Francis M. Hugo was born on March 5, 1870 in Kingston, Ont. He was educated in the Kingston public school system.
He attended Queen's College (now Queen's University) at Kingston and held Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees. He also earned a law degree from Cornell University.
He moved to Watertown and opened the law offices of Brown, Carlisle & Hugo.
He replaced Mayor Daniel Cahill who resigned to in May of 1906. He was elected Mayor of the City of Watertown in November of 1907 and re-elected two more times, retiring in 1913.
He was an outstanding orator and was a delegate to the 1912 Republican National Convention.
In 1912, he ran for Secretary of State of New York but was defeated by Democrat Mitchell May. He served as Secretary of State of New York from 1915 to 1920, elected in 1914, 1916 and 1918. As Secretary of State, he signed the joint resolution of the Senate and Assembly submitting a women's suffrage ballot question. In 1920 he was a candidate for Governor.
In 1923, Mr. Hugo accepted a position as czar of the educational branch of the film industry. He was appointed by National Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures, Inc. to screen non-commercial films.
He married Florence Goodale and had one son, Francis G. Hugo. Two other children died in infancy.
He died at his home in Manhattan, December 30, 1930 at the age of 60. He is buried at Brookside Cemetery.
