Update: New information on video above. John Jesse Fletcher, shown at left, is the man in the grave featured in the video above. John was the brother of my grandfather. Two different people have advised me that John was shot in the leg in a dispute and died as a result. In one verbal account, John was apparently chopping some fire wood for a single, attractive woman and another man took offense to this and shot john in the leg with a shot-gun. I have since found two news articles on the shooting but have not posted them here yet. The news articles say whiskey was involved. In the photo at left, John is holding a pocket knife which is half open. I have no information on the picture or why he is posing as he is. I reckon it was a new knife and Jesse was a wantin' ta show it off! John also served in the military, I have a photo of him in his uniform and he was married at least twice. I believe my uncle John C. Fletcher may be named after him.
Finding that graveyard was a small miracle in itself. I was told that my line came from Kyles Ford TN by Francis Howard Hickey who is a distant cousin. Then I found a small mention of a Fletcher graveyard in Kyles Ford TN, I put the longitude and latitude of the graveyard in my GPS, drove there, I saw two guys standing on the side of the road and I asked about the Fletcher graveyard, they pointed across the road and up a steep hill...."thar hit is" they said. No trail, mostly unmarked graves, but I found it within minutes of getting to Kyles Ford! The names on the headstones match people on the census known to be my kin. This was the right place, these are my people. bill and mable jones fletcher manchester kentucky. |
Generation No. 4 Late 1800sCHILDREN OF WILSON FLETCHER and MARY "POLLY" JOHNSON? see the census documents here Children of WILSON FLETCHER and POLLY JOHNSON? are: 1. JOHN FLETCHER, b. Jun 1866, Clay County,Kentucky. 2. MARTHA FLETCHER, b. Jul 1870, Tennessee; d. Abt. 1914, Manchester,Kentucky (Clay County). 3. WILLIAM "W.M." FLETCHER, b. 02 Aug 1881; d. 10 Jul 1947, Manchester,Kentucky (Clay County). Notes: Polly may have been married before she married Wilson. I know more than one Fletcher migrated from Kyles Ford TN to Clay County KY. I am not sure what the connection was. I have two photos of Wilson Fletcher but have not posted them yet. I also have a photo of a letter written around this time between Manchester KY and Kyles Ford TN. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Generation No. 5 Early 1900sChildren of W.M. Fletcher b: 1881 d: 1947 Clay co KY and Myrtle White b: 1896 d; 1954 (Father John Crit White, mother unknown Delph 1. Pearl 2. Beve 3. Mary Anna (died at age 5) 4 Catherine (died about age 17) 5. Mable 6. Charles 7. Marie 8. Amanda 9. Matt 10. William jr 11. Josephine 12. John Crit Generation No. 6CHILDREN OF MATT FLETCHER AND WILMA SANDERS FLETCHER Linda Sandra Dee Mathew Mark Michael David Manchester Kentucky VideoIn the video, aunt Mandy is in her 70s and that is her actual hair color. She never died it a single time. Mandy and uncle John C. are both gone now.Both dead now, Amanda Fletcher Keith and John Crit Fletcher were my last two living aunt and uncle. They were 2 of 12 children born to W.M. and Myrtle Fletcher of Manchester Kentucky located in Clay county. Amanda had a good long life and was one of the best people I ever knew. Sadly, as the older kin folks die off I lose more and more of my connection to my Appalachian roots. I wish I had started my research decades earlier and gathered more information about our past. See all of my fletcher genealogy research documents |