2018-18.0001 Alice French aka Octave Thanet correspondence, 1905 January 20

Alice French was born at Andover, Massachusetts, a daughter of George Henry French, a successful leather merchant, and his wife Frances Morton, daughter of Massachusetts Governor Marcus Morton. Alice had four brothers: George, Morton, Nathaniel, and Robert.

In 1856 the French family moved to Davenport, Iowa, where the father engaged in manufacturing agricultural implements. Alice progressed through the public schools, then studied at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She later transferred to Abbot Academy in Andover, graduating in 1868, and returned to Davenport. She chose the pen name Octave Thanet. In the 1890s, French published ten books. Between 1896 and 1900, fifty of her stories were published, and four different publishers collected five volumes for reprinting.

French died of complications from diabetes in January 1934 and is buried in Oakdale Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Davenport, Iowa.