Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/553

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FRANCIS
FRANCO
525

Fansley, Talbot CO., Md., in 1730; d. in Pliiladel- phia, 1 May, 1800, for many years acted as agent for the Penn family in connection with their proprie- tary interests. He became the first cashier of the " Bank of North America," which office he held until his death. He is said to have contributed £5,000 for ilie support of the Revolutionary array. — Another son, Turbntt, soldier, b. in 1740; d. in 1797. was named for his mother, a Miss Turbutt. Before the war of the Revolution he was a lieu- tenant in the British army, but afterward fought with iiis countrymen for independence, rose to the rank of colonel, and his correspondence with Sir Philip Francis shows that in 1770 Col. Francis had purchased for his cousin. Sir Philip, a tract of 1,000 acres in Maryland, for which 125 or 180 guineas were to be paid. He was also anxious that his relative should secure from the English government a grant of land, which he thought might be purchased from the Indians for from 2,000 to 3,000 guineas. This tract, which he de- scribed as " a prodigious fine country," was north of the Ohio and between the Scioto and the Wa- bash. The colonel also asked his correspondent to " obtain for us the carrying-place of Niagara " and " a grant of the Salt Lake, and the land for one mile around it, in the Onondago country." To this Sir Philip replied that, although he had really very little " interest " (influence) with the authori- ties, he would take the matter into consideration. About a year afterward, it appears, Col. Francis had succeeded to some extent in improving his own ])r(}spects, as Sir Philip writes to a relative, under date of 1 May, 1771 : " If you have not made a thousand compliments to Tubby Francis for me upon his change of condition, you deserve to be hanged. I have used that honest fellow infamous- ly ; but really, between ourselves, I cannot prevail upon myself to talk to a man who makes so light of getting large provinces into his possession." Subsequently, when Sir Philip had become a mem- ber of the " new council " of India, he again wrote to Col. Turbott, saying : " At present I am bound to the Ganges ; but who knows whether I may not end my days on the banks of the Ohio? It gives me great comfort to reflect that I have relatives who are honest fellows in almost every part of the world. In America the name of Fi-an- cis flourishes. 1 don't like to think of the quan- tity of salt water between us. If it were claret, I would drink my way to America." — John Brown, grandson of the younger Tench, senator, b. in Philadelphia. Pa., 31 May, 1791 ; d. in Spring Green, in Warwick, R. I., 9 Aug., 1864, lost his father in infancy, and was adopted by his maternal grandfather, Nicholas Brown. He was educated in the schools of Providence and in Brown univer- sity, where he was graduated in 1808. He spent a year in the counting-house of his kinsmen, IMessrs. Brown & Ives, of Providence, and subsequently attended the law-school at Litchfield, Conn. In 1821 he went to live at Spring Green, a family es- tate on the shores of Narragansett bay. In the same year he was elected to the legislature from the town of Warwick, and was annually chosen till 1829, when he resigned. In 1831 he was a member of the state senate, and in the spring of 1832 was elected governor by a coalition of the Anti-masons and the Democrats. He had been a Federalist and a National Republican, but after this he was known as a Democrat. He was re-elected governor every year till 1838, when the state fell into the hands of the opposite party. In the free-suifrage trou- bles of 1842 he again appeared in the state senate as a member of the " Law and Order " party, and in 1844 he was chosen by the legislature to fill the vacancy in the U. S. senate occasioned by the resig- nation of William Sprague. He held a seat in that body during the remainder of the session then pending, and the whole of the short session of the succeeding winter, his time expiring 4 March, 1845, was subsequently, for eight or nine years, again in the state senate, and continued to wield an impor- tant infiuence in the politics of Rhode Island. In 1856 he declined a re-election and withdrew from public life. From 1828 till 1857 he was a trustee of Brown university, and from 1841 till 1854 held the office of chancellor in that body.


FRANCISCO, Peter, soldier, b. in 1761 ; d. in Richmond, Va., in 1832. His origin is obscure, but it is supposed that he was kidnapped from Portu- gal and taken to Ireland. He resolved to come to America, and indentured himself to a sea-captain. On arriving in City Point, near Petersburg, Va., he was taken to the poor-house, where he remained until he was bound to Judge Anthony Winston, of Buckingham county, on whose estate he labored until the beginning of the Revolution. He ob- tained permission from his master to enlist in the Continental army in 1777, and served with La- fayette at the battles of Brandywine, Yorktown, Monmouth, where he was wounded by a musket- ball, Cowpens, and Stony Point, where he was sec- ond to enter the fortress, and received a bayonet- wound. After serving in skirmishes under Col. Morgan, he volunteered under Col. Mayo, of Pow- hatan, and was present at Gen. Gates's defeat at Camden. Here he saved the life of Col. Mayo, and that officer afterward presented him with 1,000 acres of land on Richland creek, Ky. On hearing of Cornwallis's march through the south he vol- unteered under Col. Watkins, and took part in the battle of Guilford, N. C. His bravery was equal to his strength, which was herculean. He could shoulder a cannon weighing 1,000 pounds, and the blade of his sword was five feet in length. Many anecdotes are related of his physical power. On his return to Virginia in 1781, he stopped at a tav- ern in Amelia, and was made prisoner by a detach- ment of Tarleton's dragoons, who were stationed there. While one of the Tories was stooping to take off his silver shoe-buckles, Francisco drew his sword and cleft the man through the head. He frightened the rest of the party and made his es- cape, although Tarleton's corps was in full view. This exploit was illustrated in an engraving which was a favorite ornament of that period, and was published by James Webster, of Pennsylvania (1814). On some occasions he was more successful in restoring public order than the civil authorities. Through the influence of Charles Yancey he was appointed sergeant-at-arms in the Virginia house of delegates, which office he held until his death. John Randolph, of Roanoke, brought the attention of congress to Francisco's military career, and ap- plied for a pension for him.


FRANCO, Bernardo do Sonsa (frank -o). Viscount, Brazilian slatesinan. b. in Para, 28 June, 1805; d. in Rio Janeiro, 9 May, 1875. He studied at Para. In 1823, being involved in a conspiracy, he was sent with 257 others to Lisbon, but was set at liberty in 1824, returned to Brazil, and was graduated in law at Olinda academy in 1835. He had already distinguished himself as editor of the "Voz do Beberibe " and of the " Diario de Pernambuco." In 1839 he was appointed president of the province of Para, and contributed largely to its improvement. In 1844 he was president of the province of Alagoas, and soon afterward was attacked by the rebel Vicente Ferreira