Francis, James

Francis, James (Bicheno)

(1815–92) engineer; born at Southleigh, England. He emigrated to America in 1833. The son of a railroad engineer, he worked on numerous railroad projects in New York and New England. He harnessed the power of the Merrimac River in Lowell, Mass. (1845–50), and contributed to other power projects before retiring in 1885.