 Sister Emma Hermina Francesca Francis (African American deaconess) History records
Sister Emma's funeral in April 1945 as one of the largest ever remembered in the Virgin
Islands. Born in the British West Indies in 1875 and educated in Antiqua and Germany, she
served most of her life at the Ebenezer Orphanage on St. Croix as a teacher, parish and
youth worker. Sister Emma was consecrated as a deaconess in 1922 in New York. As a
canvasser for the West Indies Mission Board she helped found the Lutheran Church of the
Transfiguration on 126th Street. She served that congregation for five years before
returning to Frederiksted, St. Croix, where until her death she was particularly
remembered for her work among children.
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