Elijah Fletcher
| Elijah Fletcher | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
July 28, 1789 Ludlow, Vermont |
| Died | February 13, 1858 (aged 68) Sweet Briar plantation, Amherst County, Virginia |
| Occupation | teacher, plantation owner, mayor and city councilman |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Antoinette Crawford |
| Children | Sidney Fletcher (1821–1898), Lucian Fletcher (1824–1898), Indiana, Elizabeth Fletcher Mosby (d. 1890) |
Elijah Fletcher (July 28, 1789 – February 13, 1858) was a 19th-century teacher and businessman, who also served as mayor of Lynchburg, Virginia for two terms in the early 1830s, as well as on the city council.
Elijah Fletcher was born in Ludlow, Windsor County, Vermont to farmer, revolutionary war veteran, town clerk and justice of the peace Jesse Fletcher (1762–1832) and his wife the former Lucy Keyes (1765–1846). The family included fifteen children (10 boys, 5 girls), not all of whom survived to adulthood. Steven (1784–1790), Charlotte (d. 1795), and Dexter (1801–1803) died as children. Sons Michael Fletcher (1785–1859), Calvin Fletcher (1798–1866) and Stoughton Alonzo Fletcher (1803–1882) all eventually moved to Indiana to seek their fortunes, which became intertwined with those of their middle brother Elijah. Daughter Lucy Fletcher William married a doctor and moved to Newark, New York, where her sisters Louisa Fletcher Miller (1804–1836) and Laura Fetcher Button (d. 1845) also moved. Timothy Fletcher (1791–1870) also worked with Elijah in Virginia before returning home to Vermont, as did his brother Stoughton for vacations (and Stoughton's son Allen Miller Fletcher later became Vermont's governor).
After their father suffered financial embarrassment, Elijah accepted a teaching position in Raleigh, North Carolina. The job would pay $600, but required him to begin in the fall. Middlebury College, where he had studied for three years, refused to confer a degree upon him before the winter, so Elijah transferred to the University of Vermont at Burlington, which was willing to confer the necessary degree by July.
By July 6, Elijah had started southward with a horse and borrowed $20, economizing by stopping at farmhouses for soured milk and eating only dinner (usually only bread and cheese, but five times a meal on the 15 day journey from Albany, New York). He arrived in Washington, D.C. with $8. There, he met another young schoolmaster, who knew people in North Carolina but had accepted a job at Alexandria, Virginia. The young men decided to trade positions, so Elijah's first teaching job was at Episcopal High School. The following May, having met U.S. Representative James Garland, Elijah Fletcher accepted a job as principal of New Glasgow Academy in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains.
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