Sacramento County
Biographies
JEROME NICHOLAS FRANCIS
JEROME NICHOLAS FRANCIS.—Born on a
farm situated on Sutter Island, Sacramento County, January 19, 1867, Jerome
Nicholas Francis is a son of Nicholas and Mary (Comer) Francis, among the
earliest settlers of that locality. The father was born in
Alsace-Lorraine, and the mother was a native of Ireland. Nicholas
Francis brought his wife to Sacramento
County in 1857, and for three years
ran a livery stable and feed yard on J Street,
Sacramento. Then he invested his savings in
160 acres on Sutter Island,
and began its development; but owing to its being swampy land the flood of 1862
destroyed all his improvements. He then sold this farm and removed to Rio Vista,
where he purchased 160 acres of land; and there he continued to farm until his
death at the age of seventy-nine. His wife passed away in her thirty-sixth
year. They were the parents of seven children; Jerome Nicholas, of this
sketch; Anna, Mrs. Joy of Dixon; Thomas and Mary, both
deceased; Coroline, Mrs. J. W. Crone of Sacramento;
Barbara, deceased; and Mrs. Elizabeth Blackwell, also of Sacramento.
Jerome
Nicholas Francis received a good education in the public schools, and at the
age of twelve years he began to make his own way. He worked for two years
in the Rio Vista livery stable, receiving fifteen dollars per month for his
work; at the age of fourteen he took a job at driving a header team, and
received $1.25 a day; he then took up ranch work at
Isleton, where he remained for five years. Later, when he returned to the
delta section of Sacramento County, he began his work among fruit trees, and as
the years went by he became an expert in budding and grafting seedling fruit
trees; this he followed until 1885, when he became superintendent of a large
ranch for Trask & Meyers in the Pierson
district. He then ran a nursery on Grand Island,
and later one at Courtland, raising trees, and also budded trees for orchardists and took contracts to prune and graft orchards.
On
August 1, 1889, Mr. Francis was married to Miss Margaret McCarthy, born in San
Francisco, a daughter of John and Hannah
McCarthy. John McCarthy settled on 160 acres above Isleton in
1867. Mr. And Mrs. McCarthy were the parents of five children, all now
deceased with the exception of one son, John C., who resides in
Stockton. Both Mr. And Mrs. McCarthy are also
deceased. After his marriage, Mr. Francis went to Shasta
County, where he superintended a ranch for four
years; then he removed to San Joaquin
County and was superintendent of a
ranch below French Camp for three years. Returning to Sacramento
County, he became superintendent of
the lower delta road district, having about 125 miles of road to look
after. Mr. Francis had, during the years, accumulated considerable money,
but owing to the critical illness of his wife he spent the greater part of it
for medical aid. He was unable, however, to save her life, and she died in
1909. In 1913 Mr. Francis was married the second time, in San Francisco,
to Miss Lillian Huntley, a native of Boston, Mass., and a daughter of David and
Fannie (Richards) Huntley, natives of Vermont and New Salem, Mass.,
respectively. Her father was a traveling salesman, and died in Massachusetts. Mrs.
Francis was educated at the New Salem
Academy, and then trained at the Massachusetts
General Hospital, Boston,
where she was graduated. Coming to San Francisco
in 1904, she practiced her profession in that city until her marriage. Mr.
Francis purchased a thirty-four-acre ranch on the Sacramento River. He
and his wife have made all the improvements, building their home and other farm
buildings, setting out the orchards, and making the needed changes to bring the
ranch to a high state of productivity. Mrs. Francis, under her husband’s
instruction, learned to bud the trees, and is now considered as expert as
anyone at budding. She enjoys the work greatly,
They have ten acres in orchard, five acres being in pear trees. Mr. and
Mrs. Francis have an adopted boy, Richard Francis. In politics, they are
Republicans.
Transcribed 4-3-07
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 595-596. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Marilyn R. Pankey.