During the industrial revolution hundreds of thousands of Southern Appalachian people left the mountains of Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia,Tennessee looking for factory jobs and a better life in the north. This was the second largest migration of
people within the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Appalachian people migrated to the north bringing their culture with them.
This was a largely unknown but significant event in American history and my family was part of this migration when they left the mountains of Kentucky for "Dee-troit" Michigan. This is a small part of their love and hate, north and south story.
Photo: Corn on the left, beans on the right, Manchester Kentucky.
This is a story about love and hate. They loved Appalachia and hated to leave. They hated Dee-troit but loved the better lifestyle it offered. My parents also left eastern Kentucky and moved to Detroit in search of a better life.
The information on this page is the product of a lot of time and effort so first, a special thanks to Fletcher researchers and others!
Thanks to
Marilyn Brown,
John E. Fletcher PhD, Richard Fletcher, Tommy Jones, Nadine Christall, Frances Howard Hickey, Robert House and all the people
I am sure I forgot.
Also, a thanks to Ohio Social Studies teacher Sandra Ford for her research help and Michigan Math and Science teacher Karen Johnson.
Meeting Karen Johnson while teaching inspired me to dig a bit deeper into my family's past resulting in much of the information on this page.
Please forgive any typographical errors on this page. I generally work on this stuff in the middle of the night when I am half asleep so I won't be
the least bit offended if you email me any corrections. Getting it done is more important than getting it perfect.
This project was completed as part of a unit plan I did alone while in graduate school to complete my Masters Degree in teaching.
Some say, "It takes one to know one." When I was student teaching in the Detroit area I met Karen Johnson and instantly felt
like I knew her from somewhwere,
something was familiar about her, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then one day she said the magic words to me..."poke salet"
Poke salet, AKA polk salad, and several other spellings is an Appalachian dish known only to people of a "hillbilly" background.
Karen knew what polk salet was and how to cook it because her father, Douglas Eugene Johnson of Bakersville North Carolina was from Appalachia as mine was.
Everyone knows about
biscuits and gravy, corn bread, a few know about soup beans but outside of my family, Karen was the only person I ever met that knew
about the Hillbilly dish called poke salet which I remember eating as a kid growing up in Detroit. While researching this project discovered that my mother
used to actually buy canned poke salet in Detroit grocery stores up until
about the early 1970s. "Poke" was not as uncommon as I thought and I found the photo at left of canned poke salet on the web.
Karen and I had very similar backgrounds and I went back into the little family information I had and looked to see if
we were related in some way. Fletcher and Johnson are pretty common names and several Fletchers have married several Johnsons but I never found a
link between the line of Douglas Eugene Johnson of Bakersville North Carolina and my Wilson Fletcher line from Manchester kentucky
and Kyles Ford Tennessee.
In my research, one thing led to another, I had a DNA test done and I eventually traced my family back to early 1700s America through my DNA match to Dick
and Rex Fletcher.
************************************************ PICTURE Matt Fletcher and Alonzo *******************
My father on the left, Matt Fletcher in Manchester Kentucky about 1937. Notice the safety pin holding up his bibbed overalls.
Dad came from Manchester Kentucky and had 11 brothers and sisters for a total of 12.
In my research
I learned that the Appalachian migration to Detroit and other industrial cities was the second
largest migration of Americans in U.S. history.
These people left Appalachia and traveled
a great distance to find work and a better life through working on the Detroit assembly line and the experiences
we share are very similar. For instance, foods like chicken & duplings shuck beans, soup beans & cornbread, poke salet, biscuits and gravy,
oranges for Christmas as well as other traditions. Most of the Appalachian transplants first settled in Detroit and then migrated to the suburbs.
At least 100,000 people left Appalachia for Detroit. some estimates are as high as 500,000.
Many Scotch Irish
Appalachian families had
very similiar migration patters coming into Detroit from places like Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
They arrived on the east coast of America, ofen in Virginia. Then came into Appalachia through the Cumberland Gap
and established farms in bottom lands (hollers) of the mountains. Then, during the industrial revolution, they swung north seeking factory jobs
and they brought their culture with them. During my genealogy search I discovered that traditions and migration patterns I thought were fairly
unique to my family turned out to be pretty common.
*********************************** PICTURE MANDY HENSON SET AT 280 X 280 *****************************
Harvey "Bo" Henson and Sally "Granny" Henson are my great grand parents from my mom's side in Knox County Kentucky. They may have called her Granny
because she did look a lot like Granny of the Beverly Hillbillies and she lived with us some of the time after
Bo died. Granny Henson didn't have any teeth, refused to wear her false teeth, spoke in a very thick Appalachain accent and used copenhagen
chewing tobacco. Granny generally used a soup can
as her spit cup and this embarrased the heck out of me when my citified friends came over to visit. My friends would often say, "WHO IS THAT!" And would
just die inside. Now I laugh about it and wish Granny was still around so I could take her to the finest restaurant in "Dee-troit" and let her set
her spit cup right on the white linen table cloth for everyone to see.
*********************************** PICTURE MYRTLE FLETCHER SET AT 280 X 280 *****************************
At left, mid 1970s photo of Great Aunt Mandy Henson, daughter of Granny Henson, sister to my grandmother on mom's side of the family.
This was in Bull Run Holler (valley) located in Knox County Kentucky.
Like a lot of folks in the area Mandy had
no indoor plumbing so it was a real adventure when we would visit her. I'm not sure if Aunt Mandy ever came to Detroit to work on the assembly line or not
but I know all of her siblings did. Many of my relatives came to Detroit just long enough to make enough money to buy a farm and them moved back to
Kentucky. Living in Detroit we of course had indoor plumbing but it was the visits to Appalachia that made us "youngins" realize why our father had
left there and how lucky we were. This hard life made for hard people. Appalachian people are often tough people and take pride in being able to shoot
and fight. There is also a concept known as "Appalachian brain drain" which basically means that many of the smartest and most ambitious people
left appalachia for the city, better living condition, better medical care and a better education for their kids. My dad used to talk about this but
I am sure he never heard the term "Appalachian brain drain" in his life. He didn't know that sociologists had studied it, but he lived it.
*********************************** PICTURE MYRTLE FLETCHER SET AT 280 X 280 *****************************
Many Appalachian people claim to be part American Indian and my family is no different. This is my grandmother Myrtle Fletcher.
Her features certainly appear to
make her look like she was half Indian as I have been told...but who knows for sure. DNA testing could determine this but I never bothered to have
that particular
test done. We could be Greek for all I know. Her hair was very dark brown or black as was my fathers and most of his siblings. Myrtle White Fletcher was the daughter
of John Critendon "Crit" White and Annie Delph. John Crit White had at least 4 wives. Delph, also spelled Delf is a
German name. Myrtle White Fletcher married William "W.M." Fletcher at age 13 or 14. William was about 26 when he married Myrtle. I think the reason
so many young Appalachian women marry older men is....resources. I think large poor families were glad to marry off their young daughters so they'd
have one less mouth to feed. They married older men because it took a while for a man to get the money together to buy his own homestead. All of the boys
the same age as the young girls were still living at home theselves. Some left for "Dee-troit" as soon as they were old enough to seek work on
the assembly line.
*********************************** PICTURE beve fletcher manchester ky SET AT 280 X 280 *****************************
Photo at left was taken at the home of Bill and Mable Jones-Fletcher. These are seven of the twelve children of W.M. and Myrtle Fletcher of
Manchester Kentucky.
As noted above, all had very dark brown or black hair.
My aunt Amanda Fletcher Keith in the front left, red white and blue shirt, lived to be 90 years old and never dyed her hair. At age 90 Mandy had
less gray hair than most people in their 50s. All of my aunts seemed to be proud of their thick raven hair and American Indian roots.
nunu fletcher deleware moses fletcher loudoun fauquirer county va
********** PICTURE MOM AND DAD 280 X 280 *******
Mom and dad were both from Kentucky but met in Detroit. My dad came to Detroit directly from Germany after getting out of the Army beause
hi brother wrote to him and told him they were hiring in Dee-troit. Mom had come up as a child from Kentucky about ten years earlier with her mother and father.
Mom was engaged at 16 and married at 17. Dad was ten years older.
Hundreds of thousands of Southern Appalachian MigrantS (SAMS) moved North to places like Detroit in the
1940s to the 1980s. My own first cousin Tommy Jones used to come up form Kentucky in the summers to work for my dad and go back each fall.
It has been estimated that as many as one million Appalachians moved to the Detroit area. The phrase "hilibilly highway" was coined referring to the
out-migration of residents of the
Appalachian mountains to places like Detroit.
These Appalachian factory workers became "stranded" here in Michigan when they married and had
children. Many came intending to go back south but never do because their children and grandchildren were born in Michigan and they do not want to leave
family members.
Another dilemma is where to bury the Appalachian transplants once they pass on.
Should they be buried in Michigan where the kids and grand-kids can come to visit the grave? Or, bury them back in
Appalachia where they often have a family plot? These are issues that I imagine are unique to Appalachian families who migrated to the north.
My father made the choice to be buried in Kentucky in the family plot near his parents, grandparents and siblings. We still travel the 500 miles to
put flowers on his grave but cannot make the trip every year as we did in the past.
************** PICTURE DAD IN UNIFORM PICTURES SET AT 280 X 280 **************
************** PICTURE DAD IN UNIFORM PICTURES SET AT 280 X 280 **************
Growing up, my dad was pretty popular with my friends because he was a real character, always had a good story to tell in his strong Appalachian (and often imitated)
accent. His accent was so thick that I often had to translate what he said for my friends. I didn't realize until later in life that I was bilingual !
For instance: "Yens go yander n cut me a sweetch." Translation: We are about to get an ass whoppin! Or, "I'll whoop you more ways than a country
boy can go to town." Translation: We are about to get an ass whoppin! And my favorite, "I'll turn you every way but loose" Translation:
We are about to get an ass whoopin!
Dad would also take me and my friends fishing and let us shoot BB guns in our backyard... and none of us kids ever shot
our eye out either! We spent MANY hours shooting and still to this day I can pick up any unfamilar gun and out-shoot most.
At one point we even kept live chickens in our east side Detroit garage and always had a vegetable garden. Dad also hired many of my buddies and Appalachian
cousins to work for him in his
contracting business. Myself as well as several of my buddies worked our way through college painting houses for my dad each summer. We had a diverse work crew
with a mixture of
"Dee-troit" college boys and hillbilly farm boys. I was a little of each.
Dad was smart but he only had a 6th grade education from a one room school-house in rural Kentucky and that held him back. People who migrated from Appalachia
were not
generally very well educated and my family was no exception. Most had not graduated high school and no one in my immediate family had ever gone to college.
Being the neighborhood hillbillies wasn't
always easy on my family and many times I saw our Appalachian background as something to hide, overcome and not to embrace. We all spoke with a bit of
an Appalachian twang, ate strange foods, had guns hanging on the walls in our house and chickens in our yard, as a contractor dad wore bibbed overalls much of the
time so we didn't exactly fit in. Bringing girls home to meet the family was interesting to say the least so I didn't do much of that. But as I have aged I have gained a deeper understaning
of my background and a genuine appreciation for my culture (poke salet and soup beans is a culture?....who knew?).
*********************************** PICTURE xxx PICTURES SET AT 280 X 280 *****************************
sandra dee fletcher, linda fletcher, mathew mark fletcher, michael david fletcher
One of the concepts in migration of people is shuttle migration. This is basically where they go back and forth between two places multiple times. We did a lot of
"shuttle migration" and I reckon I am a bit of an expert.
The photo at left was taken in Knox County Kentucky about 1967, that's my cousin, Johnny Wayne Sanders, great grand mother Granny Henson (mom's side), and myself in Knox
County Kentucky. Regular trips my family took back to Kentucky kept us in touch with our Appalachian culture. When "down home" we would hunt, fish,
eat shuck beans, soup beans, squirrels, cornbread, and use an outhouse. Some of my relatives had running water inside the house and others simply had a pump
out in the yard and an out-house. As a child, when someone asked my nationality, I would actually say, "I'm a hillbilly" and that is the god's honest truth.
Today, I would have a more complex answer, and would likely bore the asker to tears. But yes, I am a hillbilly at heart.
Matt fletcher clay county kentucky
sandra dee fletcher, linda fletcher, mathew mark fletcher, michael david fletcher
A year or two later back in Dee-troit at our home located at 1182 Gray on the east side of the city. We later moved to 4151 Buckingham, then out of the city
limits which was typical of most people like us.
In the photo, that is my mom holding me, my sisters standing and the other boy is my cousin Tommy Jones. Tommy and I have been closer than most
of our other cousins since Tommy came to Detroit to live with us, work on the assembly line as well as work for my dad. I think Tommy was born in Detroit,
lived in Troy Michigan which was the country back then. As soon as his dad earned enough to buy a farm, they moved back to Kentucky and we would
often visit them as well as other family members.
Matt fletcher clay county kentucky
******************* PICTURE xxx PICTURES SET AT 280 X 280 ******************
sandra dee fletcher, linda fletcher, mathew mark fletcher, michael david fletcher
At left, back in Kentucky about 1973 visiting relatives during Memorial Day or "Decoration Day" as they call it down home in Appalachia. From left,
Beve Fletcher in glasses, Tommy jones, me, Doug Fletcher, Wayne Jones and my dad in the mustache. We generally went to Kentucky in the spring for
Decoration Day and sometimes back again in the fall to squirrel hunt. You haven't lived until you wake up on a fall morning to a freezing house, put
coal on the fire to warm the house up, had fried squirrel, biscuits & squirrel gravey,
and cow's milk for breakfast!
To my left is Cousin Tommy Jones. Tommy traveled back and forth between Detroit and Kentucky quite a lot. He came to
Detroit for work and went back to Kentucky because he missed it. He did that several times. Tommy was the definition of "shuttle migration" back then.
kyles ford clinch river fletcher
******************* PICTURE xxx PICTURES SET AT 280 X 280 ******************
sandra dee fletcher, linda fletcher, mathew mark fletcher, michael david fletcher
Wayne Jones, Michael Fletcher, myself, and Tommy Jones. Fixing up the Kentucky farm house that Tommy Jones and his family bought when they left Troy
Michigan. They went from living in a
nice suburban Detroit home with hot and cold running water and indoor plumbing, to a broken-down old farm with only cold running water in the kitchen
sink and
NO INDOOR BATHROOM for a few years. They fixed it up over several years and added a bathroom, but no septic tank. The waste ran out of a PVC pipe
down the side of the hill and into a large pasture far from the house. This is pretty common in the mountains and was never a sanitary issue since
they had a large farm.
When we visited, we camped in their yard, slept in a tent and used the out-house which was still in use.
As a teen, Tommy
came back to Detroit
to work for my dad several summers as well as on the assembly line at Chrysler. When we visited them Kentucky, I sat on the back of a tobacco setter,
pulled by a
tractor, and helped set out tobacco
plants on my cousin's farm. A few times my dad and I drove to Kentucky to get cousin Tommy in the spring. While there, we sometimes helped set out a
little tobacco
and other crops, then went back to Detroit to work for my dad all summer and then brought Tommy back to Kentucky for the fall harvest and to strip
tobacco.
Again, Chad Berry PhD refers to shuttle migration in his book, Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles.
sandra dee fletcher, linda fletcher, mathew mark fletcher, michael david fletcher
About 1980, Myself and Tommy at 4151 Buckingham in Detroit. We lived directly behind John E.Clark Elementary School and as a child, we would often
climb the
12 foot fence to play in the school yard. This was actually a very nice area back then. My parents talked about moving to the country since
theiy were familiar with the rural lifestyle. But it never happened and we remained in the city.
In the photo, that's Tommy Jones and myself and I am wearing my painter's clothes because we
had been doing some house painting that day. My dad almost always wore white bibbed painter's overalls. In fact, that is how people recognized him
..."that hillbilly guy in the overalls."
Tommy generally lived
with us in the summers and went back to Kentucky in the late fall while I went back to the community college to try and figure out what I wanted to be
when I grew up. When we couldn't drive him, Tommy would sometimes take the Grayhound bus back and
forth to Kentucky. We would pick him up at the Detroit bus station. Tommy didn't own a suitcase and he would have his clothes in a cardboard box.
If that ain't real live hillbillies I don't know what is. I eventually graduated from college and was hired into General Motors where I worked in the
marketing department for seven years but
quit that job to beocome a teacher.
Tommy grew up in Troy Michigan and Kentucky and could never
decide where he wanted to live....there or here. Eventually he met a girl in Kentucky and there they stayed!
sandra dee fletcher, linda fletcher, mathew mark fletcher, michael david fletcher
About 25 years later and a few pounds heavier, me and Tommy back in Kentucky on Memorial Day AKA "Decoration Day" in Appalachia.
Note the mountains in the background. Two cousins separated by
about 500 miles but held together by our culture. Shuttle migration was a real concept in my family and we spent a lot of time
going up and down I-75 which has also been called "the hillbilly highway" over the years. Tommy and I did most of the genealogy research
on our family and he is still my closest cousin today.
After going back and forth between Detroit and Kentucky several times, working on the assembly line at Chrysler, Tommy finally decided to stay in Kentucky.
I still go visit him and the rest of my relatives when I can.
35 years later...I still visit Tommy Way Up In The Hollers of Kentucky
******************* PICTURE PICTURES SET AT 280 X 280 ******************
Decoration Day at the Fletcher Graveyard on Pennington Rd., Manchester Kentucky. This photo was taken around 2006 and we had a pretty good turn out of
relatives
that year. But each year more people pass away, or are old and sick and fewer and fewer people show up. It is sad to see this happen, but life goes on.
Conclusions: A heck of a lot of people came from Appalachia to Detroit looking for work and a better life and they brought their culture with them and
I share this
culture with people in Detroit and Appalachia. When I was younger I never thought of the Appalachian "Hillbilly Culture" as a culture at all but more
of an obstacle to overcome. All of my immediate and extended family were from Appalachia and being immersed in Appalachian culture in Detroit
shapes who you become later in life. I believe that the way I speak, my mannerisms, the love I have for the outdoors, 4x4 trucks, and planting a
vegtable garden all go back to my up-bringing rooted in Appalachian farming culture.
Like it or not, "It takes one to know one" and your background shapes who you become.
Fletcher family cemetery/graveyard on Pennington Road in Manchester Kentucky. When I look at the pictures of our family plot I think of the song at the
top of this page, "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" and wonder if that is such a bad thing. The dark headstone on the far right is my dad's.
I am former Social Studies teacher and think primary sources (original documents) as verification to historical events are very important.
See my collection of genealogy related historical documents
HERE:
Teachers who are doing a lesson on genealogy are welcome to use
this lesson plan which I have used in my own classroom.
I no longer do genealogy research because I felt like I took it as far as I could.
I set up this web page to share my information and so that others would find it and bring me additional information so feel free to contact me.
I do update this page when I receive new information and to practice my programming skills.
313-510-0284,
DetroitHomeInspector@yahoo.com
The best book I have ever read on Appalachian migration is called Souther Migrants, Northern Exiles by Chad Berry. Book description here:
"One of the largest internal migrations in U.S. history, the great white migration left its mark on virtually every family in every southern
upland and flatland town. In this extraordinary record of ordinary lives, dozens of white southern migrants describe their experiences in the
northern "wilderness" and their irradicable attachments to family and community in the South. Southern out-migration drew millions of southern
workers to the steel mills, automobile factories, and even agricultural fields and orchards of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois.
Through vivid oral histories, Chad Berry explores the conflict between migrants' economic success and their "spiritual exile" in the North.
He documents the tension between factory owners who welcomed cheap, naive southern laborers and local "native" workers who greeted migrants
with suspicion and hostility. He examines the phenomenon of "shuttle migration", in which migrants came north to work during the winter and
returned home to plant spring crops on their southern farms. He also explores the impact of southern traditions - especially the southern
evangelical church and "hillbilly" music - brought north by migrants. Berry argues that in spite of being scorned by midwesterners for violence,
fecundity, intoxication, laziness, and squalor, the vast majority of southern whites who moved to the Midwest found the economic prosperity they
were seeking. By allowing southern migrants to assess their own experiences and tell their own stories, "Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles"
refutes persistent stereotypes about migrants' clannishness, life-style, work ethic, and success in the North."
******************* PICTURE PICTURES SET AT 280 X 280 ******************
Photo at left is Richard Jackson Fletcher and I meeting for the first time.
Dick and I, along with several other men, are long lost cousins, we found each other through the
genealogy DNA test that we both took. Richard Fletcher and I as well as Rex Fletcher are
a perfect 67 out of 67 marker DNA match and we both go back to the Moses Fletcher/Sarah Martin line of
Fauquier County VA in the early 1700s.
The Y chromosome is carried from father to son virtually unchanged generation after generation.
Anyway, the name Fletcher means "arrow maker" and the feather on the shaft of
of an arrow is called the fletching. Fletchers come from England, Scottland and Ireland and I have close DNA matches in all three places.
web data: douglas eugene johnson brighton michigan, karen lynn wilson brighton michigan, douglas eugene johnson bakersville north carolina, colleen johnson brighton michigan, darlene johnson Columbiaville Michigan, Columbiaville Michigan Darlene Johnson, allen d johnson Yale Michigan, brockway michigan, doug johnson Yale Michigan, judy sharp, renee sharp, frank sharp,buckingham rd. detroit michigan,
******* moses fletcher fauquier county VA Wilson Fletcher SET AT 280 X 280 *********
henry fletcher, wilson fletcher kyles ford tennessee
One of the primary reasons I put this web page up was so other researchers would find it and contact me with more info to fill in the blanks of my
family line.
Well, it worked. This is Wilson Fletcher at left.
When I began researching I didn't even know the name of my own great grandfather. I found out from relatives
that his name was Wilson Fletcher. I eventually used census records to trace Wison Fletcher to a place called Kyles Ford Tennessee where there was a
large concentration of my Fletcher ancestors. One Decoration Day (Memorial Day) my aunt Pearl Fletcher told me that Wilson was buried in an unmarked
grave under a large tree at the top of our family cemetery in Manchester Kentucky. This was news to me as I did not know that Wilson had migrated to
Manchester Kentucky. I thought his son William was the one that left Kyles Ford for Manchester. Since I was not interested in genealogy at the time
I forgot about it. Years later, that large tree died and was cut down, and as the stump began to rot a rock headstone began to emerge.
I also found the death certificate of Wilson Fletcher showing that he had in fact died in Manchester Kentucky.
Pearl Fletcher was right, there was a grave under the tree and my later genealogy research did in fact show that Wilson Fletcher had died in Manchester Kentucky. Years later, a distant
relative named Janet Fletcher-Mattingly found my genealogy web page and gave me additional information on Wilson Fletcher including this photo. So now I knew his name, where he was buried and now I even have a picture of Wilson Fletcher.
******* moses fletcher fauquier county VA Wilson Fletcher SET AT 280 X 280 *********
A few weeks after Janet Fletcher-Mattingly sent me the above photo of Wilson Fletcher, she sent me the group photo at left which Janet's granny had left her
when she died and Janet realized that the man in the group photo was also my great grandfather, Wilson Fletcher. Yep, I agree, that is Wilson Fletcher, or perhaps
a twin brother. I say MAYBE a twin brother only half joking because I noticed they part their hair on different sides. A man generally doesn't change
which side he parts his hair on. That is also a differnt suit or at least a different vest. My relatives were dirt poor and I can't imagine
any suits, let alone two. Anyway, who are the other guys?
After looking at another photo I had of my grandfather at age 60-something, I decided that the boy on the left is likely my grandfather, W.m. Fletcher as a young boy. So, this appears to be a group family photo of just the men. I am guessing the other boy is likely John Fletcher, I think, brother to W.M. and the older man may be Henry Fletcher....my great great grandfather who came to Kyles Ford TN with his father John or Thomas A. Fletcher. WOW! What a fantastic find. this photo was a "tin type" metal photograph typical around the time of the Civil War. I can't thank Janet enough for sending it to me.
These guys are a rough lookin' bunch. Not a smile on a single one of them. Kyles Ford TN was still the frontier at that time and a hard life made for
hard people
and it is actually common to see old photos where no one smiles and they are all skinny as a bean pole. Today, people from the area still have a reputation
for being tough and mean. I have heard many a story about how "mean" some hillbilly was. There is a book on this subject called "Born Fighting, How the Scots-Irish
Shaped America" and one of the chapters is called, "Fight. Sing. Drink. Pray." My dad used to say, "I'm from the meanest county in the meanest town, in
the meanest holler in Kentucky. And the farther you went up in our holler, the meaner the hillbillies got....and we lived in the LAST HOUSE!" Hillbillies
take pride in "being mean" which I think translates to being tough and independent....they just call it "mean" in their manner of speaking.
kyles ford tenn. kyles ford tn. rogersville TN mark fletcher detroit michigan. mark fletcher 4151 buckingham, mark fletcher 5734 hereford. mark fletcher home inspector.
My Fletcher Lineage From 1700 Virginia To Hancock & Hawkins Co.Tennessee
To Clay Co. Kentucky To Detroit
Kyles Ford Tennessee
is located in Northern Tennessee on the boarder of Hancock, Hawkins, and Scott and Lee Counties Virginia on the north. Kyles Ford is in Hancock County now but used to be part of
Hawkins County and that is where I found my supporting primary source documents. If your family is from this area, or you have something to add to this page
I would love to hear from you. DetroitHomeInpsector@yahoo.com or 313-510-0284.
crit white clay county
None of what I have on this site is carved in stone and I am open to different interpretations of the genealogy data and clues I have gathered.
A good researcher is always willing to admit they are not 100% correct. However, if you disagree with me on some point, I hope you have some
evidence to share. I know of one genealogy researcher who does not agree that Thomas A. Fletcher, Rev. War vet is not of my line, claiming
instead that Thomas A. Was of HIS line. I pointed to my mountain of evidence showing Thomas A. Fletcher lived in Kyles Ford where I can trace
my family to, the wills, a Fletcher grave yard, the land grants, the census data, and asked my fellow researcher what evicence he had....he didn't have any.
With that said, I think my Fletcher line goes like this:
Generation No. 1 The Early 1700s
Via DNA testing and historical documents provided by my cousin Dick Fletcher, I know my line descends from the Moses Fletcher line of early 1700 Virginia. The Fletchers then migrated inland
likey through the Cumberland Gap along the North Carolina Virginia boarder.
into Tennessee, probably because the government was giving land to settlers. Thomas A. Fletcher, born about 1749, Died February 18, 1843. His wife is unknown but they were
probably married in VA. Children of Thomas A. mentioned IN
his will
John P., William, Thomas B., James, Elizabeth, Jane, Frances, Margaret, Mary.
More about Thomas A. Fletcher
Note: I have documented as much as possible. Please click on the links to see the documents.
Other Fletcher lines have attempted to find a link to Thomas A. Fletcher but were unable to. I have the only known links to Thomas A.
I believe that Aaron Fletcher of the Kyles Ford TN area MAY have also been a son of Thomas A. but died before the writing of the will and therefore,
is not mentioned in the will. I believe this because Aaron was found living close to the other sons of Thomas in the census data. However, there
was at least one other
line of Fletchers that passed through this area. There was a large group of my Fletcher line in Kyles Ford for at least 4 generations and some descendents are still
there. The will of Thomas A. connects him to John.
Thomas A. Fletcher was a Revolutionary war veteran. He had brothers named William and Benjamin according to his deposition given for the purpose
of obtaining a Revolutionary War Pension.
With the help of Betty Fletcher Starnes, we also discovered
this monument
in Scott County Virginia Which mentions Thomas Fletcher and Daniel Boone in the next column.
According to many documents, Thomas A. Fletcher was living in Scott county
Virginia and Hancock county Tennessee while drawing his pension. This is the area where my known great great grandfather,
Henry Fletcher was from. This area is known as Kyles Ford Tennessee and is on the virginia boarder.
Thomas A. Fletcher, AKA Thomas Fletcher was granted a Revolutionary War pension. See the document
here.
It is this will of Thomas Fletcher that links him to John Fletcher of the Kyles Ford
region. Thomas A. mentions John P. as his son.
There were two Thomas Fletchers, from Virginia, who fought in the Revolutionary war. Researcher Nadine Christall and I have compared notes and we are convinced
that one Thomas belongs to Nadine's line and the other to my line. The Thomas Fletcher from nadine's line was married to Kaziah Ferris as documented in court records. That
Thomas Fletcher was not know to have been in the Kyles Ford or south-western Virginia area.
Senator John McCain Connection? An interesting question, is Senator John McCain kin to the Fletcher's of Kyles Ford?
Newspapers
reported in October of 2008 that Senator John McCain is descended from Azariah D. Fletcher via his grandmother Myrtle.
A check of the
1840 census
reveals ONLY ONE Azariah D. Fletcher in the entire United States and he lives in Kyles Ford Tennessee! Notice in the census that Azariah is 13th from the top. Azariah D. Fletcher lives very close to Anthony Smith (3rd name from top) who is the son-in-law to Thomas A. Fletcher. In his will dated November 30, 1841 Thomas A. Fletcher is living with his daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law, Anthony Smith. At the very least Azariah had to know Thomas and his daughter. Azariah was a less common name even back then. I think it is very possible that Azariah D. Fletcher is descended from Thomas A. Fletcher through one of his 4 known sons: William, James, John or Thomas B.Fletcher. (Aaron
Fletcher MAY have also been a son to Thomas A. but died before the writing of Thomas A's will and therefore not mentioned.) Thomas A. lived to be 94 and it is very
possible that he out-lived some of his children.
bill nunu fletcher
The
1900 Johnson Co. Texas census
shows the widow of 1850 Azariah D. Fletcher and his two daughters, Alice and Myrtle. The birth place of their father is reported as TENNESSEE.
While I have been told that from DNA testing, more than one Fletcher line passed through Hancock, Hawkins, Scott and Lee counties, my line of the Fletchers was in the Kyles Ford area from Thomas A. to John, to Henry, to Wilson to William. That is five generations and my line was one of the bigger lines and remained there the longest before many moved west and north into Clay Co. Kentucky adjacent to Laurel co. Since Azariah D. Fletcher was in Kyles Ford living down the road from Thomas A. and his daughter, I believe that Azariah D. was related to Thomas A.Fletcher. To my knowledge, my line of the Fletchers were the ONLY Fletchers in Kyles Ford and they owned a great deal of land there. Some of my Fletcher
line left Kyles Ford and went to Clay Co. Kentucky which is ajacent to Laurel co., And that is where Azariah married Martha Kidwell in her home. Furthermore, to my knowledge no other lines of Fletchers have claimed Azariah D. as their own. So, Azariah seems to fit our tree.
I think the McCain to Fletcher line MAY go like this:
Thomas A. Fletcher born about 1749. Lived in Kyles Ford TN area and Scott co. VA
William Fletcher born about 1777. Or, one of the other4 known sons to Thomas A.(James, John, Thomas B.).
Azariah D. Fletcher born about 1818. Like my other relatives, left Kyles Ford TN about the same time and some went to Clay co. KY. Appears in Indiana in the 1880 census.
Azariah D. Fletcher born about 1850. Reportedly married Martha Melinda Kidwell brn. 1853 of Laurel Co. KY ajacent to Clay co.
Myrtle Fletcher born about 1885 (grandmother of John McCain).
If you have any information please contact me at DetroitHomeInspector@yahoo.com
Generation No. 2 Late 1700s
i. JOHN P.2 FLETCHER, b. Abt. 1795; d. 03 Oct 1844, Hawkins County,Tennessee. Left this will which is witnessed by my great great grandfather Henry Fletcher.
ii. ELIZABETH FLETCHER, m. ANTHONY SMITH.
iii. JANE FLETCHER, b. Abt. 1780; m. DELANY AMISTED HERRON; b. Abt. 1781; d. Aft. 1860.
iv. FRANCES FLETCHER, m. ? ETTER.
v. JAMES FLETCHER.
vi. MARGARET PEGGY FLETCHER.
vii. MARY POLLY FLETCHER.
viii. WILLIAM FLETCHER, b. 1777.
ix. THOMAS B. FLETCHER, b. 1786.
Generation No. 3 Early 1800s
2. JOHN P.2 FLETCHER (THOMAS A.1) was born Abt. 1795, and died 03 Oct 1844 in Hawkins
County,Tennessee. He married He married CATHERINE CURRY Abt. 1815. She
was born Abt. 1798 in Virginia.
More About JOHN FLETCHER and CATHERINE CURRY:
Marriage: Abt. 1815
Children of JOHN FLETCHER and CATHERINE CURRY are:
i. HENRY FLETCHER, b. Abt. 1812, Tazewell,Virginia.
ii. MARY POLLY FLETCHER, b. 1814; m. JAMES DAVID SMITH; b. 1811.
iii. WILLIAM FLETCHER, b. Abt. 1815.
iv. SUSAN FLETCHER, b. 25 Jun 1816; d. Bef. 1900; m. WILLIAM MABE; b. 27 Jul 1813; d. 04 Apr 1896.
v. JOHN W. FLETCHER, b. 1819, North Carolina.
vi. ROBERT FLETCHER, b. 1820.
vii. ORPHA FLETCHER, b. 1822; m. WILLIAM A. HICKS.
ix. CLARA FLETCHER, b. 1825; m. STERLING MITCHELL; b. 1822.
x. FRANCIS FRANKY FLETCHER, b. 1829.
xi. JAMES FLETCHER, b. 1831.
xii. MAHALA FLETCHER, b. 1833, Hancock County,Tennessee; d. 10 Mar 1906, Knoxville,Tennessee (Knox
Notes about John and Catharine. One transcription of John Fletcher's will, his wife is called Christine. That is incorrect. We went to Kyles Ford and copied
the hand written will on file in the courthouse. The will clearly says Catharine and not Christene.
It is this will of John that links him to Henry Fletcher of the Kyles Ford region.
Henry is a witness on the will of John and I believe that Henry is the son of John. Russell Belcher is also
a witness on the will. A descendent of Russell (wife to Dayton Moles) currently owns the land where I found the Fletcher Graveyard.
John and Henry owned
this land
and other plots of land in the Kyles Ford area. The Clinch River is mentioned as a landmark in the land deed. John and Henry Fletcher were given land grants from
the state of Tennessee. I also found land documents showing that Anthony Smith owned land in the Kyles Ford area. In his will, Thomas A. Fletcher requested he be buried
on the farm of Anthony Smith who was married to the daughter of Thomas A.Fletcher.
I found a land deal involving John and Henry AFTER the death of John which bothered me
but then I realized that Henry also had a Brother named John. The John Fletcher mentioned in the land deeds with Henry MAY be
his brother John.
Also, there may or MAY NOT have been two John Fletchers in the area both born around 1795. Two different
John Fletchers show up in the census living a short distance apart. However, the men were the same age, had the same number of kids in at least one census. I think they were both the same family and owned two different farms and
were counted twice in the census.
Generation No. 4 Mid 1800s
Children of HENRY FLETCHER and CELIA BUNCH:
i. CATHERINE FLETCHER, b. 1838.
ii. WM WILLIAM FLETCHER, b. 1839.
iii. WILSON FLETCHER, b. 1841.
iv. MARY ANN (Polly Ann) FLETCHER, b. 1844.
v. BENJAMIN FLETCHER, b. 1847. Note that Thomas A. Fletcher had two brothers; one named Ben and one named William. Henry had two sons named Ben and William.
Married Harriet Pridemore who is buried in Kyles Ford
vi. JOHN FLETCHER, b. 1850. Is this John Jesse Fletcher buried in Kyles Ford? Dates are off.
vii. AMANDA FLETCHER, b. 1854.
Notes about Henry: In a genealogy document given to me by researcher Ann Filcowitz it names Thomas as the father of Henry. I think that is incorrect. I did not find
any documents linking the two. I found the graves of JJohn Jesse Fletcher and Harriet Fletcher in Kyles Ford up on a hill behind the home of Dayton Moles
on Fox Branch Road. A few documents refer to this area as Fox Branch. Harriet Pridemore Fletcher was married to Ben Fletcher. See the grave video below.
Wilson Fletcher, wife and son W.M. left the Kyles Ford area for Manchester Kentucky located in Clay county. His death record shows that he died in Clay county. Robert House advised me
that his ancestor Pete House was the undertaker for Wilson. In Manchester Kentucky, my Fletcher line is connected to the House line several different ways. My aunts and
uncles remember a descendent of Pete House....also named Pete House.
Azariah D. Fletcher born 1850, and reported to be the great grandfather to senator John McCain married
Martha Kidwell in adjacent Laurel Co. Kentucky. I believe that the 1812 Azariah D. Fletcher may have left Kyles Ford Tennessee and went to Clay Co. Kentucky with Wilson and possibly others. Of course, I would love to claim kinship to senator John McCain but, I am looking for more definitive evidence linking 1812 Azariah to 1850 Azariah and links from 1812 Azariah to Thomas A. Fletcher. I have written to the Hawkins County Historical Society and asked if they could check local records which are not avaialble online.
Kyles Ford Video
*********************************** John Jesse Fletcher SET AT 280 X 280 *****************************
Update: New information on video above. John Jesse Fletcher, shown at left, is the man in the grave featured in the video above. John is one of my great, great uncles. Two different people have advised me that John was shot in the leg in a dispute over a woman and died as a result. In one 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. 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! LOL
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 know to be my kin. This was the right place, these are my people.
bill and mable jones fletcher manchester kentucky.
Generation No. 5 Late 1800s
CHILDREN OF wILSON FLETCHER and MARY "POLLY" JOHNSON? see the census documents here
Children of WILSON FLETCHER and POLLY JOHNSON? are:
i. JOHN FLETCHER, b. Jun 1866, Clay County,Kentucky.
ii. MARTHA FLETCHER, b. Jul 1870, Tennessee; d. Abt. 1914, Manchester,Kentucky (Clay County).
iii. 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.
Generation No. 6 Early 1900s
Children 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
i. Pearl
ii. Beve
iii. Mary Anna (died at age 5)
iv Catherine (died about age 17)
v. Mable
vi. Charles
vii. Marie
viii. Amanda
ix. Matt
x. William jr
xi. Josephine
xii. John Crit
Generation No. 7
CHILDREN OF MATT FLETCHER AND WILMA SANDERS FLETCHER
Linda
Sandra Dee
Mathew Mark
Michael David
The Timeline Works
If Thomas A. was born about ..........................................1749 according to census and war records.
John Fletcher would have been born about ...............................1780 according to census records.
Henry was born about .....................................................1811 according to census records.
Wilson born about ..........................................................1846 accroding to census records.
W.M.Fletcher born ..........................................................1881 according to his headstone.
Matt Fletcher (my father) was born in............................. 1927 according to his birth certificate.
The timeline works, I have the right names, right time, right place and a good but not conclusive paper-trail. I think one of the most convincing pieces of evidence
that Thomas A. is in my direct line is the fact that no other lines have claimed him. I even found one genealogy website which said, "to which line
does Thomas A. Fletcher belong?" I know that several researchers have unsucessfully searched for connections to him. That fact that no other researchers
found a link to Thomas A., is yet another indicator that he is of my line.
Manchester Kentucky Video
Amanda Fletcher Keith and John Crit Fletcher are my last two living uncle and aunt. They were 2 of 12 children born to W.M. and Myrtle Fletcher of
Manchester Kentucky located in Clay county. Amanda has since passed away. She 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.
fletcher manchester kentucky
Our Music From Kyles Ford
See all of my fletcher genealogy research documents
