Francis Ralph Delano was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 banker and a member of the prominent Delano family

Delano family

The progenitor of the Delano family in the Americas was Philippe de Lannoy whose family name was anglicized to Delano. The 19-year-old Pilgrim of Flemish descent arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on November 9, 1621 on the second Pilgrim ship, Fortune...

. Delano was the first warden of the Minnesota State Prison (1853-1858) and first General Superintendent of the St. Paul & Pacific Railway.

Early life and education

Born in Lockport, New York

Lockport (city), New York

Lockport is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a set of Erie canal locks within the city. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County and is surrounded by the town of Lockport...

, Francis Delano studied at Kimball Union Academy

Kimball Union Academy

Kimball Union Academy is a private boarding school located in New Hampshire. Founded in 1813, it is the 22nd oldest boarding school in the United States...

 (in Meriden, New Hampshire

Meriden, New Hampshire

Meriden is a village in the eastern part of the town of Plainfield in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. Meriden is home to Kimball Union Academy, a private boarding school....

), Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 and Hobart College

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...

 before graduating from Trinity College

Trinity College (Connecticut)

Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...

 in Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...

 in 1865.

Career

Choosing a career in law, Delano attended Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 and received a degree in 1868 after which he was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. In 1870, he moved to Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...

 where he entered the banking business. There, he met and married Elizabeth Grant, with whom he had a daughter.

Banking interests

Francis Delano acquired a one-third interest in the Cataract Bank in Niagara Falls and in 1883 was made President of the bank. His success in banking led to sizable investments in numerous other companies, becoming a director of the International Hotel Company and President of the Merchants' Gargling Oil Company of Lockport, New York. In Niagara Falls, he was Treasurer of the Pettebone Paper Company, the Niagara Falls Brewing Company, and the Niagara Falls Water-Works Company.

Francis R. Delano died at the age of forty-nine in 1892 in Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

.