Mr. Francois obtained his education in the public schools of Jersey City Heights, finishing in Grammar School No. 2, on the corner of Central Avenue and Congress Street. His studies were designed to meet only the practical requirements of a business life, yet the strength of character and a retentive memory which he possessed gave him, at a very early age, the prestige of a leader among his associates, and he left school fairly well equipped to enter his father's hairdressing establishment. Here his ability and industry soon won for him a complete mastery of the trade. His brothers and sisters have also achieved professional prominence in New York or New Jersey. In 1872 he opened his present hairdressing parlors at 419 Paterson Avenue, West Hoboken, and besides this he also conducted for several years a similar establishment on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Fourteenth Street, New York.

Mr. Francois is widely known as a Democratic leader. He has been active and prominent in his party since 1876, when he was elected Constable. an office he held for sixteen consecutive years, serving as Court Officer during that entire period. gaining a wide acquaintance among the leading men of the county and laying the foundation of a future political career. From the time he assumed the duties of Constable and Court Officer to the present he has been an influential leader of the Democratic party, fearless in his convictions, zealous and active in his party's welfare, and true to the fundamental principle.-, upon which it exists. On January 8, 1889, he was elected to the New Jersey Legislature, from the old Tenth (now the Eleventh) Assembly District of Hudson County, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Edwin F. Short, who had been elected in the preceding autumn. In the Assembly Mr. Francois at once took a leading position. and as a member of the Committees on Ways and Means, State Prisons, and Miscellaneous Business was instrumental in promoting much important legislation and in defeating measures of questionable value. Among the several bills which he introduced was one giving one policeman for every 800 population in West Hoboken, another providing that a defendant under arrest should have three days' notice before the date set for his trial, and a third authorizing the erection of the present Turn Verein hall in the Town of Union. He also introduced several local sewerage bills, and was the means of defeating the measure which had for its object the consolidation of Arlington, Kearny, and Harrison.

Mr. Francois was elected a member of the West Hoboken Town Council in 1892 and served two years, and since April, 1897, he has held the office of Justice of the Peace. From 1883 to 1889 he was a member of the Hudson County Democratic Committee, end in 1898 was re-elected to that position, which he still holds. He was Treasurer of the West Hoboken Board of Fire Trustees for about four years. and is the founder and standard bearer of the J. C. Francois Association, a non-partisan body in West Hoboken having about 100 members, Alfred S. Franklin being President. Mr Francois served for ten years in Company B, Fourth Regiment, N. G. N. J., becoming Second Sergeant. He is an exempt fireman, having been for twenty-two years a member of Neptune Engine Company of West Hoboken, He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum. On State and national issues Mr. Francois is a consistent Democrat, voting and acting with his party, but in town and county affairs he is fearlessly independent, working first and last for the best interests of the people, and casting his influence in favor of those matters which promise the most good.