore; Miss Mary France a former Missionary to Costa Rica, now In Baltimore; and Mrs. Alfred Dennison of Johnstown,
N. Y.
The body of Dr. France was taken to Washington, where funeral services were held Monday mooning at 11 o'clock and the burial was in that city.
Mrs. France after the funeral left for Buffalo with her brother Henry W. Pottle where she will remain for some time.

Joseph married Hannah Fletcher James in Oct 1869. Hannah (daughter of William James and Jane Francis) was born on 13 Mar 1849 in Webbs College, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales; died on 14 Nov 1912 in Naples, New York; was buried in Congressional Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joseph married Elizabeth Pottle in May 1915. Elizabeth was born about 1855 in Naples, New York; died on 17 Sep 1936 in Naples, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Biography:
From Wikipedia:
Joseph Irwin France (October 11, 1873 – January 26, 1939) was a Republican member of the United States Senate, representing the State of Maryland from 1917-1923.
Early life
France was born in Cameron, Missouri and attended the common schools in the area and the Canandaigua Academy in Canandaigua, New York. In 1895, he graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he was a brother of Theta Delta Chi. He also attended the University of Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany and finally, in 1897, graduated from the medical department of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
France began to teach natural science at the Jacob Tome Institute of Port Deposit, Maryland in 1897, but resigned later to enter the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, Maryland. He commenced the practice of medicine in Baltimore after graduation in 1903.
Career
France was elected to the Maryland State Senate in 1906, serving until 1908. He left the Senate in 1908 to engage in the field of finance. He served as the secretary to the medical and surgical faculty of Maryland from 1916-1917.
After a short time out of politics, France re-entered the political arena in 1916 and was elected to the United States Senate. During the 65th Congress, he served in the Senate as the chairman of the Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine. France attempted to introduce an amendment to the Sedition Act of 1918 that would have ensured limited free speech protections, but the amendment was defeated, and France would remark that the legislation was criminal, repressive, and characteristic of the Dark Ages.
France warned in March 1920 that "Republican liberals" would split off the Republican Party to form the "Anti-Prohibition Party". France introduced a joint resolution in the same month asking that dissenters imprisoned during World War I be pardoned. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1922, losing his seat to Democratic rival William Cabell Bruce.
Following his defeat, France became President of the Republic International Corporation and also resumed the practice of medicine in Port Deposit. France also joined the Freemasons during this time.
France opposed Herbert Hoover in Republican primaries during the Presidential campaign of 1932. He was giving a speech at the Republican Convention in Chicago when the microphone malfunctioned, leaving France continuing his speech while the sound system was repaired. Although he won some contests, few delegates were selected in the primaries and France was heavily defeated at the convention.
When Senator Phillips Lee Goldsborough announced his retirement from the Senate in 1934, France attempted to win his seat. He was unsuccessful in the election of 1934, losing to Democratic rival George L. P. Radcliffe. He died in Port Deposit five years later, and is buried in Hopewell Cemetery, near the city.
Relations with Russia
France was the first U.S. Senator to visit Russia after the Russian Revolution, and consistently advocated cordial relations with the Soviet Union. In 1921 after having been sent to Russia to study economic conditions there, he met with Russian officials, including Lenin, to assist in the release of Marguerite Harrison, an American journalist and convicted spy. Lenin wrote in a letter to Georgy Chicherin:
I have just finished a conference with Senator France....He told me how he came out for Soviet Russia at large public meetings together with Comrade Martens [an unofficial Soviet representative in the United States]. He is what they call a "liberal", for an alliance of the United States plus Russia, plus Germany, in order to save the world from Japan, England, and so on, and so on.
The letter went on to relate that Marguerite Harrison was the sister-in-law of the Governor of Maryland and that Senator France's re-election was put in jeopardy by her incarceration. France attracted controversy in the United States by accusing Colonel Edward W. Ryan of the American Red Cross of fomenting the Kronstadt rebellion.
Civil rights
France spoke at a 1920 meeting of the NAACP to support the enactment of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. France fought against voter disenfranchisement, and proposed an amendment to a railroad bill so that black train passengers paying a first-class fare could get first-class accommodations.

Joseph married Evalyn Nesbitt in 1903. Evalyn (daughter of Henry C Nesbitt and Hannah) was born on 9 Aug 1854 in Maryland; died in 1927. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joseph married Tatiana Vladimirovna Dechtereva in 1927 in Paris, France, and was divorced on 6 Jul 1938. Tatiana was born about 1906; died on 17 Aug 1944 in Butler, New Jersey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Biography:
Her obituary from the Johnston Morning Herald, 9 February 1931:
MISS MARY FRANCE, FORMER JOHNSTOWN RESIDENT, DIES SUDDENLY IN BALTIMORE, MD.
Sister of Mrs. A. D. Dennison of Johnstown Passes Away After Short Illness; Miss France Was the Daughter of Former Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of This City
Miss Mary France, widely known missionary worker and daughter of the late Rev. Joseph France, at one time pastor of the First Presbyterian church of this city, and sister of Mrs. A. D. Dennison, 101 South Melcher Street, passed away in Baltimore, Md., early yesterday morning. A telegram announcing her sudden death was received here early in the morning and brought grief to a wide circle of friends she has in the city.
Dr. France was pastor of the First Presbyterian church here just prior to the pastorate of Rev. Charles McKenzie, D. D., and spent a number of years in this city when his family was located here. The family was originally from Washington, D. C, and Miss France who became active in religious work in later years received a splendid education from her parents.
While the family was located here, Miss France took an interest in the Johnstown public library and as a librarian there for some time. As such, she came in touch with a large number of people and made many friends who will regret to arn of her death.
'Later she moved to Naples, N. Y. with her father, after he retired from active work in the ministry. She spent some time there, but the desire to carry on religious work beckoned and she accepted a position with the rather elaborate missionary program being carried out by Mr. and Mrs. Striken in Costa Rica. However, her ambition far surpassed her rather delicate health and she was forced to give up the venture when her health failed.
After her return to this country, she was forced to give up her work for a time until she regained her health. As soon as she was strong enough, she plunged into work in the Baltimore Bible school, started by her sister, Mrs. William R. Nesbitt. She had been teaching there every winter for some years past.
The other survivors besides her sister are John Irwin France, C. France and Royal France and her sister who resides in Baltimore.

Other Events:

• Adopted: 1922, Seatle, Washington

Notes:

Died:
From his New York Times obituary:
[CENTER:]CLEMENS FRANCE, RETIRED LAWYER
Social Welfare Director of
Rhode Island, '36-48, Dies
—Ran for Governor[:CENTER]
Dr. Clemens J. France of 310 East Twelfth Street, a retired lawyer and former Director of Social Welfare for Rhode Island, died yesterday of a heart attack at his summer home in Sebec Lake, Me. His age was 82..
A leader in prison reform in Rhode Island, Dr. France was appointed social welfare director in 1936. He resigned in 1948 to run in an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Rhode Island on the Progressive party ticket. Afterwards he maintained a law office in Providence until his retirement in 1953.
Dr. France graduated from Hamilton College in 1898 and also received a master's degree there. He earned a Ph. D. at Clark University and a law degree at the Baltimore Law School.
After Army service in World War I, Dr. France was appointed to the relief commission to Ireland. At the request of President Eamon de Valera of Ireland, he served on the commission that drafted the Constitution of the Irish Free State.
From 1927 to 1929, Dr. France was a salesman and manager in the advertising department of The New York Times.
In 1951 he was chairman of the Committee to Aid Constitutional Challenges of the McCarran Act. He belonged to the National Lawyers, Guild and the Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born.
Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Richard J. Masterson of Warwick, R. L, and Mrs. David J. Hager of Old Town, Me.; a brother and a sister.

Clemens married Edith Lapham about 1906. Edith was born in 1875; died on 4 May 1950 in Cranston, Rhode Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Ina Nesbitt

Ina married William Reynolds Nesbitt, I on 6 May 1903 in Washington, District of Columbia. William (son of Henry C Nesbitt and Hannah) was born in 1865 in Maryland; died before 1949. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Biography:
From the Rollins College website:
In Lowville, New York, on July 27, 1883, Joseph H. France, an eminent Presbyterian divine, and Hanna F. James, of prominent ancestry, gave birth to Royal Wilber France. Royal France attended George Washington University and Hamilton College, where he received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. That same year, he studied law in the offices of Hon. Walter H. Knapp of Canandaigua, New York and at the Albany Law School.
Following his graduation and admittance to the New York Bar in 1906, France entered into partnership with Judge Knapp in the firm of Knapp and France. Two years later, he traveled to New York City, where he became associated with the firm of Duell, Warfield and Duell. By 1914, France became a partner and was placed in charge of the cooperation law work. Two years after, France became vice- president and general manager of the Triangle Firm Company, which at that time, held the title of being the second largest motion picture company in the world. He remained in this position till the start of World War I, where he entered the army as a Captain, later being promoted to Major. He was assigned to the Clothing and Equipage Division of the Quartermaster’s Corps, where he handled millions of dollars of contracts for the government. At the completion of the War, he resumed the practice of law in New York City as a member of the firm of Konta, Kirchwey, France & Michael. However, Salts Textiles and Manufacturing Co. soon attracted the business-minded scholar, and by 1921, France became vice president, general manager, and later, president for the company.
France retired from business, and, after a year as vocational advisor to the students of Columbia University, became professor of economics at Rollins, serving under President Hamilton Holt. While there, he authored the book Compromise, a novel in which, “told the story of an idealist’s moral battle against the pressure of circumstances of his day. His novel immediately received widespread praise among critics, aiding France in his appointment of chairman of the Socialist Party in Florida in March 1938. That same year, he journeyed to Centro de Estudios in Mexico City as a traveling professor, where he was appointed as a member of a committee studying the operation of Mexican equipment in collective farming. Upon his return from Mexico, he became a public panel member for Florida of the National War Labor Board, and later representative of the National Wage Stabilization Board in arbitrating labor disputes. In 1952, France announced his retirement from the teaching profession, stating that he would devote his time to cases involving the constitutional rights of minority groups. Following his retirement, he became a consultant to the American Civil Liberties Union, and by June of that year, accepted in case in Washington regarding the appeal of six convicted communists.
In 1956, four years after his involvement with the trial in Washington, his wife Ethel France, whom he wed forty-four years ago, passed away. Soon after, his health also gave way, causing his admittance into New York’s University Hospital. On July 10, 1962, France passed away, leaving behind two children, and his newly wedded wife of three years, Ruth E. Crawford.

Royal married Ethel C about 1912. Ethel was born on 5 Sep 1885 in Stamford, Connecticut; died in 1956. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Margaret Dennison

Marguerite married Alfred Dudley Dennison on 22 Jun 1911 in Naples, New York. Alfred was born about 1881 in New York; died on 24 Apr 1962 in Burlington, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Masterson

Family/Spouse: Masterson. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Hannah E Schleisener

Notes:

Biography:
Hannah and Henry had no children as of the 1940 census.

Hannah married Henry Schleisener about 1929. Henry was born about 1898 in Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Biography:
Can't find anything on him beyond 1930 except that he was still alive at the time of his mother's death in 1949.

Other Events:

• Name: Evalyn F Collier

Evalyn married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Biography:
From the Obiturary - Fairfied Republic, Fairfield, CA - 8 Mar 2012
Interesting life ends with death of Dr. William R. Nesbitt Jr.
By Amy Maginnis-Honey
FAIRFIELD — Dr. William R. Nesbitt Jr., a Fairfield resident for nearly 60 years, died Wednesday at the age of 97.
Nesbitt held a variety of positions in the community, including serving as a trustee of the school district and practicing medicine locally. Nesbitt, who would have been 98 Monday, was also a charter member of Fairfield Presbyterian Church, now called Living Word Fellowship.
At the state level, the retired physician helped design California’s disaster response plan in the late 1970s. At the national level, he was a published author, his first article appearing in “Guideposts” magazine, family said.
Nesbitt was also a personal physician and friend to baseball legend Ty Cobb, his family said. Nesbitt wrote about his time with Cobb in a 2002 magazine article in “Connection: The Good News Magazine.”
At the international level, Nesbitt was one of the first American serviceman to land on Omaha Beach during World War II. He recounted that event in his 1992 book, “Faith Under Fire.”
“God ordains a person’s life for service,” Nesbitt told the Daily Republic a few years ago while talking about how D-Day affected his later life. “That experience provided me with a background to be of service to my Lord and master I would not have had otherwise.”
It’s what he did outside the public realm that made him even more special, said family and friends.
“He was my hero,” said Jan Hewitt, the first woman to serve on the Solano County Board of Supervisors.
She and her husband, Al Hewitt, met Nesbitt almost 40 years ago, at church.
“He was such a superb person. So willing to help. He had a brilliant mind,” Jan Hewitt said.
The Hewitts and Nesbitt lived near each other in Paradise Valley Estates. It was the Hewitts who convinced him to move there and served as his sponsors in the retirement community.
Just a few nights ago, Nesbitt held Jan Hewitt’s hand and thanked her for what she did on his behalf, adding that he was so happy to live there, Hewitt said. She’ll remember Nesbitt most for the loving care he gave his wife Bernice, who had memory problems. Bernice Nesbitt died in 2005.
“He set a high standard for spouses caring for their mate,” Hewitt said.
Dr. Richard Valeriote met Nesbitt in 1958, For about the last five years, Valeriote, Nesbitt and Dr. Ed Bradley enjoyed lunch together every Friday. When Nesbitt was a doctor in Wyoming, he cared for Bradley, who was then a medical student.
A few weeks ago, Nesbitt signed himself out of the hospital, against his doctor’s orders, to go home to die, Valeriote said.
“I think he was looking forward to dying. He’d had enough pain with the cancer and he wanted to see Bernice,” Valeriote said.
Nesbitt’s son, Dr. William R. Nesbitt III, feels the same.
The two had talked extensively about the end of life and Nesbitt had told his son, “I am very happy that I’m coming to the end of my life now,” the younger Nesbitt said.
“He had a deep Christian faith and had done a tremendous amount of writing about heaven and the afterlife,” the younger Nesbitt said. “He was excited to find out if he was right.”
The younger Nesbitt, a geriatric and hospice doctor, said he’d never seen anyone more at peace than his father when it came to the subject of death. He also recalled how his father told him he felt he had led a storybook life.
Born in Baltimore, Nesbitt is also survived by his other son, Dr. Thomas S. Nesbitt, a medical doctor, and a daughter, Dr. Barbara Emerick, a dentist.

Family/Spouse: Bernice Bedwell. Bernice was born on 28 Dec 1926; died on 27 Dec 2005; was buried in Rockville Cemetery, Suisun City, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Marguerite married Luther P Fincke about 1934. Luther was born on 2 Nov 1910 in New Jersey; died on 6 Mar 1988 in Florida. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alfred married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]