John Francom was born 29 Dec 1849 in Uitenhage, Cape Colony, South Africa, to William and Amy Francom. His birthplace was on the Z Wastleopes River about twenty miles from Port Elizabeth.

John's father, William Francom (b1815) and mother, Amy Harding (b1811) were both born and raised in England. They were married 7 September 1837. While living in England, six children were born to them. Three of them died in England. John's father was a blacksmith by trade. They migrated to South Africa where he worked at his trade for several years. John was the seventh child and the first one born in Africa.

In 1856 his father, William Francom, started in the merchandising business. Before this time the family lived in one of a row of three-room cottages. The new business thrived and they moved to a new home which had two acres of garden and also an orchard containing a variety of fruit trees. The climate and fertile soil produced three crops per year. They irrigated their land with water that flowed in ditches along the streets. The father and his sons went out peddling to sell their produce. Their store had a sign painted on it which read, "Francom Mercantile and Grocery Prince of Wales' Feathers."

One thrilling experience for the family was the visit to the store by the Prince of Wales, who later reigned in England as King George V. This acknowledgment by the Prince when he was on tour meant much to the family.

Goods and merchandise for the store was purchased in Port Elizabeth and freighted to Uitenhage by ox teams and wagons. The boys made many trips through the dense forest to Port Elizabeth with their father. William Henry, the oldest son, was responsible seeing that all supplies were properly loaded and that his younger brothers did their jobs. It was a long journey and there were no habitations along the way.

Across the street from the store was a market square where produce and animals were brought by the people to sell at auction. Here, also, the public punishments and whippings were given and convicted murderers were hung on the gallows.

A sister of Amy Harding (the mother), Aunt Tabby Crouch, lived about five miles from Uitenhage on a farm. Her husband was an industrious trapper and hunter who went into the interior and caught many lions and other animals which he sold and shipped to England. This uncle, whom they visited often, would take them on honey hunting trips. They had a trained bird to help them. They would whistle at the Honey Guide as the bird was called because of its habit of pointing out to the hunters the wild honey nests in the trees. Sometimes they would gather as much as 40 barrels of honey at one time and take it back to the city to sell.

One sport which John and his brothers enjoyed was finding large tortoises and riding on them. They also had fun catching monkeys by making small holes in the squash or melon holding them down.

In the year 1860, Mormon Elders came to Africa preaching the Gospel. John's parents were very interested although it was a very unpopular religion. They embraced the gospel and it became a turning point in their lives. In 1862, the oldest brother, William Henry, went to America. The following year, Joseph, the third eldest went to America, also. William H. made preparation for the rest of the family to travel to the Utah territory.

In 1865 John's father, (William Francom) gave his consent for his wife, (Amy Harding) to leave Africa with the children and go to America. At this time the business was thriving so well that the second eldest brother, (George Francom), stayed in Africa to help with the business and was to assist in winding up the family affairs in anticipation of following the rest of the family to the new country.

It was a very trying time for Amy to break away from her home and leave her husband (William), son (George) and sister (Tabby Crouch) behind, but her faith was so strong that she was willing to leave everything to cast her lot with the Mormon people. No one ever heard her murmur about the hardship she passed through or about the trials she had to endure.

Due to the persecution of the Latter-day Saints and on account of the father's business, the family left secretly. No one knew of their plans. Early one spring morning,William Francom loaded his family and the things they were taking with them into the wagon and started for Port Elizabeth. They stayed there one night and boarded their ship in the morning. Along with them were thirty-five families of converts to the LDS Church. All were leaving to go to America. In addition to these passengers, the captain and crew, they shipped a cargo of hides, tallow and wool.

It was a sad farewell. When it was time for them to leave, the family felt that there was a possibility that they might never see each other again although William Francom intended to follow as soon as possible.

During the night the vessel, a brig, a square-rigged ship with two masts, named the Mexicana, set sail. In the morning they awoke and could see the shoreline in the distance. They and all of the other Saints gathered together, their hearts full to breaking and joined in singing "Oh My Native Land, I Love Thee".

After a long tedious journey of four months, they reached New York. It took some time for them to unload and go through customs. They were all tired from the voyage and would have enjoyed a little rest, but the next day they boarded a train starting for the West. At St. Louis, Missouri, they boarded a steamboat which carried them p the Mississippi River for twenty-four hours. After landing they camped for a few days. From this camp, they took another train to continue their journey westward. When they came to the Missouri River, they had another steamboat ride and disembarked at a small town in Nebraska called Wymore. Here they joined a camp of English and Scandinavian immigrants who were also traveling to Utah. Many of the group were waiting for teams to come from Utah to transport them to Zion as most of them were to poor to outfit themselves. Among these immigrants cholera had broken out and many had died. Later the leader of these people loaned them money for their needs.

The families that came from Africa were fairly well-to-do and were able to purchase their own outfits. At this time John, who was fifteen years old, hired out to a man named Ramsey for the purpose of driving his wagon, which was drawn by a mule team, the rest of the way to Salt Lake City. He left at once and arrived in the valley before his mother and the rest of the family.

While they were at the camp in Nebraska, members of the Francom family were baptized in the Missouri River and became members of the Church.

John traveled with Captain Miner Atwood's Company. When the wagon train reached Horse Shoe Creek, thirty miles west of Laramie, Wyoming, a group of Indians made an attack on the party and seven men were wounded. John reached Salt Lake City in November 1865.

After his family reached Salt Lake City, they traveled south and settled at Glenwood on the Sevier River, that being an area where the brother Joseph was. Due to the hostilities of the Indians in that region, they were soon driven out and the family moved to Cache Valley were the oldest brother, William Henry, lived.

After a short time John went back to Sevier County where the Black Hawk Indian War was raging and in which he took part. On one occasion while in the company with a group of men, they gave chase to some Indians into the mountains to recover some stolen cattle. In this foray he was shot through the shoulder with an arrow. He returned to his home in Cache Valley and remained there until the following Fall. During that next year, 1869, he moved to Payson.

John worked on the railroad until its completion and was present at the ceremonies conducted on the 10th of May, 1869 when President Brigham Young and Leland Stanford drove the golden spikes that nailed down the last rail of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Point west o of Corinne in Box Elder County. Then he returned to Payson and built a home for his mother and her family at a lot on 5th East and 3rd South. She lived in this house for many years.

John kept on working and began to make plans for himself. On a cold day, 13 December 1873, he married Delilah Fatima Holder. Her family had been converted to the church in North Carolina and had come to live in Payson. By this time John was 23 years old and Delilah was 16. They lived in Payson for several years until three of their children were born. Then he bought fifteen acres of land about two miles east of Payson and there built a two-room adobe house for his own family and moved into it. Later they added onto this home making it into a two story house.

Eventually there family grew to include fifteen children, nine boys and six girls. They were successful in raising all but one of their boys, who died at the age of five weeks. Theirs was a happy family life filled with much hard work and enjoyable times playing together.

John was a good farmer and a hard working man. He taught his children to be industrious and self-sufficient. On his small farm he had cows and sold milk and butter. They made their own cheese. Together they raised many kinds of garden vegetables and strawberries which they sold at the mines nearby. From his orchard, which had a variety of fruits, the family dried and canned fruits for winter. He also had bees and extracted honey and used the wax. He and his family were well known for the good watermelons which they raised.

After the sugar beet industry started in Utah he raised many acres of sugar beets. As he prospered, he bought more land until he had nearly a hundred acres. Along with his farming he raised all kinds of animals--chickens, pigs and beef cattle besides the horses they needed for farm work and to pull their buggies and wagons.

John was a quiet, gentle man. He was generous, too, and had lots of visitors at his home. At Christmas time he would take sacks of flour and potatoes to the widows in the town. He was strict with his children and taught them to work. He sent all of his children to school and helped them with their lessons. He enjoyed reading and many of his children developed this love of reading and studying. All of his children were members of the Church.

In politics John was a Democrat, but gave his entire time and attention to his farm and family and never sought or held any public office. However, he helped to organize the Salem Canal Company.

John's father eventually came to Utah for a visit and then went back to England. The mother and the children continued to live out the rest of their lives in Utah. His mother died 22 January 1876 and was buried in Payson.

In 1880 John made a trip to England to visit his father (William Francom) and his brother (George Francom) who had remained in South Africa. They chose not to migrate to America and had returned to their old home in England. His journey took eleven weeks. The visit proved rewarding for during the summer of 1893 his brother, George, and his daughter came to visit him and his family in Payson.

John died 9 November 1908 of pneumonia and was buried in the Payson Cemetery.