From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
Publ. 1912 - Page 944-945
 
HENRY FRANCIS.  A highly respected citizen of Williams Bay, who, although an 
American by adoption only, has had the interests of Walworth county at heart 
for over a half century, is Henry FRANCIS, a man who has won success in life 
because he has been persistent and never permitted obstacles to thwart him in 
his course when once he knew he was right.  He came here with no capital and, 
liking the country and having faith in its future, he cast his lot with the 
people of this locality; they soon began to admire him for his good habits and 
his thrifty ways and he has enjoyed their esteem and good will all the while, 
and thus he and they have been benefited by his long residence here.
 
Mr. FRANCIS was born at Weststour, Dorsetshire, England, August 9, 1836.  He 
is the son of Henry FRANCIS, Sr. and Patience FRANCIS.
 
The subject lived in his native land until he was about twenty-one years old, 
then emigrated to America in the spring of 1857, and after a very stormy 
voyage of forty-two days, landed at Quebec, Canada.  But he did not remain 
there, having come on to Chicago, where he spent some six weeks, then came to 
Walworth county to work in the harvest fields, and here he has lived ever 
since.  He did his work so well in the harvest fields that his employer 
engaged him by the year.  A few weeks afterwards his employer was killed by a 
threshing machine, and through accepting the advice of the administrator of 
the estate not to file a claim for his services, Mr. FRANCIS lost all his 
earnings.  He engaged to another man by the year, with whom he remained three 
years, during which he left nearly all his wages with his employer, who took 
advantage of the young Englishman and would not pay him, so he lost all.  In 
the meantime during the Civil war he was drafted, although he was still a 
British subject and had no vote.  He was unable to get redress, so his wife 
borrowed three hundred dollars from Lavalette DOUGLASS and secured a 
substitute.  He then went to work in DOUGLASS' mills, where he remained for 
eighteen years, losing only six days' time during that period and he often 
worked overtime.  He thus paid back what he had borrowed and saved enough of 
his earnings to buy a farm, in 1877, in sections 10 and 11 in Walworth 
township, consisting of one hundred and eighty-eight acres.  There he remained 
until 1891, when he gave up farming and built a home in Williams Bay.  He sold 
his farm  in 1909.  He had been very successful as a general farmer and stock 
raiser, and by his thrift, economy and honest dealings accumulated a 
competency.
 
Mr. FRANCIS has taken an interest in local public affairs, and he has served 
very acceptably a number of times on the board of supervisors of Walworth 
township.
 
Mr. FRANCIS was married in 1859 to Sarah HOLMES, daughter of William and Anna 
(MITCHELL) HOLMES.  She was born in Lincolnshire, England, and came to this 
county when fifteen years old, with her parents, who located in Walworth 
township, near the head of Lake Geneva, where Fontana is now located.  The 
family settled there in 1855, and in that vicinity her parents spent most of 
their lives after that.
 
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. FRANCIS, namely: William, who 
lives along the shore, about two miles west of Lake Geneva, married Carrie 
DAVIS, and they have two children, Earl and Herbert; Charles, a physician and 
the first doctor at Williams Bay, married Hettie SOUTHWICK, and his death 
occurred in June 1908; Lavalette and Lafayette, twins, were next in order; the 
former grew up and married Jennie SOUTHWICK and farmed near the observatory 
until his death, December 19, 1911; Lafayette, who lives at Beloit, married 
Maude DALTON, and they have two children, Ruth and Harry; he is employed in 
the factory of Fairbanks, Morse & Company.  Sarah Jane, the subject's youngest 
child, died when one year old.
 
The record of Henry FRANCIS is an interesting one and it may be studied with 
profit by the discouraged young man, for it shows that one can succeed in the 
face of all obstacles.  When seventeen years old he left home and went to the 
island of Alderney, where he worked on government works, building a breakwater 
three-fourths of a mile out into the English channel, and building fortification
also.  He crossed to Plymouth, England, from there and took ship for America.  
He had little opportunity to secure an education, for his father died when he 
was a baby and his mother had a hard time to get along, and he was thrown upon 
his own resources early in life, being put to work picking up potatoes in 
potato-digging time when quite small.  But notwithstanding his long life of 
hard work, he is remarkably well preserved, and his spirit has never been 
broken.  He enjoys a good joke and is a man of genial nature, obliging, honest 
and seems to possess youthful vigor, although now past seventy-five years of 
age.
 
Submitted by Carol