Biography
Benjamin Snell French was born on July 14, 1871, in Amsterdam, New York. He was the son of Benjamin and Susan Munsell Sexton French.
French, perhaps more than any of his classmates at the YMCA Training School, had his share of struggles growing up.
His father worked in the grocery business, but as French described in his autobiography from the Class of 1893 History Letters, he put too much confidence in his customers paying him back, which resulted in his business going under. His father was forced to sell the family home to satisfy creditors.
French attended school from age 6-17, but his mother died when he was 11, and his father sent him to live with his grandmother. He returned to briefly to live with his father for three years until he too passed away when French was just 17.
French moved in with an aunt and took up an apprenticeship in a machine shop. It was there that his thoughts became directed to religious work.
Due to the female role models in his life who were strong Christians, French had always attended church and Sunday school and had some involvement with the YMCA. He fought the calling for several years, before conversations with his pastor and YMCA secretary led him to the International YMCA Training School, now Springfield College, in the fall of 1891.
French spent two years at the Training School, graduating from the Secretarial program in 1893.
After graduating, French married Springfield resident Mabel Sexton in 1895 and went to serve as Secretary in a few different YMCA branches, including locations in New York and Massachusetts.
French passed away at just 38 years old, after a brief bout with an illness, at his home in Walden New York. His body was returned to Springfield where he was buried in the city's Oak Grove Cemetery.