Frank Femmons 1837-1922

Frank Femmons in foreground. Photo taken at Home Orchard about 1912.
Photo source: Monthly Bulletin. State Commission of Horticulture, Vol. 2, p.688
Sacramento, 1913.

Frank Femmons was born in Ohio in September 1837. His father was from Ohio, and his mother from Virginia. The Minnesota State Census taken on 1 June 1865 shows that he was living in Minneapolis, Hennepin County. During the Civl War, he joined the 18th Ohio Infantry Regiment , Company C, of the Union Army. On 18 December 1863, he transfered, as a private, to the 2nd Minnesota Regiment of Cavalry, Company D. He was mustered out on 2 December 1865 at the age of 26 with the rank of Sergeant Major.

Frank's military pension card

The Great Register of Mariposa for 1884 shows Frank Femmons at the age of 47 living in Chowchilla. He is registered as a farmer.

In 1908, J. W. Jeffrey, the Commissioner of Horticulure for California, described Frank Femmons as "one of the old pioneers, and one of the best-hearted men in the State of California."1 Frank won awards at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 for an apple developed at his Home Orchard Ranch. He wrote several articlesThe Apple in California (1905); Some Higher Ideals of Horticulture (1909).

Source: Proceedings. International Conference on Plant Breeding and Hybridization (held in New York, 1902) Horticultural Society of New York. Memoirs, 1 (1904)

In 1912, a post office was established three miles north of Ahwahnee and named Femmon Post Office in Frank's honor. Later it was moved to Nipinnawasee and renamed. It closed in 1961.2

Frank died on 1 November 1922 at the age of 86. He is buried in the Oakhill Cemetery, Oakhurst.

1 Third Biennial Report of the Commissioner of Horticulture of the State of California for 1907-1908. Sacramento, 1909
2 Durham, David L. California's Geographic Names, 1998.