Dr Thomas Francis

Contributed by Marie Dickson, of Llangyfelach and a cousin of Dr Francis

Dr Francis was a pioneer in the development of vaccines against virus diseases, credited with developing the first effective vaccine against influenza and directed the Salk polio vaccine field trials in 1954

His parents emigrated from Morriston in 1900 the year he was born in Indiana, USA. 

Dr Francis died in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1969, survived by his widow and two children

His father was Thomas Francis and mother Elizabeth Ann Cadogan 

On the 1871 census,Thomas, the father, was 9 years old and lived in Clydach Rd, Clase, Glamorgan, with his own parents, father Thomas age 32 a tin plate shearer, mother Jane age 33, brother William, and sister Mary Jane,

And the 1891 census has Thomas, the father now age 29, a tin plate worker, wife Elizabeth Ann 24, and son Roger, at Cae Mawr, Llangyfelach