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Show Biography of Sidney Wesley France 1914 Dear Mrs. Shupe: I was surprised and happy to hear from you. My family came to California in February of 1934 and I started working for Coca-Cola Company on my 23rd birthday. I am enclosing some family history that I believe will answer some of your questions. My father, Sidney Wesley France, was born 2 October 1887, and died 3 July 1970. He married Helen Lee and had four boys and one girl. We lived in Centerville. My dad and mother got a divorce when my oldest brother, Lee Kent France, was eight years old. Dan was six, I, James Arnold, was four, Carter Ellis was two and our baby sister, Helen France Matheu, had just been born. Kent and Dan went and stayed with relatives for a few years. Carter and I lived with Dad. Helen, my mother, took our baby sister, Helen. Our mother moved from place to place such as Sacramento, California; Park City, Utah; Fort Worth, Texas; San Diego, California; and last to Corte Madera, California. Helen has lived in New Jersey for approximately 30 years. I don't think Dad had much schooling but he did go on a mission for the LDS Church. My dad worked on a farm and then, when he remarried, he and his wife traded our house and land in Centerville for a four-plex in Salt Lake City. He was employed at the Ambassador Hotel for some years. The last years of his life he and his wife, Sarah Black Kemp, managed an apartment house for the Church on North Main, just about a block from Temple Square. I understand that the apartments have been torn down and the land is now used for a parking lot. They then retired to a small house they purchased in the northwest part of Salt Lake City, where they lived until they passed away. I am not aware of my Dad living in Mountain Green. However, I do remember his sister, Mamie, and her husband, Fred Smith, living on a ranch that was later owned by Darrell and Vera France. So far as I know my three brothers and sister were born in Centerville. But I was born in Woods Cross at the home of my grandparents, the Lees. Sincerely, James Arnold France NOTE—Wesley and Helen lived a short time in Mountain Green. SIDNEY WESLEY FRANCE 286 |