The Francis family
Mary Cartwright Francis was a woman ahead of her time. She arrived in this country from England in 1865, and vividly remembered seeing all of New York City draped in mourning for President Lincoln. Her family settled in the coal mining area of Pennsylvania, where she married Welsh emigrant Thomas Francis.
The couple relocated to Nanimo, British Columbia, and arrived in Newcastle in 1880 along with the Lewis and Lindsay families. While Thomas worked in the mines, Mary took in boarders. Within eight years, they had enough money to build the Bellevue Hotel in Issaquah, a large facility for its time.
The Bellevue opened in 1888 on the southeast corner of what is now Front and Sunset. It was Mary, more than Thomas, who served as the genial innkeeper welcoming guests and attending to their needs. She was a real businesswoman, who always wore a long, white apron.
Thomas died in 1899, and Mary then married local businessman Isaac Cooper. She and Thomas had six children, but only John and Arabella stayed in the area. John’s son, Tom Francis, died several years ago. Arabella’s daughter, Minnie Wilson Schomber, is the only descendent of the family still living in Issaquah.
