b. August 2, 1808; d. September 4, 1864, in Lebanon, Illinois. In 1831, French was admitted to the bar in New Hampshire. By 1832, he was teaching at a school west of Albion, Illinois, and in 1833, he moved to Paris, Illinois. French was a circuit attorney for the Wabash River district for one year. In 1836, he was elected to the first of his two terms as a state representative where he was a colleague of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. President Martin Van Buren appointed him receiver for the land office in Palestine, Illinois, and in 1844, he was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket. French was elected governor in 1846 and again in 1848, becoming the first Illinois governor to be reelected. He served as governor until January 10, 1853. French continued the economic policies of Governor Thomas Ford, and worked, as Ford had, to eliminate the state's debt. In 1858, Governor Joel Matteson appointed him a commissioner of the State Bank of Illinois, and in 1862, he was a St. Clair delegate to a wartime Constitutional Convention.