Francis "Frank" Nash was born on January 29, 1855 at Floral College (Robeson County), North Carolina. An attorney by training, Nash served as mayor of Hillsborough (1907-1911), attorney for Orange County (1910-1914), state senator for the eighth district (elected 1915), and assistant attorney general for North Carolina (1918-1931). He died in Raleigh on July 10, 1932.