France, Elting

ELTING FRANCE.

His paternal ancestor, France, came from Germany. His father, John France, resided at Kingston, N.Y., and is said to have manufactured there the first nails made in this country. John France married Sarah, only child of Peter Elting and Sarah De Puy, Oct. 10, 1794. Her father was a large real estate and slave-owner in Ulster County, and died May 25, 1801. His wife, Sarah De Puy, died June 26, 1803, aged seventy-two years. John France died Jan. 21, 1811, and his wife died Nov. 16, 1823.

Elting, son of John France, born June 20, 1800, married Catherine, daughter of Henry Du Bois, a descendant of Louis Du Bois, a native of Artois, France, who came to America and settled in Hurley, Ulster Co., N.Y., in 1660, and was the first Protestant of the name in the New World. He was also a large slave-owner. The second wife of Elting France was Margaret Martin, of Inwood, N.J., whom he married March 17, 1869. Elting France was an active business man for forty-five years. He built and carried on a saw-mill, tannery, and scythe factory in what is now the town of Crawford, Orange County. He was eminently a practical man in his religion and politics, as well as in his business, and few men were more widely known in Ulster and Orange Counties during his time than he. He was earnest in his convictions, and while he sought to induce others to yield to the belief which he held, he had due respect for the opinions of others. He was a man of very temperate habits, and possessed more than ordinary intelligence, which he wielded with all the influence in his power for the good of his fellow-men. He died in the faith of Christ, May 12, 1872.