Francis Grant

Francis Marion Grant

Mrs. Francis (Cora Etta) Grant

Francis Marion Grant, born December 15, 1865, died April 12, 1942. He married Cora Etta Mansfield, born October 29, 1866, died August 14, 1951. To this union were born five children: 1. Ida Mae, born July 26, 1888, married Carl Bray and they had one daughter, Leslie Carol, who never married; 2. Lester Leroy Grant, born December 28, 1894, married Helen Welsh born June 14, 1918. They have no children; 3. Gladys Carolyn (Shelt), born July 3, 1900, married Vernon Shelt, (picture elsewhere in this book). They had five children: Edward, Mrs. Charles (Clara Ellen) Betts, Mrs. Lynn (Doris Mae) Boyd, Lester Carl, and Mrs. Don (Lynette) Baden; 4. Ada died in infancy; 5. Julian Mansfield Grant, born February 6, 1909, married Nellie St. Johns, born March 20, 1908. She was scalded and died of shock on January 29, 1946. They had six children: Richard Grant, Sarasota, Fla.; Joan Brooks, Milan, Mich.; Mrs. Timothy Connolley, Defiance, Ohio; Jack Grant, Cape Giradeau, Mo.; Thomas Grant, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; and Jerry Grant, Tescumseh, Mich. Two years later he married Evelyn Bailey; they had one child Peggy Lou, married to Thomas Rupp of Wauseon. Evelyn died in May 1959 of cancer. In 1965, he married Edna (Blue) Bishop and they lived at Napoleon and have no children.

Francis Grant built houses in Defiance, Ohio, then came to Napoleon, Ohio, in 1904. He started working as a cabinet maker. He made ladders of all kinds and also revolving meat cases, but these didn't prove to be very good because of not being able to cool them right with ice at the time. He had a meat market on the corner of East Maumee and S. Perry Street in Napoleon and then moved across the street to West Maumee and Perry Street. Then he had a grocery and huckster wagon business with Ed Kile, known as the Kile & Grant Grocery. The huckster wagon would travel a different direction from town each day through the country-side to farm houses selling groceries to the farmers. In turn the farmer's wives would exchange eggs for groceries. Francis Grant, went into the porch swing business about 1918 or 1919 and started making porch swings. These he had patented. In the summer his son Lester, then later Julian would drive him through some of northwestern Ohio and into Indiana. He would make his sales then come home and make the swings and then deliver them. They can be seen on many porches today.

These swings were made by Francis Marion Grant and displayed at the Henry Co. Fair about 1921.

Lester and Julian are both carrying on the trade. Lester has a shop at Rausch Lumber Co. Julian, since he retired from General Motors in 1971, makes clocks as a hobby. He has made most of his children and his wife's children clocks.

Cora Etta Grant loved to work with her hands. She did sewing for other people and also braided rugs. Her daughter Gladys Shelt has one in her home today. Francis Grant also had beautiful penmanship.

Submitted by the Family