Julius Francis, ca. 1862. Background: “Lincoln the Man,” sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Lincoln’s Tomb, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL.Credit- Buffalo History Museum and Library of Congress
My Wife and My LifeBuffalo’s Julius Francis and Abraham LincolnCaptions and Credits
By Anne Conable
The definition of obsession is “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.” In the case of Buffalo drug store owner Julius Francis (1822-1881), his devotion to the legacy of 16th American president, Abraham Lincoln, certainly met the definition of an obsession; he once called it “my wife and my life.” His repeated efforts to have Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12, declared a national holiday were ultimately not successful, but the tradition he began in his beloved Buffalo continues to this day. In fact, it is manifested in the longest continuous commemoration of Lincoln’s Birthday each year at the Buffalo History Museum. So, just who was Julius Francis and where did his preoccupation with Lincoln come from?
Born in Wethersfield, CT, on January 11, 1822, the eldest of six children, Francis followed his businessman brother Daniel to Buffalo as a young teenager. After working for his brother for several years, he entered into a partnership with Charles Coleman as manager of a drug store on Main Street. By 1856, he was successful enough to buy out Coleman. He then continued to operate the drug store in the Kremlin Block for many years, prior to moving to 16 South Division Street.
But operating a successful business hardly explains Julius’ presidential passion. It could be, however, that a key Lincoln-related moment in Buffalo’s history may have sparked the obsession. On February 16, 1861, at 4 p.m., Abraham Lincoln and his family arrived by train at Buffalo’s Exchange Street station. Lincoln was on his way to Washington, DC, to be inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States. An overwhelming crowd of 75,000 excited citizens quickly became an unruly mob at the sight of the president-elect, who barely escaped the crush as an awaiting carriage carried him through downtown to the American Hotel on Main Street.
This singular event in the city’s history was one not to be missed. Given that Julius Francis’ drugstore was located just down the block from the American Hotel, it is quite likely that he was among the jubilant thousands along Main Street seeking a glimpse of this most important national figure. He may not have realized it at the time, but with his drugstore increasingly successful, and no wife or children – he lived with his brother Daniel’s family the rest of his life – the path of his life was set.
An Avid Collector- and a Life Mission
Julius began collecting Civil War memorabilia in 1861, going so far as visiting the famous battlefields at Antietam, Gettysburg and elsewhere to collect items left behind. But his penchant for collecting items somehow related to the conflict extended beyond mere artifacts. He spent five years collecting the autographs of 10,322 soldiers and sailors that had served in the war. To these were added 1,500 autographs of the members of the 43rd Congress, the Supreme Court and other significant government officials of that period. Further yet, he compiled scrapbooks of wartime photos and newspaper accounts of the war. These items formed the nucleus of his collection.
In the spring of 1865, when, after four bloody years, the American Civil War was at an end, Francis was undoubtedly among the tens of thousands of mourners who filed past Lincoln’s casket in Buffalo’s St. James Hall. Western New York was one of many stops made by the slain president’s funeral train as it made its way back to Lincoln’s hometown of Springfield, IL, and his final resting place in Oak Ridge Cemetery. In the wake of Lincoln’s shocking assassination, this intensely patriotic man began collecting Lincoln memorabilia, and redoubled his efforts to promote the legacy and remembrance of the martyred president.
Francis’ ultimate goal and life’s mission—establishing Lincoln’s February 12 birthday as a national holiday—began in 1873, with an elaborate memorial petition presented to Congress. Signed by 50 Buffalo citizens, the petition was inscribed “on parchment, backed with blue silk, with 50 white stars, and exquisite needlework border, inserted in a folding case of French walnut, and enclosed in a Russia leather case.”
But despite the end of armed conflict, the nation would remain sectionally divided for decades, particularly when it came to opinions of how to memorialize events and figures associated with the late war. Such remembrances often recognized different people and deeds, usually on different dates. Official national recognition of an individual as divisive as Abraham Lincoln, therefore, would have been met with significant resistance in the South for years to come. Thus, the notion of a national observance of his birthday was not taken up for serious consideration at this point. Multiple petitions sent to Washington failed repeatedly. Interestingly, however, the New York State Legislature looked more kindly on commemorating Lincoln and was one of the first to establish February 12 as a holiday on the state level.
Working at the local level, Julius and his friends founded the Lincoln Birthday Association, begun in 1873 and officially incorporated in 1877, to carry forward the work. Francis was determined to establish an annual tradition in Buffalo each February 12. Beginning in 1874, and continuing each February thereafter until his death in 1881, Francis rented a hall and assembled a free of charge program for the community to honor Lincoln. These annual observances featured orations, music and poetry.
The Julius Francis papers housed at the Buffalo History Museum include dozens of pieces of correspondence received by the Lincoln Birthday Association concerning these programs. These include letters from writers such as William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whom he had solicited to provide poems and essays for these occasions.
Thousands of engraved cards about Lincoln were printed at Francis’ own expense each year and distributed to Buffalo school students. He also spared no expense in specially commissioning elaborate display cases for his Civil War collection. These were to be on public display at the Grosvenor Library (in an age before radio, television and the internet), to help the community, especially young people, understand and remember the Civil War. The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library’s archives show that, as early as 1872, Francis was donating books and a special bookcase to the Grosvenor Library to be called the “Francis Alcove.” The ceremonial dedication of the alcove was presided over by none other than Buffalo’s resident celebrity, former President Millard Fillmore—who had greeted Abraham Lincoln at the American Hotel upon his arrival in 1861.
These activities made Julius a local public figure during his lifetime. The History Museum’s Francis Papers include dozens of wedding and birthday invitations he received, as well as social event programs, and tickets and programs from plays and concerts he attended. At his passing in 1881, at the age of 59, after a period of declining health, his obituary in The Buffalo Commercial remembered this esteemed citizen as “kind-hearted, liberal, public spirited, and intensely patriotic.” He is buried in Section W of Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Julius Francis’ will left his property and six $1,000 bonds to the Lincoln Birthday Association. In 1901, when that legacy had grown to $10,000, the Association commissioned sculptor Charles Niehaus to create a statue of Lincoln in Francis’ memory for the new home of the Buffalo Historical Society—the 1901 Pan American Exposition’s New York State Pavilion and today’s Buffalo History Museum. The bronze seated Lincoln was originally displayed in “The Lincoln Room,” along with Francis’ Civil War and Lincoln collections. In the 1930s, the sculpture was moved to its current outdoor location on the museum’s south portico, overlooking the Japanese Garden and Mirror Lake.
Although Julius Francis was not successful in his determination to have Lincoln’s Birthday declared a national holiday, his passion for our 16th president continues each February when Lincoln’s Birthday is honored with ceremonials at The Buffalo History Museum. Documented as the longest continuously celebrated Lincoln birthday commemoration in the nation, 2024’s event on Sunday, February 18, is the 150th, and the community is cordially invited to take a moment that day to remember Julius Francis and Abraham Lincoln. And there will be cake!
“Lincoln at the American Hotel,” mural by Charles Greil and Edward Riegel, ca. 1935. Created as part of the Works Project Administration, this mural depicts President-elect Lincoln’s visit to Buffalo in 1861 on his way to Washington. Flanking Lincoln on the right is former president Millard Fillmore and General Daniel Bidwell.Credit- Buffalo History Museum
About the Author
Anne Conable is manager of community engagement at the downtown Central Library and serves on the boards of both The Buffalo History Museum and Western New York Heritage. She is an avowed Lincoln fan and no less of one of several of Buffalo’s significant figures, including Julius Francis, Samuel Wilkeson, Seth Grosvenor and Chauncey Hamlin.
