French/Davis Family

My name is Mae French Arter. My parents are Arthur Boyd French, Jr. and Alberta French. My mother had four miscarriages before I was born. Mom is very religious, and daddy was just the opposite. He liked to have fun. I lived on Gates Street in Mayfield (Virginia) most of my young life until I was in my twenties. I lived in Washington, D.C. and in Philadelphia, PA, for a couple of years, then came back home to Gates Street until I got married in 1971 and built a house on Cardwell Street, where I still live with my present husband, George. I don't have any children, but I have step children.

I remember when I was young my parents used to go to Philly every summer. We had relatives there. My data would get lost every time we went there. One time when we were heading out of Philly to Virginia, my mom saw a car with Virginia (license) tags and she said follow that car because he might be going to Virginia. We ended up in New Jersey!

Mama and daddy were loving and kind to other people. They would take into their home other family member kids, such as Shirley French and Rosa Marshall. They wanted to adopt Rosa. This was before I was born. Mama named Christine French. We didn't have much money, but daddy worked at restaurants and he would bring food home so we could have something to eat. Timers were hard, but we survived. Daddy died in 1966 after being sick for a long time. Mama is still living after having two strokes and cancer twice. She will be ninety four years old August 16, 2003.

This is part of my heritage being a grand daughter of Arthur and Annie French, Sr.