Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-05-19

Minneapolis, May 15-The body O
Joseph Francis, who died at Osag
> Lake, n. Y, May 10, arrived at Mime
: apoliS Saturday evening 1t was PLACED
' in the vault at Lakewood Sunday morn
: ing, and will be inferred beside his wife
J at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Sim
= pie exercises will be held at the grave.
t The vault of Mr.. Francis at Lakewood
is well known. 1t stands on a knoll
overlooking Lake Calhoun. Many years
ago Mrs. Francis stood on the Spo1
and thought it one Of the most beauti
, full she had ever seen and expressed the
wish to be buried there when she died
When Lakewood was laid out Mr.. Fran
els purchased the lot, which is No 1
Section /. His wife has rested there
for 20 years, and every summer Mr. Fran
els has visited the vault and placed
flowers upon the coffin. He was a
familiar figure at Lakewood and virtJl-
ally made his headquarters at the GENE
terry. He could not bear that his wife
should be placed beneath the ground
and constructed the vault above ground
scribed the loving words: In memory
Of Ellen Francis, wife of Joseph Francis,
Of New York. Died March 81. 1873.
Just, generous, faithful, pure" On one
] tablet beneath the vault Of Mrs Francis
IS an inscription for Isaac r. Francis,
yet living, the only son Of Joseph, with
Il blank Tor the date of death. Isaac
'ncIS accompanied the body of his
father to Minneapolis. On this same
tablet is IN inscription for the daughter
of Isaac, but her body is not in the
family lot. On the other tablet is the
Inscription for the deceased as follows:
/ Joseph Francis. the father and
founder of the United States Life Say
ing service, 1872. Founder of the Amer
lean ShipWreck society, 1912. Inventor
of the orrugated metallic life car, life
boat, etc. Received the thanks OF the
Forty ninth congress. HOnored by the
Fiftieth congress for services to human
ity. HOnored, decorated, rewarded and
knighted by the crowned heads of
Europe Born March II, 1901
There is Il blank for the date of death.
At the back of the tomb is a willow
that has received the most tender care
by Mr.. Francis and has been the sub
iect of much solicitude. Over the tomb
of Napolean Bonaparte, at Helena, was
a weeping willow tree. An American.
frigate, ON her way to New York, stop
ped at st. Helena and cut from the
tree Il slip to preserve as a relic. On the
arrival of the frigate at Brooklyn the
commander presented the slip to Joseph
Francis, who planted it in Lakewood
cemetery in 1875.
| The devotion Of Mr.. Francis to the
spot where his wife lay is shown by an
extract from q letter dated April "A,
1893, at the Astor House, New York,
written to his little girl friend at Min
neapolis:
Miss Ruth G. Rhodes-I know you
at times think [ have forgotten you,
but such has been my situation I could
not get time. If I should not see you
again no one could say you have not
been faithful in all you have done.
Sometimes I wish you would stop at
my tomb in the cemetery. If there is
any fault of the tomb, as grass OF lawn
report it to Mr.. Hobart, the superintend
ent OF the cemetery, for he has often
told me he would protect and care fol
my resting place as if it was his own
| should like so much to sit by the
tomb day and night and listen to g
sound [ shall never more hear
Then comes this quotation, changed
to suit himself:
"There is q name, a mark, a sign
To tell who lies below the tall ranl
grass where daisies shine
And pale primroses blow, yet mourn
fully the willows wave and sun
t beams gently play
AS if within that grave an eNilet
stranger lay"
/ 1t was as a devoted worshipper a
: the tomb of his wife at Lakewood tina
| the Minneapolis public has chief,
known Mr. Francis, but his name i
= known in kings palaces for the servic
I he has rendered mankind.
Joseph Francis was born in Bostol
: in 1901. At the age of II he was cas-
| adrift upon the world as poor boy
d with the name and fame which b
q afterward attained to earn fer himself
He obtained position as page in tn
then new capitol on Beacon Hill. TIL
surroundings of his youth were favorabl
to the bent Of his inclination, a nea
relative owning large factory in whicl
were manufactured some of the bes
boats and cutters of the period in gov
eminent use during the war of ISL.
with his inventive genius, mechanics
l. brain and such unusual facilities, it
not surprising that in 1872, when h
. was only IL years of age, he shout
have manufactured a small boat,
which he applied cork, confined in Woo
in the bow and stern for a buoan
le power. This first crude e1perimen
Y demonstrated the practicability of buoy
II ant power. as with his cork applied a
l. stated. his little boat, even when file
d with water, would hold up four mel
~ This was his first success. a yeritabl
q life boat the first one built or see
,r = the United States, a nucleus, or germ
k from which have sprung such an e.
,e tenSive service along the entire waite
front of not only this country, bl
the world. The success of his first appl
cation of buoyancy gave him conident
5, to continue experiments, until he reacl
er ed a high degree of perfection, resul
at inc in the invention of a less bulk
lie and, Therefore, more buoyanU pOwe
W and also the APPLICATION of amateri
ut combining the largest amount