California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 JOHN FRANS. A successful stockman of Tulare county is named in the person of John Frans, who is now located at No. 609 South Court street, Visalia, while he operates his ex- tensive ranch just north of the city, consisting of over one thousand acres. He began farming operations in 1886 independently, having previously purchased (in 1884) a small tract of land. With the passing years he has continued in the raising of stock and general farming oper- ations and has added to his original purchase until he is now the owner of a large and valuable property. A native of the state, he was born in Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, January II, 1859, a son of John B. Frans, who was born in Kentucky. Until reaching young manhood, John B. Frans made his home in Kentucky, and then removed to Missouri, becoming a farmer in the neighborhood of St. Joseph. While in that state he served as a volunteer in the Mexican war under General Price. In 1853 he crossed the plains with ox teams, and upon his arrival in California located in San Jose. Several years later he located in Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, where he engaged in farming until 1863. In the last named year he removed to Tulare county and three and a half miles east of Visalia bought a ranch of four hundred and twenty acres, where he continued in general farming operations until his death in 1870, at the age of fifty-two years. His wife, formerly Elizabeth Fulton, was a na- tive of Indiana, and she also died in this state. John Frans was the fourth child and the youngest son in a family of three sons and five daughters. He received his education in the common schools of California, after which in 1878 he engaged in farming on the home place in partnership with his brothers, Thomas H. and James Madison, the latter of whom died in 1880, aged twenty-five years. In 1886 John Frans en- tered upon farming operations alone, on property which he had purchased two years previ- ously, and is now classed among the prominent business men of the county. In Visalia he mar- ried Miss Dora Jones, also a native of Santa Rosa, Cal., and they have one son. John B., who is at home with his parents. Politically Mr. Frans adheres to the principles advocated in the platform of the Democratic party, and is a public-spirited and enterprising citizen. Mrs. Frans is a member of the Society of Native Daughters.