Francis, Simeon

Born: 1796-05-08 Connecticut

Died: 1872-10-25 Portland, Oregon

Flourished: 1831-1859 Sangamon County, Illinois

Simeon Francis was a newspaper editor and publisher, public printer, and U.S. Army paymaster. After spending his early life in his native state, Simeon Francis moved to Buffalo, New York, where he published the Buffalo Emporium until 1828. The Anti-Masonic movement in Upstate New York forced Francis, a Freemason, to flee the region in 1829. In 1831, Francis settled in Springfield, Illinois. He edited and published the Whig-oriented Sangamo Journal and became a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. It was Francis who encouraged Lincoln and Mary Todd to reconcile after their first engagement failed. Following Zachary Taylor's election as president in 1848, Lincoln attempted to get Francis appointed secretary of the Oregon Territory, but Edward Hamilton of Ohio received the appointment. In 1850, Francis was living in Springfield and owned real property valued at $2,300. In November 1859, Francis and his wife moved to Oregon. Settling in Portland, Francis found work as a printer at the Oregonian, and early 1860, he received appointment as editor. Francis remained editor of the Oregonian until the early part of 1861, working to transform it from a weekly to a daily. Francis also became public printer for the U.S. Department of State in Portland. In August 1861, President Lincoln appointed him paymaster in the U.S. Army, with the rank of major, but Francis did not take up his duties until April 1862. The War Department posted Francis to Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, where he served as paymaster through and beyond the Civil War.

Obituary, Morning Oregonian (Portland), 26 October 1872, 2:1; H. W. Scott, ed., History of Portland Oregon (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason, 1890), 416-17; Joseph Gaston, Portland Oregon: Its History and Builders (Chicago and Portland: S. J. Clarke, 1911), 781; Mark E. Neely, Jr., "Francis, Simeon" in The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia (New York: DaCapo, 1982), 116-17; Abraham Lincoln to John M. Clayton; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), 250; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 75; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 26 November 1859, 3:1; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1861 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1862), 199; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1863 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1864), 151; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1865 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1866), 193; Gravestone, River View Cemetery, Portland, OR.