Peter Brown Family History

History of the France Family (as narrated by Gillian Falck)

An obituary: No actual date, clipping from My Grandmother, Mary (Beckwith) Houser.
Death of Mrs. Beckwith (Hannah France) The death took place on Friday of Mrs. Beckwith, relict of the late Mr. William Beckwith of West Cowick after a long and painful illness at the advanced age of 82. The deceased lady was one of five sisters all of whom lived to the age 80........... The mourners were Mr. and Mrs. F.G. Watson, Ida and Willie (my father) ...... Miss Bland, Mr. and Mrs Bland, Misses Thompson, Miss E. Bland etc,

My family background:
John France and his wife, Elizabeth Bayse, with 2 children, emigrated to the States in 1842 on the ship Quebec, landing at New York. They lived in upper NY State at Sodus, there they were joined by William Beckwith, husband of Hannah, John's sister. Both John and William were carpenters.
Sometime later William's wife Hannah came over. John and Elizabeth had 4 boys and three girls. One of them Mary, was my grandmother's mother.
Mary France was in England sometime in 1832!! visiting relations in Cowick there she met Jacob Houser who had been a surgeon in the Civil War and was in England "walking the wards" at Leeds Infirmary for experience.
The two of them met at a party given by William Nicholson, a prosperous builder in Leeds and some relation to the France family (he was later in 1911 Sir Wm Nicholson, Lord Mayor of Leeds but I haven't been able to find out how he is related. His daughter who my grandmother referred to as "my cousin, Bunty" was married to somebody Orr-Ewing.)
Mary and Jacob returned home and were married in Grant City, Missouri where my grandmother was born. Her mother died when she was 7 months old of TB. Later the Dr. married his wife's sister, Fannie and the baby went to England with William and Hannah Beckwith who had never settled in the US. My grandmother lived in Cowick and was brought up by Hannah. In later years one of my cousins used to be taken by my grandmother to visit all the old dears (Hannah and her sisters) in Cowick. My cousin Ida also talked of visiting the Blands but she didn't remember anything in particular about them - she didn't know how they came to be part of the family .