From the 1891 Biographical History of Clark and Jackson Counties, Wisconsin pg. 137:

FRANKLIN DOWNER was born in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, September 26, 1825, and is a son of Solomon and Martha (Huntingdon) Downer, natives of the same county and state. The paternal grandparents were natives of Connecticut, and the paternal grandfather was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. The maternal grandparents were born in Nova Scotia. Solomon Downer and wife were born, reared and married in Vermont, and there they lived and died. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 he was a farmer by occupation, and accumulated considerable property. There were seven children born to this worthy couple: Wooster, Jason, Chester, Susan, Franklin, Albert and Alice. The three eldest are dead.

The subject of this notice passed his childhood and youth in his native county, and there received his education in the common schools he made the most of his opportunities for acquiring an education for a few years later we find him occupying the position of schoolmaster in the village of Chatham, Massachusetts. There he remained for four years, and in the season he was not engaged in teaching he followed cod-fishing.

It was in the year 1854 that he bade farewell to the scenes of his earlier days, and started out to seek his fortune in the great West. He came to Wisconsin, and after on year he entered 160 acres of land, section 15, Hixton Township, and immediately set about improving it, and reducing it to a state of culture he has not been idle all these years, and now has eighty acres which he plants every year. During the late civil war he embarked in the mercantile trade at Hixton, and carried on the business successfully for eleven years at the end of that time he disposed of his interests there, and has since devoted his energies to acriculture. The breeding and raising of livestock has received more or less attention from this progressive farmer, and this branch of the business has been handled with good results.
Being a man of wide information and liberal views, Mr. Downer is independent in his politics. He has held many of the local offices, and has given entire satisfaction in the discharge of the duties attached thereto.

May 9, 1864, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Hewitt, of Neillsville, Wisconsin. She was born in the State of New York. She passed from this life in the year 1886, aged forty-four years.

Mr. and Mrs. Downer are the parents of two children: Lillie M., born June 10, 1865, and Solomon J., born December 6, 1871.