Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/190

 FRA^•CLS

FRANCIS


 * he Trinity historical society of Dallas, Texas,

lud of the American society of irrigation engi- neers of Utah. He received the honorary degree )f A.M. from Dartmouth in 18.57, and from Har- rard in 1858. He was married July 12, 1837, to 5arah W., daughter of George Brownell of Lowell, yiass. His son James succeeded him in 1885 as igent of the Locks and Canals companj'. Mr. Francis published: Lomll Hydraulic Experiments
 * 1855-186S-1883); Strength of Cast-iron Columns
 * i86.i). He died in Boston, Mass., Sept. 18, 1892.

FRANCIS, John Brown, governor of Rhode island, was liorn in Pliiladelpliia, Pa., Maj' 31, l791; .son of John and Abby (Brown) Francis; md grandson of Tench Francis, 1730-1800, mer- )f the Bank of North America, Philadelphia, Pa. 3is father died during his childhood and Ije was idopted by his maternal grandfather, John 3rowu, one of the "Four Brothers" of Provi- leuce, R.I. He was graduated at Brown univer- 3rown & Ives, a law student at Litchfield, Conn., md on inheriting the property of his paternal p-andfatlier in Philadelpliia. spent some time in hat city. He represented the town of Warwick n the General assembly, 1821-29; was a state .833-38. He was defeated in the election of 1838 md for a time retired from political life. In 1842 le represented the law and order party in the state lenate, and in 1844 was elected to fill the unex- pired term of Senator William Sprague, resigned, n the U.S. senate, serving until March 4, 1845. 3e was again a state senator in 1845-56. He was I trustee of Brown university, 1828-57, and a chancellor, 1841-54. He was mai-ried in 1822 to ^nne Carter, only daugliter of Nicholas Brown. 5he died in 1828, and in 1833 he was married to his cousin, the daughter of Thomas Willing Fr:iiiris of Philadelphia. Governor Francis died at Spring Green, Warwick. R.I.. Aug. 9, 1864.
 * hant, agent of the Penn family and first cashier
 * ity in 1808, was a clerk in the counting house of
 * enator, 1831-33; and governor of Rhode Island,

FRANCIS, John Morgan, journalist and dip- omat, was born in Prattsburg, N.Y., March 6, L823; son of Richard and Mary (Stewart) Francis. His father was a midshipman in the British lavy, whose admiration for America was so great Wales to the United States about 1795 and first settled near Utica, N.Y., and became an Ameri- jan citizen, moving later to Steuben county and locating at Plattsbui'g. Joseph Stewart, his grandfather on the maternal side, served in the American army from the beginning to the end of -it Major Andre, the spy, near West Point, in 1780. John M. Francis was the twelfth of thir- teen children, and in 1838, when in his fifteenth ^ear, he entered the office of the Ontario Messen-
 * liat he resigned his commission, emigrated from
 * he Revolution, and was present at the execution

i/er at Canandaigua. N.Y.. where he served until 1843. Later he became assistant editor of the Wayne county Sentinel of Palmyra; of the Rochester Dailij Advertiser, and in 1846 of the Troy Northern Biidijet, a Democratic paper of which he became joint proprietor and sole editor. He supported the candi dacy of Taylor and Fillmore in 1848. and in 1849 joined Henry O'Reilly, proprietor of the Advertiser. Rocliester, N.Y., in his telegraph enter prises. He was next employed as editorial writer on the Tio\ Post and on tin' Dnihj ]Vhiii. He founded the Troy Daily Times, June 25,

1851, and for forty- A:/ ^ "^ . six years continued ^^^^^ ^^■<'?^««tr as its editor-in-chief and senior proprietor, making it one of the leading Republican journals of the .state, with a circulation as large as that of any newspaper in the state outside of New York city. In 1867-68 he was a member of the state constitu- tional convention. In 1871 President Grant ajipointed him U.S. minister I'esident to Greece, and he remained at Athens for three years, when he resigned, Nov. 17, 1873, and made a tour of the world with his wife. In 1881 he was selected by President Garfield for U.S. minister resident to Belgium, but before the name was presented to congress the President was killed. In 1882 he was appointed l>y President Arthur, U.S. minis- ter resident to Portugal, and in 1884 was promoted envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Austria-Hungary. He re- signed and returned to America in 1885, on the accession of President Cleveland, and resume<l his editorial labors on the Troy Daily Times. lu 1893 he was one of fifteen prominent citizens nominated by the Republican state convention for delegates-at-large to the constitutional con- vention provided by law to be held the following j'ear, all of whom were elected, Jlr. Francis receiving the largest vote cast for a delegate-at- large. He took a very active part in the proceed- ings of the convention, which was in session in the capitol at Albany throughout the entire sum- mer of 1894, and he was influential in shaping many of the sections of the revised constitution which was submitted to the people and adopted by a large vote in the November election of that year. He was chairman of the committee on bill of rights, and the second member of the com- mittees on cities and civil service. The arduous