Editing Daniel Chester French (section)

==Early life and education==
French was born on April 20, 1850, in [[Exeter, New Hampshire]], the son of Anne Richardson (1811–1856), daughter of [[William Merchant Richardson]] (1774–1838), chief justice of New Hampshire, and of [[Henry Flagg French]]  (1813–1885), a lawyer, judge, [[United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury|Assistant U.S. Treasury Secretary]], and author of a book that described the [[French drain]].<ref name="French, 1859" >{{cite book|last=French  |first=Henry F.|title=Farm drainage: the principles, processes, and effects of draining land with stones, wood, plows, and open ditches, and especially with tiles|url=https://archive.org/details/farmdrainageprin00frenrich  |location=New York   |publisher=Orange Judd & Company|year=1859|ref=French, 1859}}</ref> His siblings were Henriette Van Mater French Hollis (1839–1911), Sarah Flagg French Bartlett (1846–1883), and [[William M.R. French]] (1843–1914). He was the uncle of Senator [[Henry F. Hollis]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=French, Daniel Chester|journal=Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries|year=1908|volume= 1|pages= 924|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94kmAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA924|last1=Leonard|first1=John W.}}</ref> 

In 1867, French moved with his family to [[Concord, Massachusetts]],<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=French, Daniel Chester|year=1905}}</ref> where he was a neighbor and friend of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], and the [[Alcott family]]. His decision to pursue sculpting was influenced by [[Louisa May Alcott]]'s sister [[Abigail May Alcott]].

French's early education included training in anatomy with [[William Rimmer]] and in drawing with [[William Morris Hunt]]. French spent a year studying at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], and also several years in [[Florence]], Italy, studying in the studio of [[Thomas Ball (artist)|Thomas Ball]].