Married Mary Reese on Jan. 28, 1865, then married Julia Walther on Oct. 15, 1902.
= = =
ADAM FLETCHER has since October, 1880, been the efficient superintendent of the White Breast Fuel Company, of Ladd, Illinois, having charge of one of the largest mining interests of Bureau county, where four hundred and twenty-five men are employed and often as high as sixteen hundred tons of coal are taken out in ten hours. He is thoroughly familiar with the mining business in all its various departments and is therefore eminently qualified to fill the important position he now occupies.
Mr. Fletcher was born in Cumberland county, England, November 8, 1841, a son of Adam and Ann (Clark) Fletcher, also natives of that country. His maternal grandparents were Samuel and Catherine (Story) Clark, while the paternal grandparents were Isaac and Jane Fletcher, in whose family were only two children, Adam, the father of our subject, and Mrs. Margaret Fox, who when last heard of was living at Ravenglass, Cumberland county, England.
Adam Fletcher, Sr., was an engineer throughout life, and brought his family to America in the spring of 1854, settling first at Youngstown, Ohio, where they remained for one year. They arrived at that place on Saturday in the latter part of July, and on the following Saturday the father died from sunstroke. He had eaten a hearty dinner and before supper had passed to the world beyond. He was thirty-nine years of age, a very large man, weighing perhaps two hundred and twenty-five pounds, and a devout Christian, a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He came to this section of Illinois, intending to buy land between Chicago and Burlington, but for some reason did not. His wife and children were baptized in the established church of England, but the former, who was a most excellent woman, became a member of the Latter Day Saints, and died in Utah, in 1888 [1882], at the age of sixty-five years. After the death of her first husband she wedded James Robinson, who was a union soldier in the civil war, belonging to a Virginia regiment.
After one year's residence in Youngstown, Ohio, the family removed to Mason county, Virginia, now West Virginia. There were the following named children; Catherine married George Lake in England, and came with the family to this country. Three months after their arrival, Mr. Lake died, and she married John Jones, who for thirty years was foreman of the mines of Youngstown, Ohio, but is now deceased. Isaac died at the age of thirty-six in 1871, at Brimfield, and his remains were interred at Kewanee, Illinois. He had married Ellen Robinson, who with her three sons and three daughters now resides on a farm near Pawnee City, Nebraska; Adam died in childhood; Samuel resides at Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he owns a pressed brick yard and is also interested in mines. He married Lizzie [sic] Johnston and has nine sons still living; Adam, of this review, is next in order of birth; Jane, who was born in 1843, removed to Salt Lake City in 1863. She married James Redd, and has nine children; Margaret married William Reddin, who was the first white child born in the Salt Lake valley after the Mormons located there. They now reside on the Weber river in Utah, and have seven children; Mary Ann, who resides at the same place, is the wife of James Johnston and the mother of six children. Lizzie, the only child born of the second marriage of the mother, was born in Virginia, in 1856. She married Daniel Goulding, a resident of Mendota, Missouri, where her death occurred in 1888. With the exception of Catherine, who with her six daughters is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, the others belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but were never in sympathy with Brigham Young and his church.
Mr. Fletcher, whose name introduces this sketch, is entirely self-educated, having never attended school and on entering the army could neither read nor write, but has now mastered both and is a well-informed man. In early life while a resident of Virginia, he worked in the mines, driving a mule, and assisted in the support of the family for three years before the outbreak of the civil war. After President Lincoln's election, he with forty others were unable to remain at their homes in the south, and had to flee to the mountains, where for three months he remained. Many were the nights, at about half past eleven that he would go to his mother's house from his hiding place, to see how she and his four little sisters were getting along during his absence. The war broke up their home and he has never seen them together since.
Deciding to join the union forces and aid in the preservation of the union, Mr. Fletcher enlisted at Mason City, Virginia, opposite Pomeroy, Ohio, June 5, 1861, in Company A, Fourth Virginia Infantry. During the first year of his service he was stationed in his own state, there taking part in many important battles and skirmishes, and was then with Sherman until the close of the war, taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Tuscumbia and Missionary Ridge, the siege of Knoxville, and the Atlanta campaign in the spring of 1864. The previous winter the troops suffered most terribly from cold and hunger. At one time they were given two days' rations and received no more for twenty-two days, only what they could forage in the winter, which was very little. They ground corn, cobs and all, for meal. From Vicksburg they had gone to Chattanooga, thence to Knox-ville, and then followed Longstreet from that place to the Smoky Mountains in Georgia. It was during this time that they suffered from hunger and cold as their clothes were in a dilapidated condition. Our subject had no shoes for two months, and was compelled to tie up his feet in rags. The troops were put on pontoon boats at Chattanooga and told to make their way to Bridgeport, Alabama, where they should wait for supplies. They started and after going a short distance would get off, build a fire and warm and then resume their journey, keeping this up until they reached Bridgeport. During the last two years of the war they had no cooking utensils except an oyster can, which they could easily carry along with them, and they received the name of Sherman's Bummers. From Atlanta the regiment was sent back to Virginia to be discharged in July, 1864, and on leaving they were highly commended by their colonel for their faithful and valiant service.
Although Mr. Fletcher acted in the sphere of sergeant and officer of the day, he received only private's wages, and this he always sent to his mother to aid in her support and in the support of the family. With the exception of one brother and our subject, all of his relatives were on the rebel side, either in arms or sympathy. On returning to his home he resumed mining, and for the past twenty-six years has been with his present company, twenty-two years of the time opening and operating mines in Iowa. He had served as superintendent before coming to Ladd.
On the 28th of January, 1865, Mr. Fletcher was united in marriage with Miss Mary Reese, daughter of Reese Reese, of Kewanee, Illinois, where their marriage was celebrated. Nine children graced their union — Lizzie is the wife of Joseph Bentham, of Kewanee, by whom she has four children, Mary, Katie, Eliza and Isabel; Katie died at the age of one year; Mary Jane is at home; Adam is boss driver of the mines; Hattie is at home; Henry graduated from an engineer's school in Pennsylvania, and is now engaged in repairing engines, pumps, etc.; Isaac, who displays much aptness for painting and drawing, is a painter by trade; and Samuel completes the family. They also adopted a son, Willie. Mr. Fletcher has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 8th of May, 1896. She was born February 4, 1847, and led a most exemplary Christian life, being a kind and affectionate mother, a devoted wife, and faithful friend and neighbor.
Socially, Mr. Fletcher affiliates with the Grand Army of the Republic, and formerly was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Temperance Union, being connected with some of the orders for many years. His political support is given the republican party. He is ever actively interested in all measures which are calculated to advance the moral or material welfare of the community, and was instrumental in securing the first Protestant church ever erected in Ladd.
SOURCE: The Biographical record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam counties, Illinois, [1896] pages 381-383
= = =
ADAM FLETCHER has since October, 1880, been the efficient superintendent of the White Breast Fuel Company, of Ladd, Illinois, having charge of one of the largest mining interests of Bureau county, where four hundred and twenty-five men are employed and often as high as sixteen hundred tons of coal are taken out in ten hours. He is thoroughly familiar with the mining business in all its various departments and is therefore eminently qualified to fill the important position he now occupies.
Mr. Fletcher was born in Cumberland county, England, November 8, 1841, a son of Adam and Ann (Clark) Fletcher, also natives of that country. His maternal grandparents were Samuel and Catherine (Story) Clark, while the paternal grandparents were Isaac and Jane Fletcher, in whose family were only two children, Adam, the father of our subject, and Mrs. Margaret Fox, who when last heard of was living at Ravenglass, Cumberland county, England.
Adam Fletcher, Sr., was an engineer throughout life, and brought his family to America in the spring of 1854, settling first at Youngstown, Ohio, where they remained for one year. They arrived at that place on Saturday in the latter part of July, and on the following Saturday the father died from sunstroke. He had eaten a hearty dinner and before supper had passed to the world beyond. He was thirty-nine years of age, a very large man, weighing perhaps two hundred and twenty-five pounds, and a devout Christian, a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He came to this section of Illinois, intending to buy land between Chicago and Burlington, but for some reason did not. His wife and children were baptized in the established church of England, but the former, who was a most excellent woman, became a member of the Latter Day Saints, and died in Utah, in 1888 [1882], at the age of sixty-five years. After the death of her first husband she wedded James Robinson, who was a union soldier in the civil war, belonging to a Virginia regiment.
After one year's residence in Youngstown, Ohio, the family removed to Mason county, Virginia, now West Virginia. There were the following named children; Catherine married George Lake in England, and came with the family to this country. Three months after their arrival, Mr. Lake died, and she married John Jones, who for thirty years was foreman of the mines of Youngstown, Ohio, but is now deceased. Isaac died at the age of thirty-six in 1871, at Brimfield, and his remains were interred at Kewanee, Illinois. He had married Ellen Robinson, who with her three sons and three daughters now resides on a farm near Pawnee City, Nebraska; Adam died in childhood; Samuel resides at Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he owns a pressed brick yard and is also interested in mines. He married Lizzie [sic] Johnston and has nine sons still living; Adam, of this review, is next in order of birth; Jane, who was born in 1843, removed to Salt Lake City in 1863. She married James Redd, and has nine children; Margaret married William Reddin, who was the first white child born in the Salt Lake valley after the Mormons located there. They now reside on the Weber river in Utah, and have seven children; Mary Ann, who resides at the same place, is the wife of James Johnston and the mother of six children. Lizzie, the only child born of the second marriage of the mother, was born in Virginia, in 1856. She married Daniel Goulding, a resident of Mendota, Missouri, where her death occurred in 1888. With the exception of Catherine, who with her six daughters is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, the others belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but were never in sympathy with Brigham Young and his church.
Mr. Fletcher, whose name introduces this sketch, is entirely self-educated, having never attended school and on entering the army could neither read nor write, but has now mastered both and is a well-informed man. In early life while a resident of Virginia, he worked in the mines, driving a mule, and assisted in the support of the family for three years before the outbreak of the civil war. After President Lincoln's election, he with forty others were unable to remain at their homes in the south, and had to flee to the mountains, where for three months he remained. Many were the nights, at about half past eleven that he would go to his mother's house from his hiding place, to see how she and his four little sisters were getting along during his absence. The war broke up their home and he has never seen them together since.
Deciding to join the union forces and aid in the preservation of the union, Mr. Fletcher enlisted at Mason City, Virginia, opposite Pomeroy, Ohio, June 5, 1861, in Company A, Fourth Virginia Infantry. During the first year of his service he was stationed in his own state, there taking part in many important battles and skirmishes, and was then with Sherman until the close of the war, taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Tuscumbia and Missionary Ridge, the siege of Knoxville, and the Atlanta campaign in the spring of 1864. The previous winter the troops suffered most terribly from cold and hunger. At one time they were given two days' rations and received no more for twenty-two days, only what they could forage in the winter, which was very little. They ground corn, cobs and all, for meal. From Vicksburg they had gone to Chattanooga, thence to Knox-ville, and then followed Longstreet from that place to the Smoky Mountains in Georgia. It was during this time that they suffered from hunger and cold as their clothes were in a dilapidated condition. Our subject had no shoes for two months, and was compelled to tie up his feet in rags. The troops were put on pontoon boats at Chattanooga and told to make their way to Bridgeport, Alabama, where they should wait for supplies. They started and after going a short distance would get off, build a fire and warm and then resume their journey, keeping this up until they reached Bridgeport. During the last two years of the war they had no cooking utensils except an oyster can, which they could easily carry along with them, and they received the name of Sherman's Bummers. From Atlanta the regiment was sent back to Virginia to be discharged in July, 1864, and on leaving they were highly commended by their colonel for their faithful and valiant service.
Although Mr. Fletcher acted in the sphere of sergeant and officer of the day, he received only private's wages, and this he always sent to his mother to aid in her support and in the support of the family. With the exception of one brother and our subject, all of his relatives were on the rebel side, either in arms or sympathy. On returning to his home he resumed mining, and for the past twenty-six years has been with his present company, twenty-two years of the time opening and operating mines in Iowa. He had served as superintendent before coming to Ladd.
On the 28th of January, 1865, Mr. Fletcher was united in marriage with Miss Mary Reese, daughter of Reese Reese, of Kewanee, Illinois, where their marriage was celebrated. Nine children graced their union — Lizzie is the wife of Joseph Bentham, of Kewanee, by whom she has four children, Mary, Katie, Eliza and Isabel; Katie died at the age of one year; Mary Jane is at home; Adam is boss driver of the mines; Hattie is at home; Henry graduated from an engineer's school in Pennsylvania, and is now engaged in repairing engines, pumps, etc.; Isaac, who displays much aptness for painting and drawing, is a painter by trade; and Samuel completes the family. They also adopted a son, Willie. Mr. Fletcher has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 8th of May, 1896. She was born February 4, 1847, and led a most exemplary Christian life, being a kind and affectionate mother, a devoted wife, and faithful friend and neighbor.
Socially, Mr. Fletcher affiliates with the Grand Army of the Republic, and formerly was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Temperance Union, being connected with some of the orders for many years. His political support is given the republican party. He is ever actively interested in all measures which are calculated to advance the moral or material welfare of the community, and was instrumental in securing the first Protestant church ever erected in Ladd.
SOURCE: The Biographical record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam counties, Illinois, [1896] pages 381-383
Married Mary Reese on Jan. 28, 1865, then married Julia Walther on Oct. 15, 1902.
= = =
ADAM FLETCHER has since October, 1880, been the efficient superintendent of the White Breast Fuel Company, of Ladd, Illinois, having charge of one of the largest mining interests of Bureau county, where four hundred and twenty-five men are employed and often as high as sixteen hundred tons of coal are taken out in ten hours. He is thoroughly familiar with the mining business in all its various departments and is therefore eminently qualified to fill the important position he now occupies.
Mr. Fletcher was born in Cumberland county, England, November 8, 1841, a son of Adam and Ann (Clark) Fletcher, also natives of that country. His maternal grandparents were Samuel and Catherine (Story) Clark, while the paternal grandparents were Isaac and Jane Fletcher, in whose family were only two children, Adam, the father of our subject, and Mrs. Margaret Fox, who when last heard of was living at Ravenglass, Cumberland county, England.
Adam Fletcher, Sr., was an engineer throughout life, and brought his family to America in the spring of 1854, settling first at Youngstown, Ohio, where they remained for one year. They arrived at that place on Saturday in the latter part of July, and on the following Saturday the father died from sunstroke. He had eaten a hearty dinner and before supper had passed to the world beyond. He was thirty-nine years of age, a very large man, weighing perhaps two hundred and twenty-five pounds, and a devout Christian, a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He came to this section of Illinois, intending to buy land between Chicago and Burlington, but for some reason did not. His wife and children were baptized in the established church of England, but the former, who was a most excellent woman, became a member of the Latter Day Saints, and died in Utah, in 1888 [1882], at the age of sixty-five years. After the death of her first husband she wedded James Robinson, who was a union soldier in the civil war, belonging to a Virginia regiment.
After one year's residence in Youngstown, Ohio, the family removed to Mason county, Virginia, now West Virginia. There were the following named children; Catherine married George Lake in England, and came with the family to this country. Three months after their arrival, Mr. Lake died, and she married John Jones, who for thirty years was foreman of the mines of Youngstown, Ohio, but is now deceased. Isaac died at the age of thirty-six in 1871, at Brimfield, and his remains were interred at Kewanee, Illinois. He had married Ellen Robinson, who with her three sons and three daughters now resides on a farm near Pawnee City, Nebraska; Adam died in childhood; Samuel resides at Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he owns a pressed brick yard and is also interested in mines. He married Lizzie [sic] Johnston and has nine sons still living; Adam, of this review, is next in order of birth; Jane, who was born in 1843, removed to Salt Lake City in 1863. She married James Redd, and has nine children; Margaret married William Reddin, who was the first white child born in the Salt Lake valley after the Mormons located there. They now reside on the Weber river in Utah, and have seven children; Mary Ann, who resides at the same place, is the wife of James Johnston and the mother of six children. Lizzie, the only child born of the second marriage of the mother, was born in Virginia, in 1856. She married Daniel Goulding, a resident of Mendota, Missouri, where her death occurred in 1888. With the exception of Catherine, who with her six daughters is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, the others belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but were never in sympathy with Brigham Young and his church.
Mr. Fletcher, whose name introduces this sketch, is entirely self-educated, having never attended school and on entering the army could neither read nor write, but has now mastered both and is a well-informed man. In early life while a resident of Virginia, he worked in the mines, driving a mule, and assisted in the support of the family for three years before the outbreak of the civil war. After President Lincoln's election, he with forty others were unable to remain at their homes in the south, and had to flee to the mountains, where for three months he remained. Many were the nights, at about half past eleven that he would go to his mother's house from his hiding place, to see how she and his four little sisters were getting along during his absence. The war broke up their home and he has never seen them together since.
Deciding to join the union forces and aid in the preservation of the union, Mr. Fletcher enlisted at Mason City, Virginia, opposite Pomeroy, Ohio, June 5, 1861, in Company A, Fourth Virginia Infantry. During the first year of his service he was stationed in his own state, there taking part in many important battles and skirmishes, and was then with Sherman until the close of the war, taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Tuscumbia and Missionary Ridge, the siege of Knoxville, and the Atlanta campaign in the spring of 1864. The previous winter the troops suffered most terribly from cold and hunger. At one time they were given two days' rations and received no more for twenty-two days, only what they could forage in the winter, which was very little. They ground corn, cobs and all, for meal. From Vicksburg they had gone to Chattanooga, thence to Knox-ville, and then followed Longstreet from that place to the Smoky Mountains in Georgia. It was during this time that they suffered from hunger and cold as their clothes were in a dilapidated condition. Our subject had no shoes for two months, and was compelled to tie up his feet in rags. The troops were put on pontoon boats at Chattanooga and told to make their way to Bridgeport, Alabama, where they should wait for supplies. They started and after going a short distance would get off, build a fire and warm and then resume their journey, keeping this up until they reached Bridgeport. During the last two years of the war they had no cooking utensils except an oyster can, which they could easily carry along with them, and they received the name of Sherman's Bummers. From Atlanta the regiment was sent back to Virginia to be discharged in July, 1864, and on leaving they were highly commended by their colonel for their faithful and valiant service.
Although Mr. Fletcher acted in the sphere of sergeant and officer of the day, he received only private's wages, and this he always sent to his mother to aid in her support and in the support of the family. With the exception of one brother and our subject, all of his relatives were on the rebel side, either in arms or sympathy. On returning to his home he resumed mining, and for the past twenty-six years has been with his present company, twenty-two years of the time opening and operating mines in Iowa. He had served as superintendent before coming to Ladd.
On the 28th of January, 1865, Mr. Fletcher was united in marriage with Miss Mary Reese, daughter of Reese Reese, of Kewanee, Illinois, where their marriage was celebrated. Nine children graced their union — Lizzie is the wife of Joseph Bentham, of Kewanee, by whom she has four children, Mary, Katie, Eliza and Isabel; Katie died at the age of one year; Mary Jane is at home; Adam is boss driver of the mines; Hattie is at home; Henry graduated from an engineer's school in Pennsylvania, and is now engaged in repairing engines, pumps, etc.; Isaac, who displays much aptness for painting and drawing, is a painter by trade; and Samuel completes the family. They also adopted a son, Willie. Mr. Fletcher has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 8th of May, 1896. She was born February 4, 1847, and led a most exemplary Christian life, being a kind and affectionate mother, a devoted wife, and faithful friend and neighbor.
Socially, Mr. Fletcher affiliates with the Grand Army of the Republic, and formerly was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Temperance Union, being connected with some of the orders for many years. His political support is given the republican party. He is ever actively interested in all measures which are calculated to advance the moral or material welfare of the community, and was instrumental in securing the first Protestant church ever erected in Ladd.
SOURCE: The Biographical record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam counties, Illinois, [1896] pages 381-383
= = =
ADAM FLETCHER has since October, 1880, been the efficient superintendent of the White Breast Fuel Company, of Ladd, Illinois, having charge of one of the largest mining interests of Bureau county, where four hundred and twenty-five men are employed and often as high as sixteen hundred tons of coal are taken out in ten hours. He is thoroughly familiar with the mining business in all its various departments and is therefore eminently qualified to fill the important position he now occupies.
Mr. Fletcher was born in Cumberland county, England, November 8, 1841, a son of Adam and Ann (Clark) Fletcher, also natives of that country. His maternal grandparents were Samuel and Catherine (Story) Clark, while the paternal grandparents were Isaac and Jane Fletcher, in whose family were only two children, Adam, the father of our subject, and Mrs. Margaret Fox, who when last heard of was living at Ravenglass, Cumberland county, England.
Adam Fletcher, Sr., was an engineer throughout life, and brought his family to America in the spring of 1854, settling first at Youngstown, Ohio, where they remained for one year. They arrived at that place on Saturday in the latter part of July, and on the following Saturday the father died from sunstroke. He had eaten a hearty dinner and before supper had passed to the world beyond. He was thirty-nine years of age, a very large man, weighing perhaps two hundred and twenty-five pounds, and a devout Christian, a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He came to this section of Illinois, intending to buy land between Chicago and Burlington, but for some reason did not. His wife and children were baptized in the established church of England, but the former, who was a most excellent woman, became a member of the Latter Day Saints, and died in Utah, in 1888 [1882], at the age of sixty-five years. After the death of her first husband she wedded James Robinson, who was a union soldier in the civil war, belonging to a Virginia regiment.
After one year's residence in Youngstown, Ohio, the family removed to Mason county, Virginia, now West Virginia. There were the following named children; Catherine married George Lake in England, and came with the family to this country. Three months after their arrival, Mr. Lake died, and she married John Jones, who for thirty years was foreman of the mines of Youngstown, Ohio, but is now deceased. Isaac died at the age of thirty-six in 1871, at Brimfield, and his remains were interred at Kewanee, Illinois. He had married Ellen Robinson, who with her three sons and three daughters now resides on a farm near Pawnee City, Nebraska; Adam died in childhood; Samuel resides at Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he owns a pressed brick yard and is also interested in mines. He married Lizzie [sic] Johnston and has nine sons still living; Adam, of this review, is next in order of birth; Jane, who was born in 1843, removed to Salt Lake City in 1863. She married James Redd, and has nine children; Margaret married William Reddin, who was the first white child born in the Salt Lake valley after the Mormons located there. They now reside on the Weber river in Utah, and have seven children; Mary Ann, who resides at the same place, is the wife of James Johnston and the mother of six children. Lizzie, the only child born of the second marriage of the mother, was born in Virginia, in 1856. She married Daniel Goulding, a resident of Mendota, Missouri, where her death occurred in 1888. With the exception of Catherine, who with her six daughters is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, the others belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but were never in sympathy with Brigham Young and his church.
Mr. Fletcher, whose name introduces this sketch, is entirely self-educated, having never attended school and on entering the army could neither read nor write, but has now mastered both and is a well-informed man. In early life while a resident of Virginia, he worked in the mines, driving a mule, and assisted in the support of the family for three years before the outbreak of the civil war. After President Lincoln's election, he with forty others were unable to remain at their homes in the south, and had to flee to the mountains, where for three months he remained. Many were the nights, at about half past eleven that he would go to his mother's house from his hiding place, to see how she and his four little sisters were getting along during his absence. The war broke up their home and he has never seen them together since.
Deciding to join the union forces and aid in the preservation of the union, Mr. Fletcher enlisted at Mason City, Virginia, opposite Pomeroy, Ohio, June 5, 1861, in Company A, Fourth Virginia Infantry. During the first year of his service he was stationed in his own state, there taking part in many important battles and skirmishes, and was then with Sherman until the close of the war, taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Tuscumbia and Missionary Ridge, the siege of Knoxville, and the Atlanta campaign in the spring of 1864. The previous winter the troops suffered most terribly from cold and hunger. At one time they were given two days' rations and received no more for twenty-two days, only what they could forage in the winter, which was very little. They ground corn, cobs and all, for meal. From Vicksburg they had gone to Chattanooga, thence to Knox-ville, and then followed Longstreet from that place to the Smoky Mountains in Georgia. It was during this time that they suffered from hunger and cold as their clothes were in a dilapidated condition. Our subject had no shoes for two months, and was compelled to tie up his feet in rags. The troops were put on pontoon boats at Chattanooga and told to make their way to Bridgeport, Alabama, where they should wait for supplies. They started and after going a short distance would get off, build a fire and warm and then resume their journey, keeping this up until they reached Bridgeport. During the last two years of the war they had no cooking utensils except an oyster can, which they could easily carry along with them, and they received the name of Sherman's Bummers. From Atlanta the regiment was sent back to Virginia to be discharged in July, 1864, and on leaving they were highly commended by their colonel for their faithful and valiant service.
Although Mr. Fletcher acted in the sphere of sergeant and officer of the day, he received only private's wages, and this he always sent to his mother to aid in her support and in the support of the family. With the exception of one brother and our subject, all of his relatives were on the rebel side, either in arms or sympathy. On returning to his home he resumed mining, and for the past twenty-six years has been with his present company, twenty-two years of the time opening and operating mines in Iowa. He had served as superintendent before coming to Ladd.
On the 28th of January, 1865, Mr. Fletcher was united in marriage with Miss Mary Reese, daughter of Reese Reese, of Kewanee, Illinois, where their marriage was celebrated. Nine children graced their union — Lizzie is the wife of Joseph Bentham, of Kewanee, by whom she has four children, Mary, Katie, Eliza and Isabel; Katie died at the age of one year; Mary Jane is at home; Adam is boss driver of the mines; Hattie is at home; Henry graduated from an engineer's school in Pennsylvania, and is now engaged in repairing engines, pumps, etc.; Isaac, who displays much aptness for painting and drawing, is a painter by trade; and Samuel completes the family. They also adopted a son, Willie. Mr. Fletcher has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 8th of May, 1896. She was born February 4, 1847, and led a most exemplary Christian life, being a kind and affectionate mother, a devoted wife, and faithful friend and neighbor.
Socially, Mr. Fletcher affiliates with the Grand Army of the Republic, and formerly was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Temperance Union, being connected with some of the orders for many years. His political support is given the republican party. He is ever actively interested in all measures which are calculated to advance the moral or material welfare of the community, and was instrumental in securing the first Protestant church ever erected in Ladd.
SOURCE: The Biographical record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam counties, Illinois, [1896] pages 381-383
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