Francis (Frank) B. Chidester was born in Tuscumbia, Colbert County, Alabama to John and Leah Chidester March 15, 1860. Francis’s father, John Thomas Chidester, was born in Coopertown, New York on December 1, 1818. At an early age he moved to Georgia and began a career carrying mail. After relocating to Washington D.C. where he carried mail by stage coach, John moved to Mississippi and married Francis’s mother, Leah Minerva Crocker, on August 24, 1854. Together the couple had seven children. Leah remained in Mississippi while John operated stage lines that carried mail and passengers through Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In 1857 John moved to Camden, Ouachita County, Arkansas to operate a stage line that would service the Southwest as well as subcontract part of the Butterfield Trail which consisted of a line from Memphis, Tennessee to Fort Smith, Arkansas . In 1858 John established the Chidester Reeside & Company and by 1859 John and his associates formed the Chidester Rapley & Company which operated stage lines in North Louisiana, South Arkansas and Texas. Between 1862 and 1864 John’s family left Alabama to join him in Camden. The outbreak of the Civil War interrupted the stage mail, but in 1866 John started to rebuild his stage lines.

Francis grew up in Camden and in 1874 he received a beneficiary appointment to attend the Arkansas Industrial University, now known as the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. According to Section 18 of the Act of the General Assembly establishing the Arkansas Industrial University, the Board of Trustees was allowed to give 219 honorary scholarships and those scholarships were appointed to individuals from various counties.

After attending the Arkansas Industrial University, Francis returned to Camden and married Mary Elizabeth Beasley on November 14, 1888. Together they had seven children. While in Camden, Francis worked as the Superintendent of the Chidester stage lines and owned and operated several businesses in Camden. Francis died at his home on October 9, 1953 at the age of 93.