Priceless – Abram French

This post was originally intended to be a short piece on the 1879 probate record of my 3rd great-grandfather Abram French, who resided in Lowell, Massachusetts. Nice visuals and quick facts estimating the value of his estate in 2019 dollars. I have featured Abram in a previous post: Which Abram are You?

$9,500 – The appraised value in 1879 of the real estate Abram French owned.

The buying power equivalent in 2019 would be $240,137.

$4,775.60 – The appraised value in 1879 of Abram’s personal estate.

Would be worth $120,700 in 2019.

To punch up the piece, I wanted to provide a little background on the individuals mentioned in the document. However, the oddity of the relationship between the French and Dean families was much more interesting then the story of the probate. 

Alice Dean
French (1826-1923), the administrator of the estate, was Abram’s second
wife.  Alice was twenty-three years his junior.  Her brother, Benjamin Dean (photograph), was a
member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.  In in odd
twist, Benjamin was married to Mary Anne French, the daughter of Abram’s
brother Josiah Bowers French, who was a
former Mayor of Lowell (click his name to read about his life).  So, if I
have this familial relationship right, Alice was both Mary’s aunt (by marriage)
and sister-in-law.  Alice also happened to be three years younger than her
niece, Mary.

In addition,
one of the appraisers, Amos Binney French, was Abram’s brother and to other was
James F. Puffer.  James and Amos were business partners.