Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Francis, Joseph H June 25, 1860 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com February 20, 2006, 7:51 am Author: History of Grundy County 1914 Francis, Joseph H. – Whatever may be the real cause, about which political economists, philanthropists, and social service workers widely differ, it remains true that in every community there exits certain individuals so determined on lawlessness that restraint is necessary in order to protect the innocent. Hence laws have been formulated and officers elected to carry them out and in the choice of these officers lies in great part the efficacy of the laws. This is particularly true in the selection of men to fill the dangerous and responsible office of sheriff of a county, and comparatively few men possess every desirable requirement for such a position. Physical strength and endurance must be combined with calm judgment, a high order of personal courage, a keen intellect, and dexterity and adroitness that will enable him to meet any possible advantage taken by the lawless, with which class much of his duty is concerned. Thus endowed is Joseph H. Francis, who is serving in his second term as Sheriff of Grundy County. Joseph H. Francis was born at Francis, Erie County, Pa., June 25, 1860, and is a son of Luther and Henrietta (Cole) Francis. Both parents were born in Erie County, Pa., to which section his grandparents had moved to in 1830, from Vermont. They were of old Quaker and Puritan stock, very religious people, frugal and thrifty. They left a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters. Luther Francis, father of Joseph H. Francis, was a farmer in Franklin Township, Erie County, and also was engaged in a real estate business. During the Civil War, when Erie County was threatened with an invasion by the Confederates, he served as a minute man, under Governor Curtin, Pennsylvania’s great War Governor, and was one of the last three men to leave the neighborhood and was badly injured. He never fully recovered and his death occurred July 15, 1881. One son, A. W. Francis, served during three and one-half years in that struggle. Joseph H. Francis attended the district schools of Franklin Township, Erie County, and passed his boyhood on his father’s farm. At the age of eighteen years he came to Braceville, Grundy County, Ill., and for about three years worked on farms in that neighborhood, died some mining also in Braceville, and afterward, for about eight years conducted a dairy farm. Intelligently interested in public matters he soon identified himself with the Republican party and has never changed his political principles. His first preparation for the office he has so ably filled was during the three and one-half years when he acted as deputy sheriff under Sheriff John Schroder. In January, 1898, he moved to Morris and was appointed deputy sheriff under Sheriff C. W. Johnson, and served in that capacity for three and one-half years, during which period he made some very important captures, one of these in 1901, the first Black Hand criminal in Morris. In 1902 he was elected Sheriff of Grundy County by the largest majority ever given a candidate for that office and served four years. Under the Illinois law a man cannot serve two successive terms either as sheriff or county treasurer, hence, Sheriff Francis was then elected treasurer and served four years, when he was again elected sheriff, in 1910. As an officer he has gained a reputation all through the Middle West. In the Gardner bank robbery case, he broke up probably the worst gang of yeggmen that ever operated in Northern Illinois. In his clever work in the silk robbery case, in which he, lone-handed, captured the robbers in O. Erickson & Son’s dry goods store, he put an end to a band of criminals that, for a number of years, had covered three States and had cleaned up hundreds of thousands of dollars in silk robberies. His recent capture of two different sets of Chicago auto bandits, but added to laurels well won in an eventful career as Sheriff. At St. Louis, in 1904 he was elected Vice President of the International Sheriffs’ Association, and at St. Paul, in 1905, was reelected to the same office. Sheriff Francis was married at Braceville, Grundy County, Ill., January 1, 1882, to Miss Alice M. Cragg, a daughter of George H. Cragg. She was born on the home farm in Maine Township, where her parents still reside, April 5, 1840. Her father was born in a log house now standing within 80 rods of where he now lives, which was built in 1832, and was, during the Civil War and in slavery days, one of the stations of the underground railway. Sheriff Francis and wife have had five children: Elmer L., who enlisted at the age of sixteen years, in the Spanish-American War, during two years of service in the Philippines saw hard service and was standing within 100 feet of General Lawton when the latter was killed, and was one of the officer’s escort; Maude Ethel, who is the wife of William Campbell, who is in the clothing business at Morris; Claude Eugene, Oscar George, and E. L. Francis, all of whom are acting as deputy sheriffs in Grundy County; and Robert James. Mr. Francis is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Morris. He is a Chapter Mason and belongs also to the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the White Cross and other organizations and is exceedingly popular in all. Sheriff Francis is a man of sterling qualities, and his uprightness of character, his splendid fellowship and his devotion to duty, have greatly endeared him to the people of Grundy County. He has two possessions which he treasures highly, one being his handsomely enameled and engraved star, which was presented to him immediately after his election to office, on December 1, 1902, by his many friends, and the other is a gold medal bestowed upon him by O. Erickson & Son, after his capture of the silk thieves, September 23, 1900. It bears an inscription setting forth his bravery and giving the date. This is something Mr. Francis feels is worth while handing down to his descendants. Source: History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. Publishers; 1914, p811-812 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/grundy/bios/francis201nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 6.7 Kb