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Permanent LinkRepresentative James Smith Francis View All Years
Memorial to the Honorable James Smith Francis of Taylor County
MR. SPEAKER: Your committee, appointed to prepare a suitable resolution commemorating the life, character and public service of the late James Smith Francis, begs leave to submit the following memorial:
James Smith Francis, legislator and newspaper editor, was born on a farm south of Kent, Iowa, September 27, 1873. He passed away in Gravity, Iowa, on August 8, 1949, at the age of seventy-five years. He received his education in a rural school, and Highland Park College in Des Moines, Iowa.
On August 1, 1906, he was united in marriage to Mary Coan of Creston, Iowa, and to this union was born one daughter, now Mrs. Scott Cramer, of Chicago, Illinois.
At an early age, Mr. Francis united with the Presbyterian Church, then transferred to the Methodist Church of which he was a member for sixty years. He was an adult Sunday School teacher for fifty years, and a member of the Masonic Lodge. He sang tenor in many quartets, served on the city council, was a member of the school board for twenty years, and was editor of the Gravity Independent newspaper for forty-two years.
In 1919 Honorable James Smith Francis was elected to represent Taylor County in the House of Representatives. He served in the Thirtyeighth and Thirty-ninth sessions of the General Assembly of Iowa.
Therefore, Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Fifty-fourth General Assembly of Iowa: That in the passing of the Honorable James Smith Francis, the state has lost a valued and honorable citizen, and the House would tender, by this resolution, its sincere sympathy to his beloved family in their great sorrow.
Be It Further Resolved: That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the Journal of the House and that the Chief Clerk be directed to forward an enrolled copy to the family of the deceased.
KIRK R. NICHOLSON,
ARCH W. MCFARLANE,
H. A. MOORE,
Committee.