He was born in
Pershyttan,
Västmanland,
Sweden to Frans Ersson and Maria Nilsdotter. His father died when he was young and his mother later remarried a member of the mission society, Per Olsson. Franson began preaching in Lutheran Ansgar and Mission Synod churches, as well as Baptist churches in the Midwest; however, the Lutheran
Augustana Synod disapproved of his preaching, deeming it novel, unconventional, and a threat. In Norway, Franson founded free mission organizations in twelve cities. During this extensive ministry in Europe, he heard noted
missionary statesman
Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) challenge people to go to China with the gospel. From that encounter, Franson received a vision to form missions agencies in various European countries, and before he left the continent, six such organizations had come into being: Danish Mission Confederation, Swiss Alliance Mission, German Alliance Mission, Finnish Alliance Mission, Swedish Evangelical Mission in Japan, and
Swedish Alliance Mission. All six agencies continue to send out missionaries to this day. Photographs of these early missionaries depict a dedicated group of people who chose to live and dress as the Chinese did. Other groups soon joined the first recruits, and Franson fervently challenged still more to go. In order to get to China, the early missionaries had to pass through Japan, and that soon became a new field for the mission. In a similar manner, by 1892, a small group also went to
Swaziland. In 1906
T. J. Bach and his wife left for
Venezuela. Bach would later become TEAM's third general director. In 1897, Franson founded . The same year, he wrote
Himlauret, in which he published his calculated date for the
Second Coming of Christ. In 1908, following one of his lengthy trips to the fields, Franson took several days off to rest at the home of some friends in
Idaho Springs,
Colorado. Franson died August 2, 1908, in Idaho Springs, Colorado. His age was 56. Services were held at the
Presbyterian Church in Colon,
Nebraska, and burial was in
Estina Cemetery, south of Leshara. His body was later moved to Chicago into the Franson-Risberg Memorial Mission Home.{{cite web|url= https://www.fransonrisberg.com/|title= Franson-Risberg Memorial Mission Home |website= Franson-Risberg Memorial Mission Home ==Legacy==