Golden Wedding Celebrated at Orleans --Orleans, Nov. 17--Mr. and Mrs. Clark Francis celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage at their farm home, northeast of the village, Sunday. Sixteen guests were present to assist in making the occasion a memorable one. The home was decorated in gold and white and the tables trimmed with gold paper and centered with a large white wedding cake, dated 1877-1927. The bride and groom of fifty years ago received numerous cards of congratulations from distant friends and gifts of money from their friends. Miss Mary Shean and Clark Francis were united in marriage at the home of the bride on La Due Avenue in Clifton Springs by Dr. Hibbard, November 13, 1877, and their home since has been in Clifton Springs, Orleans, and thirty-nine years spent in Geneva. Their children are settled in nearby towns, where they are frequent visitors at the home of their parents. (Geneva Daily Times, 17 Nov 1927)



At the conclusion of an inquest held at the City Hall this morning into the death of Clark Francis aged Lafayette avenue resident who died in Geneva General Hospital Feb. 19th, the day after be was struck and injured by a truck in Exchange street, Coroner Frank H. Snyder issued a verdict to the effect that Francis' death was due to an unavoidable acident. Lynn A.
Roes, of 94 West street, driver of the Market Basket Corporation truck which struck and fatally injured the aged man, was exonerated from any blame for the accident by Coroner Snyder who said Ross obviously did everything in his power to avert running down the victim. Ross testified he had just swung the 15,000 pound truck from Castle street north into Exchange street
when he saw a man's hat in front of the radiator grill and realized someone had walked into the path of his machine. He applied the brakes immediately, he declared, and stopped the eavy vehicle within four feet of the point of impact, leaping to the ground to find Francis unconscious form lying parallel to the direction in which the truck had been proceeding near the front wheels. He testified Francis talked to him enroute to the hospital but did not mention the accident itself. Mrs. John Cook, who resides in Exchange street, near where the accident ccurred, testified she was an eye-witness to the mishap. Francis walked directly into the path of the truck, she said, and the truck driver had no chance to avoid a collision. Others who testified included Mr. Francis' son-in-law, Floyd A. Smith, Dr. J. A. Ginding who cared for the injured man at the hospital; Patrolman John Greenaway, who conducted the Police Department's investigation; John Tolan, Ross' helper riding with him in the truck and Edgar Toole, Exchange street grocer who arrived on the scene a moment after the accident occurred. (Geneva Daily Times, March, 24, 1937; pg. 11)


The funeral of Clark Francis, who died Friday of injuries received when struck by a truck in Exchange Street Thursday afternoon, was held this afternoon at 2 o'clock at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Floyd A. Smith, 45 Lafayette Avenue, with the Rev. Frederick L. Harper of the First Presbyterian Church officiating. Internment was at Shortsville. The bearers were Floyd Smith, Fred Snook, Elmer Cholet, Fred, Donald, and Gerald Heusler.