His birth certificate lists their address at 7th & Chestnut St, his father's occupation as ice & coal delivery, doctor: Langworthy. His name is listed as Francis Ewin on birth cert, and Francis Ervin on death cert, with other records showing it as Francis Erwin. It is then listed as Francis Irvin on his daughter’s birth certificate. Based on his uncle’s name, I am inclined to think it is supposed to be Ervin.
Francis was born in Leavenworth, Kansas but they moved to a farm at Oak Mills when his parents divorced and he was 4 years old. When he was young he at times enjoyed walking around the burrowing owls that lived in the prairie dog holes, to see if he could watch them reverse their heads when they tried to follow him with their eyes as he walked around and around them. He didn't see them turn back, they just kept turning around and around.
When the family moved west (across Kansas) they put all their belongings (a two hitch team and all the household goods) in a railroad freight car. They were moving to a homestead claim near Sharon Springs. His father had done all his own blacksmithing on the farm - plowshares, wheels, and such, and the town needed a blacksmith, so he became one. They'd moved in the middle of winter to a place in Sharon Springs with cracks under the doors and around windows where the snow would blow in. While living there over the winter, Francis was asked to care for a preacher's horse (feed, water, etc). One Sunday he and the rest of the Grant boys rode to the "tail of the rockies" (rugged hills about 100' or so tall). The boys rode their horses and Francis rode the preacher's horse, which he had saddled. They all had a good time.
His family moved for a short period (~Feb-Aug, 1906) to the claim his father had filed, and lived in a sod house. His dad rode 4 miles to work in Sharon Springs, bareback on one of their 2 horses. He left for his blacksmith job before light and got home after dark. That summer Francis and Merle pulled the snow sled around on the buffalo grass, which was slick as snow even in the summer. Also, he and his brother used a butter churn; an affair with a long barrel on a holder with a glass door and a crank, with ribs inside. They failed to close the door securely and it all ended up on the floor next turn around.
Each year when school was out, his dad would shave their heads, then let their hair grow back over the summer before school started. In August, 1906 the family moved to Wallace and in September he went back to school. One summer when he was about 12, his father "rented" him and his brother Merle out to a neighboring farmer for the summer.
His Grandmother and Aunt used to send a wooden box to the family at Christmas. "We'd get up in the morning and mom would fix breakfast and then we'd open the box. It'd arrive about two weeks before and contained a present for each of us (parents, Francis, Merle, Wilma, etc), plus something for us all, such as popcorn to pop and black walnuts. If it hadn’t been for that box we wouldn't have had such a good Christmas."
In order to make more money to support the family and provide better schools, they moved to Brookville in 1913 and bought a farm machinery and hardware business. In early 1917 his father moved the business to Grainfield, KS and the family moved there when school was out. In September, Francis returned to Brookville to finish his high school education and to be where Luise was - that was his main thought. While in high school he worked at the school, helping with the janitor work and lighting the furnace every morning. His last year in high school he worked at the Brookville Hotel in the kitchen and dining room. Learned to waltz by practicing in the dressing rooms behind the stage in the high school with his friend Howard Glendenning. His favorite waltz when he used to dance with Luise was the Missouri Waltz. He was one of 5 students in his graduation class from Brookville High in 1918.
Following his high school education he worked in Salina at the Lee Hardware Co. In Sept 1918, when he registered for the WWI Draft, he listed his permanent address with his father in Grainfield, but it is noted that he was enrolled at the Salina Area Technical College - Wesleyan University in Salina. He is listed in the YMCA on Ninth St in the 1920 census for Salina as F. R. Rutton. He and Luise were married later that year and their 2 children were born in Salina. He was listed as a miller on daughter Jean’s birth certificate. He then worked at Lee Hardware until he moved his family to Bakersfield, CA. (~1926). He worked for a creamery as a milkman. He is listed in the 1930 census for Kern Co (near Bakersfield) as a salesman for an Implement House. Then some friends moved to San Jose & he decided to look for a job there. (~1931) He took a trip to San Jose and found a job with the Farmer's Union Hardware & got a flat on N. 9th St, then went back to Bakersfield to move his family. He worked in the heavy hardware dept until 1938, then went to work for Barron-Gray Canning Co.
In the 1940 census he is listed at 535 So. 4th St in San Jose, working as a laborer (41, KS) in a cannery, with a high school education. With him is his wife Luise (39, KS) and son William (16, KS).
He received a Certificate from the Citzens Defense Corps in Sept 1942, for protection of Industrial Plants.
By 1950 they had moved to the home at 1468 Lupton Ave, and are listed as Francis E. (51, KS), Anna L. (49, KS) and son William C. Ruttan (26, KS) who had returned home after serving in the Marines during WWII. By then their daughter was remarried and living in Cambrian Park with her family. The census shows that he earned $4,200 the prior year.
Dole bought the cannery and he continued working there as foreman of the box yard until he retired in 1963. In the late 60's he sold his home in Willow Glen and got a mobile home on Hamilton Ave, near Hwy 17 in Campbell. He lived there the rest of his life. For several years he took train vacations around the country. Loved gardening, poker, and Louis Lamour westerns. Said he thought Ruttan was French, Conrow was Dutch, and Cooper was Scotch Irish.
Death: died of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in Bethesda Convalescent Home in Los Gatos.
Burial: Was cremated and the ashes placed under the Headstone of his wife's grave in Oak Hill Cemetery.