Born in Dark County, Ohio, December 5, 1826. On March 10, 1850, he was married to Emily Edington, in Ohio. He came to Iowa in 1855, settling in Penn Township, Madison County being among the first settlers in township and one of the prominent men of the early days. For many years his work was identified with he interests of the township and county. At the first election he was elected justice of the peace and from that time on figured prominently in public affairs serving fifteen years as assessor and five years a county supervisor. In the fall of 1879 he was unanimously nominated by the republicans as their candidate for the Legislature and was elected. At one time Mr. Francis owned several hundred acres of well improved land near Penn Center. He was a public benefactor in many ways. He gave the lot on which the Penn Center M. E. Church now stands. He moved to Des Moines in 1880 and soon became actively associated in the Construction of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church on the east side near his home. He donated he grounds for both the parsonage and church.