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Frances McKinley Givens (1949 - circa 1980) is an unseen[1] character in the FX series Justified. Frances is the late mother of Raylan Givens, sister of Helen Givens, and the first wife of Arlo Givens.

Born Frances McKinley, she was descended from the "Hill people" in deepest Appalachia, a family connection which Arlo forbade her to speak of. Her cousin Mary still lived in the Hills years later. When Arlo was in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, she would write to him with her maiden name and address: 27 Pine Street, Harlan, KY 40831.

When Arlo was married to Frances he would beat her.  One night Frances ran away to Nobles Holler. It was common for white women to go to Nobles Holler to get protection from Ellstin Limehouse and other black men, as their husbands were too afraid to follow. However, Arlo followed her one time and was beaten badly by Limehouse.

Arlo also defended her honor, however. When a young man named Jonathan McClaran insulted her by inferring what he would like to do to her, Arlo grabbed some dog shit from Jon's dog and stuffed it down McClaran's throat. This threatened to ignite a war with the Givenses backed by their friends the Crowders and the McClarans backed by their kin, the Sorensons. Frances, however, managed to broker a peace by calling a sit-down to cut through the bullshit.

Date of death[]

The exact date of her death is unknown and inconsistent. According to the plot, Frances died early on in Raylan's childhood, when he was around 10 (1980). After this, Raylan was raised by her sister, Helen, in order to give Raylan a mother figure in his life; Helen soon became married to Arlo. The date on her tombstone as seen during Helen's burial in Reckoning is apparently wrong because it puts her death when Raylan was 30.

Frances's body is also buried outside of the Givens home. She was interred in 2000, according to Raylan in Dark as a Dungeon, though this was not necessarily her date of death. Explaining that she was interred there in 2000 as opposed to dying in 2000 was possibly an idea from the writers as a plausible explanation for the wrong date on her grave in Reckoning.

Relationships[]

References[]

  1. In the episode Reckoning, Raylan looks at a photograph of a pair of young women; presumably Francis and Helen
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