This collection contains personal and professional papers of various members of the French and Quarles families of Milwaukee; and the Thiers family of Kenosha, Wisconsin spanning five generations, successively collected by matriarch Louisa K. Thiers, daughter Emma Quarles, and granddaughter Ethel French. This line of women provides the “glue” that holds this collection together and, through the collective role of “family memory gatherer,” they accumulated papers of siblings, siblings' spouses, children, children's spouses, husband, and husband's family.
The collection includes personal and family correspondence; diaries; European trip and fishing journals; photographs; genealogical materials and notes on the Capron, Mann, Thiers, Quarles, and French families; scrapbooks; lecture notes and other educational materials and memorabilia; reminiscences; materials of various fraternal, civic, and professional organizations; and other papers. Correspondence, patent applications, patents, sketches and notes, and legal records of Louis Osborne French, patent attorney and inventor, are present. News clippings about and tributes to Louisa K. Thiers (1814-1926), credited as the oldest person to have lived in Wisconsin and the last true daughter of an American Revolutionary War soldier, also are included. The Samuel W. French files include information on the Freemasons. The Cyril Maurice Owen files include information on the Arion Musical Club in Milwaukee.
The papers of individual family members have been organized into series, arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of each individual. Type and quantity of each individual's papers vary considerably, but generally include received correspondence, newspaper clippings, materials relating to academic and social achievements at various schools and colleges, and personal sentimental items.
Received correspondence is primarily comprised of letters from family members and friends, although there is also some business correspondence. A great deal of the correspondence is between parent and child during periods of absence such as summer vacations, European tours, college years, and adult life. However, there is also quite a bit of correspondence with school chums and other childhood and college friends, and some love letters, particularly those of Louis Osborne French to his future wife, Ethel Quarles; between Cyril Owen and Eunice French Owen during both their courtship and marriage until Eunice's early death; and between Albert Emery Crispell and his future wife, Ruth Emma French, and other family members.
Diaries, European tour journals, fishing journals, scrapbooks, materials of various organizations, writings and presentations, personal financial journals, and genealogical materials are also prominent. Obituaries, sympathy letters, and eulogies regarding an individual's death are included.
To aid the researcher in understanding family relationships, family genealogical charts have been prepared and are included immediately after Additional Information on Selected Series. This information is not intended to be complete but does attempt to provide some orientation in using the collection. Bold lettering indicates those individuals who have papers included in the collection. The researcher is also referred to genealogical materials included within the papers of ETHEL QUARLES FRENCH, SAMUEL W. FRENCH, EMMA W. THIERS QUARLES, and LOUISA KIRWAN CAPRON THIERS. Copies of supplemental material compiled by Margaret Faludi (correspondence to Eunice French Owen and Cyril M. Owen, 1927-1957; the letters of Ruth Emma French Crispell, 1931-1969; and Cyril Owen's stories, circa 1980s) are also available in the case file. A more complete book version of Faludi's document will be available in both Madison and in Milwaukee.
Additional Information on Selected Series
LOUISA KIRWAN CAPRON THIERS was born in 1814, the last child of Dr. Seth and Eunice Mann Capron who were both in their fifties. Louisa attended the Emma Willard School in New York and later married David B. Thiers. In 1850, the family relocated to Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Thierses had four children: Herbert, Emma, Edward, and Louis. In 1920, at age 106, Thiers cast her first presidential vote. She received nationwide attention for her longevity and was regarded as the last true daughter of an American Revolutionary War soldier and as the oldest person to have lived in Wisconsin. Louisa Thiers died in 1926 at age 111.
Louisa's papers, 1808-1971, are comprised of received correspondence (1822-1926) from family and friends as well as from well-wishers for her continued health and life, news clippings written about Louisa and her long life, scrapbooks and a commonplace book of quotations compiled by Louisa, a Florida trip journal, genealogical information on the Capron, Mann, and Thiers families, tributes and eulogies relating to Louisa's death, and miscellaneous sentimental items.
EMMA W. THIERS QUARLES was the only daughter of Louisa K. Thiers. She married Charles B. Quarles in 1881, settling in Milwaukee. The couple had four children: Charles, Henry, Louis, and Ethel. Emma was quite involved in Milwaukee civic affairs and lived to age eighty-eight (death in 1942) at her home on North Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee.
Emma's papers, 1872-1942, include received correspondence (1881-1940); diaries (1918-1941); European tour journals (1911, 1913, 1921); genealogical materials and news clippings regarding the Quarles family; a scrapbook; scattered materials related to various civic organizations Emma was involved in, such as the Milwaukee Chapter of the D.A.R., College Women's Club, Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs, and the Woman's School Alliance; obituaries relating to Emma's death; and miscellaneous items.
ETHEL QUARLES FRENCH was born in 1889, the only daughter of Charles and Emma Quarles. Ethel attended Milwaukee Downer and Vassar colleges, graduating from Vassar in 1911. She married Louis Osborne French in 1914, and the couple settled in Milwaukee on North Farwell Avenue and had four daughters: Eunice, Ethel Barbara, Jean, and Ruth Emma. Ethel also served as the last in the line of female “family memory collectors,” and the papers were donated to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin not long after her death in 1978.
Ethel's papers, 1897-1972, include received correspondence (1897-1974); diaries and European trip journals; materials relating to her education at Milwaukee's East Division High School and Milwaukee-Downer and Vassar colleges including lecture notebooks for her classes at Downer and a scrapbook compiled at Vassar; genealogical materials and news clippings regarding the French, Quarles, Capron, and Owen families; news clippings about her immediate family, and scattered materials relating to the family camp in Republic, Michigan, financial record books, Daughters of the American Revolution, and miscellaneous sentimental items.
LOUIS OSBORNE FRENCH was born in Milwaukee in 1888, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1910 with a degree in mechanical engineering, and married Ethel Quarles in 1914. French received his law education at George Washington University and Kent College of Law. After passing his bar exam, French moved to Milwaukee where he established a law office where he specialized as a patent attorney. A “lone-gun” inventor operating without company backing, French primarily worked on internal combustion engines for automotive purposes, with particular focus on injection of liquid fuel under electrical control. He died in 1958 and was unable to see any of his many patented inventions manufactured.
The papers of Louis French are divided into two subseries, his Personal Files and his Professional Files. Personal Files, 1888-1959, are scattered, including some received correspondence, materials relating to his education, obituaries and letters regarding his death, and miscellaneous items.
The Professional Files of Louis Osborne French, 1913-1958, include some legal notes, case work, and record books relating to his work as a patent attorney, but primarily relate to his many inventions and patents. Although French's inventions included cow stanchions and fishing lures, his work with diesel internal combustion engines comprise the bulk of his creative work. His engine work includes patents and patent requests dealing with electromechanical control of fuel injection in diesel engines, rotary valve internal combustion engines, electrical motor controls, diesel engine scavenging systems, and two-cycle internal combustion engines. These materials include correspondence with a variety of companies and individuals both requesting specific parts and information and also promoting his own inventions for possible manufacture, sketches and notes, and a large number of patent case files involving both abandoned and allowed patents for the United States and several foreign countries.
Patent application case files and printed patents are organized into several categories, all of which are arranged chronologically according to criteria established by French. “Abandoned [U.S.],” “Canadian applications,” and “Foreign applications” are organized chronologically by filing date. “Foreign applications” include both approved and abandoned patent applications, and each case is separately foldered. “Patents allowed [U.S.]” are organized chronologically by date of approval. The printed patents are also divided into groups (“Canadian patents,” “Foreign patents,” and “U.S. patents”) and are organized chronologically by year of patent issuance thereunder. An index to French's patents is also found in the series.
SAMUEL W. FRENCH was the father of Louis Osborne. He arrived in Milwaukee soon after his graduation, in 1873, from Harvard Medical School. Samuel was an organizer of the Emergency Hospital, and was involved in various civic, professional, and fraternal organizations.
Samuel's papers, 1678-1918, primarily relate to the organizations he was involved with, including the Freemasons, Knights Templar, Harvard Club of Milwaukee, Alpha Mu Pi Omega Fraternity (a medical fraternity), State Medical Society of Wisconsin, and the Wa Wa Club (relating to French's hunting and fishing camp in Michigan). There is also some correspondence, including a series of letters, 1873-1874, which Samuel wrote to his parents from Europe; fishing journals; genealogical materials on the French family; French's writings and lectures; scattered materials relating to French's work with the Johnston Emergency Hospital, Wisconsin Training School for Nurses, and the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons; and miscellaneous materials.
A Kenosha, Wisconsin, native, CHARLES B. QUARLES graduated from the University of Michigan in 1868 and began his law career in 1875, originally establishing his practice in Kenosha. Marrying Emma Thiers in 1881, the family relocated to Milwaukee in 1888 where Charles helped establish a highly respected law firm, Quarles, Spence & Quarles, with brother J.V. Quarles and Thomas Spence.
Quarles was involved in several high profile legal cases, including his prosecution of the libel suit of Charles F. Pfister against the Milwaukee Free Press. A vocal member of the Republican Party, Quarles was a frequent speaker and was highly respected by the Wisconsin legal community.
The bulk of Charles's papers, 1864-1923, consist of his writings and presentations, and newspaper articles from newspapers throughout Wisconsin regarding his death. Quarles's writings and speeches cover a variety of topics, such as politics, labor unions, regulation of public service corporations, and individual duty and responsibility. Scattered correspondence, a sailing and fishing logbook, news clippings, a financial ledger, materials relating to his high school and college education, and miscellaneous items comprise the rest of his papers.
EUNICE FRENCH OWEN was the only female member of the family to have received a master's degree. An accomplished pianist and cellist, Eunice received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College, and in 1937 received her Master of Arts in Philosophy from Brown University. She married Cyril Owen in 1938 and daughter Jean was born in 1940. The family moved to Milwaukee, where Cyril tried unsuccessfully to find work as a music teacher or professor. Three more children, Thomas, Margaret ("Peg"), and Kathryn, followed. Both Eunice and Cyril became involved in various Milwaukee music organizations. Eunice died of cancer in 1949.
Eunice's papers, 1918-1950, consist of received correspondence, 1918-1949, from family, friends, and Cyril; letters, 1933-1937, written by Eunice to her family describing her college life; concert programs; materials regarding her education and concert participation at Riverside High School; the 1930 National High School Orchestra and Band Camp in Interlochen, Michigan; Vassar College; and Brown University; programs and records, 1941-1948, of the MacDowell Club (a musical club in Milwaukee); obituaries and sympathy letters concerning Eunice's death; and sentimental items, including crayoned pictures drawn by Eunice's children shortly before her death.
The CYRIL OWEN series, mostly 1933-1950, consists of papers related to his education and career as an organist and music/choir director for various churches and includes records of the Arion Musical Club in Milwaukee, with which he was involved. He also worked at Allis-Chalmers, from 1941 until his retirement. After Eunice's death, Cyril Owen married Minnie Rushton Patek, who had three children of her own: Karen, Marjorie, and David Patek. Cyril died in 2005.
The AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS series consists of audio recordings of songs by the trio of Marjorie Patek, Jean Owen, and Karen Patek; architectural drawings of a Milwaukee home owned by Charles Quarles; and photographs of French family members and gatherings, as well as some travel photos. The glass plate negatives were taken by Samuel W. French. A larger quantity of photographs and negatives has not been processed.
Thiers Family Sketch
- Seth Capron (1772-1835) married Eunice Mann (1767-1853)
- Newton Mann Capron (1791-1858)
- married Maria Brown
- married Mary Snowdon
- Bebe Mann Capron (1795-1796)
- John Milton Capron (1797-1860)
- married Emma Cynthia Northrop
- married Eliza Brown
- Seth Makepeace Capron (1799-1878)
- married in 1826, Caroline H. Scofield
- married in 1850, Helen Bard (Mrs. Henry Van Vliet)
- Horace Capron (1804-1885)
- married Louise V. Snowdon
- married Margaret Baker
- Louisa Kirwan Capron (1814-1926) married David Bodine Thiers (formerly Tears) (1820-1875)
- Ella Snowden Tears (1848-1849)
- Herbert Mann Thiers (1851-1923) married Mary Gilda (1855-1929)
- Emma Walden Thiers (1854-1942) married 1881 Charles Quarles (See Quarles family sketch for children)
- Edward Capron Thiers (1856-1945)
- married in 1885, Mary Nicoll (1856-1909)
- Helen Thiers married 1910, Roy Kimball
- married in 1910, Jessie R. Nelson (1870-1928)
- married in 1931, Maud M. Nelson (1881-1961) (first husband, Albin Rudolph Johnson) (1879-1926)
- Louis Milton Thiers (1858-1950) married in 1888, Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lamb Stanbridge (1863-1930)
- Natalie Elizabeth Thiers (adopted) (1891-1950) married Fred C. Hannahs Jr. (1888-1940)
- Elizabeth Thiers Hannahs (1918-2008) married 1947, Donald A. Todd
- Fred Charles Hannahs III (1920-2010)
- married Casey Schmitz (1923-2008)
- married 1932 (or 1933), Elizabeth Atherton Carroll
- Joseph Very Quarles I (1799-1874) married in 1838 (or 1843?), Caroline Bullen (1809-1882)
- Joseph Very Quarles II (1843-1911), United States Senator from Wisconsin, married in 1868, Caroline Adelaide Saunders (1848 or 1849?-1918)
- William Charles Quarles (1870-1939) married in 1902 or 1903, Alice Louise Stockton (1877?-1971)
- Caroline Stockton Quarles (1904-1989) married in 1932, Edwin Broughton Coddington (1905-1967)
- Alice Bannard Quarles (1906-1985) married in 1927, John Thomas Pirie II (1900-1951)
- Joseph Very Quarles III (1874-1946) married Ethel Julia Grant (1879-1973)
- Edward Louis Quarles (1876-1941)
- married in 1906, Anita Carroll MacTavish (1882-1914)
- married in 1915, Katherine Frieda Onken (1888-1964)
- Charles B. Quarles (1846-1908) married in 1881, Emma Walden Thiers (1854-1942) (See also Theirs Family Sketch)
- Louis Quarles (1883-1972) married Inez Boardman French (1883 or 1884?-1968) (See French Family Sketch)
- Louise Inez Quarles (1909-2001)
- married Will Huggins
- married David Albert Fox (1904-1956)
- Ruth French Quarles (1913-1916)
- Charles Samuel Quarles (1917-1976)
- Charles Bullen Quarles (1884-1968) married in 1909, Elisabeth Douglas McKey (1884 or 1885?-1965)
- Mary Douglas Quarles (1910-1999)
- married in 1930, John Gerhard Kamps (1909-1965)
- married in 1967, Michael Doyle O'Hara (1910-1978)
- Elisabeth Ann Quarles (1914-1988)
- married in 1938, divorced in 1963, John Everett Forester (1913-2008)
- married second, Robert Single Hagge (1916-1983)
- married in 1985, Norman Irving Bearse (1898-1993)
- Henry Capron Quarles (1886-1924) married in 1910, Cosalette Elliott (married second to Herbert Lindsey) (1886-1979)
- Lorna Lee Quarles (1912-2001) married in 1934, Philip Fox (1909-1990)
- Henry Capron Quarles (1915-2006) married in 1940, Elizabeth Voigt
- Ethel Quarles (1889-1978) married in 1914, Louis Osborne French (1888-1958) (See French Family Sketch for children)
- Lydia Very Quarles (1847-1848)
- Samuel Lorenzo French (1813 or 1814-1879) married in 1839, Sophia B. Clark (1815-1896)
- Samuel William French (1850-1917) married Minerva Inez "Minnie" Boardman (1850-1928)
- William Blanchard French (1881-?)
- Inez Boardman French (1883-1968) married in 1908, Louis Quarles (1883-1972) (See Quarles Sketch for children)
- Louis Osborne French (1888-1958) married 1914, Ethel Quarles (1889-1978) (See Quarles Sketch)
- Eunice French (1915-1949) married in 1938, Cyril Maurice Owen (1912-2005)
- Jean Owen (1940-?) married in 1960, Roger Jesse Poff
- Thomas C. Owen (1943-?) married in 1964, Sue Ann Mathews
- Margaret Owen (1944?-?) married in 1964, John Robert Faludi
- Kathryn Louise Owen (born before 1950-?) married in 1968, James Arthur Skoog
- Ethel Barbara French (1916-1995) married in 1942, George McClellan Chase
- Barbara Quarles Chase (1944-?)
- Jean French (1918-1996) married Thomas D. Price
- Ruth Emma "Emmy" French (1920-2008) married in 1941, Albert Emery Crispell Jr.
- Stephen French Crispell (1943-?)
- Carolyn Quarles Crispell (1946-1948)
- Douglas Emery Crispell (1953-2021)
- Samuel L. French (1892-1969) married in 1918, Mary Cecile Church
