In 1962 Joseph Johnson Franks wrote329 "Trophenia was my favorite niece. We lived near each other for about four years when she was from 4 to 8 years old and she always seemed to think a lot of me as I did of her. She was one of the prettiest girls I ever knew. I baptized her, Velma and their mother and took them into the church at old Science Hall in Hays County, Texas while I was pastor at Buda and had the Hall and Lytton Springs as the other two appointments. Don't know to this day why they sent me to the Buda circuit. As soon as I got into the conference, Buda and Kyle both commenced asking for me to be sent there. I feel proud to this day that my home-folks had that much confidence in me, but I did a pretty good work there and stayed with them three years. The best things that happened to me was that my Father was converted and I baptized him and received him and my Mother into the Methodist Church. Mother was a primitive Baptist but joined with Father. They died just thirty days apart, 58 years ago. My father was exactly six feet tall, weighed one hundred and seventy five pounds and was well proportioned in every way. He was the most even tempered person that I ever knew. Never heard him use a harsh word in my life. He spent the entire length of the Un-Civil War fighting for what he thought was right, not against the freedom of the slaves because neither he nor his father ever owned one. For two reasons. One was they did not believe it was right for one person to enslave another. The second reason, they thought that slaves were the highest priced labor to be had. My maternal grand father owned about sixty five at the time of his death and of that number there were ten that were too old and worn out to earn their keep and about fifteen that were too young to be of service and besides that the children and old ones required the attention of the able bodied ones, so you can see that Dad was not far off in thinking they were too costly. He still had another reason that he disliked slavery. Most of those that owned slaves were haughty and thought themselves of a higher class than the folks that did not own them and taught their children to be snobs."

Funeral notice:329

Joseph Johnson Franks, 91, of 1010 Washington, Duncan, Oklahoma, died Wednesday, February 27, 1963 at a local hospital following a two month illness. A retired grocer and minister, Franks moved to Duncan in 1950 from Amarillo, Texas. He was born October 30, 1871 in Hays County, Texas and retired from the Methodist ministry in 1915. Survivors include two sons, Fisher of Duncan, Oklahoma, Bill of Anaheim, California, Mrs D C Berry of Lovington, New Mexico, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Burial will be in Duncan Cemetery.