17 Facts About Alice French

Alice French, better known as Octave Thanet, was an American novelist and short fiction writer.

Alice French was born at Andover, Massachusetts, a daughter of George Henry French, a successful leather merchant, and his wife Frances Morton.

Frances Morton French was the daughter of Massachusetts Governor Marcus Morton.

In 1856 the Alice French family moved to Davenport, Iowa, where the father engaged in manufacturing agricultural implements.

Alice French progressed through the public schools, then studied at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Alice French later transferred to Abbot Academy in Andover, graduating in 1868, and returning to Davenport.

Alice French was financially successful as a writer, though her investments in banks and railroads provided most of her income.

Alice French regularly attended the reunions of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington, DC.

Alice French developed diabetes, and complications from the disease caused the loss of one leg and most of her eyesight.

Alice French is buried alongside Jane Allen Crawford in Davenport's Oakdale Memorial Gardens.

Alice French began her literary career with a sentimental story, Hugo's Waiting, printed in the Davenport Gazette in 1871.

Alice French then worked on Communists and Capitalists, A Sketch from Life, inspired by a railroad workers' strike.

Alice French published stories and essays in such national periodicals as the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Scribner's Magazine, and Century Magazine.

Alice French published several novels and a work about photography.

Alice French prided herself on accurately depicting the physical setting of her stories, and limning the customs and dialect of her characters.

Alice French exercised other talents at Thanford; she had a woodworking shop, where she built shelves and simple furniture, and a darkroom, where she developed and printed photographs with chemicals she mixed herself, an experience that she described and illustrated in An Adventure in Photography, which was first published by Scribner's in 1893.

Two of Alice French's houses have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places:.