Harry L. Fletcher, trustee of Blue River township, this county, one of the best-known farmers of that part of the county and who for thirteen years was engaged in the teaching profession, is a native of Kentucky, having been born in Harrison county, that state, February 1, 1866, son of Benjamin F. and Louisa (Farmer) Fletcher, both natives of the Blue Grass state, the former of whom, born in 1812, died in 1878 and the latter, born in 1819, died in 1894.

Benjamin Fletcher was born and reared on a Kentucky farm and when a young man came to Indiana, settling in Rush county, where he married a Miss Dickey, a native of this state, and established his home in Rush county. To that union six children were born, Robert, Marion, Anna, Vashti, Dora and Caroline. The mother of these children died and Mr. Fletcher returned to Kentucky, where, in 1856, he married Louisa Farmer and settled in Harrison county, that state. To that union five children were born, those besides the subject of this sketch being Oliver, Jefferson, John and Arthur, the latter two of whom are now deceased. When the Civil War broke out Benjamin Fletcher enlisted for service in the Confederate army and was with Gen. John Morgan and was captured in Kentucky. Mr. Fletcher was sent to the Union military prison at Rock Island and was confined there two years. At the close of the war he returned home and resumed his farming operations and was thus engaged the rest of his life.

Harry L. Fletcher was reared on the home farm in Harrison county, receiving his elementary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, which he supplemented by two years of attendance at a private school, after which he entered the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio. He then entered upon his career as a teacher and was thus engaged for thirteen years. After his graduation he went West and was for two years engaged as a teacher in Colorado. He then returned to Kentucky and was engaged as a teacher at Claysville in that state for nine years, at the end of which time he transferred his services to a real-estate firm in Texas, with which he was engaged for two years, later coming to Indiana and locating in Rush county, where he taught school for two years, or until in March, 1912, when he came to Hancock county and bought the eighty-acre farm on which he is now living in Blue River township and where he and his family are very pleasantly and comfortably situated. Mr. Fletcher is a Democrat and at the last election was elected to the office of township trustee, in which capacity he is now serving the interests of the people of Blue River township, enjoying the distinction of being the second Democratic trustee ever elected in that township.

In 1892 Harry L. Fletcher was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary E. Florea, who was born in Rush county, this state, daughter of John and Isabella Dearinger, and who was the mother of one child, a son, Olina, by her first marriage. To this union three children have been born, Inez, born in 1903; John, 1905, and Lucia, 1908, who are in attendance at the consolidated school at Westland. Mr. Fletcher is a member of the Missionary Baptist church and Mrs. Fletcher is a member of the Old School Baptist church, both taking am active part in the various social and cultural activities of their community. Mr. Fletcher is one of the charter members of the lodge of the Improved Order of Red Men at Homer, in Rush county, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Pages 1113-1114.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI November 20, 2001.

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