Owen Frances
Owen Frances, a substantial and representative citizen of Lima, president of the Citizens' Loan & Building Company, was born in Wales, January 18, 1841, and is a son of Ellis and Catherine (Jones) Francis, both natives of Wales.
Our subject's parents came to America in 1852, settling for a few years in Pennsylvania, but later locating permanently in the rich farming districts of Ohio. Ellis Frances resided in Putnam County from 1855 to 1862, in which year he came to Allen County, where he died in 1879, survived by six of his eight children.
Owen Frances, the eldest of the children, was reared a farmer boy, and obtained his education in the localities in which the family was settled during his youth. Almost before he had formed any settled plans for his future, the Civil War broke out, and early in 1861 he donned a suit of Union Blue. After three months of service in the 21st Regiment, Ohio Vol. Inf., he reenlisted in the same year in Company A. 57th Reg., Ohio , Vol. Inf., in which he rose from private through successive promotions to be 1st lieutenant, being commissioned on September 19, 1864, these promotions being the result of personal valor and military ability. On March 12,1865, near Fayetteville, North Carolina, while in charge of a foraging party, he was captured; he was held as a prisoner of war for two months, part of the time in the Bennettsville ( South Carolina ) jail. He was finally paroled, but as the war closed soon after, he never saw more service with his regiment. At the time of his capture, the colonel of his regiment had forwarded to the War Department a recommendation that Mr. Francis be given a captain's commission, but this he never received.
Mr. Francis returned to Allen County after his military service and in 1873 he was married fo Annie J. Lewis, a native of Wales, but when married living in Delaware, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Francis have four children: Nannie, Richard Ellis, Edna and Hugh Lewis. The family home is located at No. 125 South West street.
In 1882 Mr. Francis established himself at Lima in the boot and shoe business, which he carried on until April, 1900. He is a business man whose prosperity well represents the commercial importance of this city. Personally he is held in the highest esteem, the confidence reposed in his reliability as well as capacity being shown by his selection as president of the Citizens' Loan & Building Company, a flourishing enterprise of Lima, which has been in business for almost a quarter of a century. The 23rd annual report of the company, given December 31, 1904, showed total assets amounting to $745,822.83, of which $717,040.00 was in loans on mortgage security. The increase in amount of assets for the year was $40,436.02.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Edited by Charles C. Miller. Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906