MarlowHistoricalSociety.org

[fletcher]

Hi all
I am looking for information on Ichabod Fletcher - specifically who were his parents. Apparently he was born in NH in 1795 although another reference says Chelmsford MA. I can trace our Fletcher line back to him but no further. He had one family prior to marring Rhoda Tubbs of the Marlow Tubbs clan when she and he were older ( approx 60 years old) . They appear on the 1860 census and resided in Marlow at that time and also on the 1870 census. Ichabod died in 1877.
If anybody can help me in Marlow - like with a marriage record listing parents names and birthplace - I would sure appreciate it.
Marlow looks like a beautiful place and I am planning to visit friends in Andover MA and will try to do some research in Marlow later this year. Can anyone give suggestions - either online sources ( besides ancestry.com ) or local source records where I might find more info during the 1750 to 1850 time period? Thanks, Brian Fletcher

[tpeters]

you might try the New England Historic Genealogical Society - nehgs - some info on line requires membership - they have library in Boston you can visit. There are a couple of "hits" in the Mass Vital Records to 1850 for marriage of a Franklin Fletcher son of Ichabod and Rebecca age 22, and Sarah in 1845 but this date doesn't fit what you are looking for. Good luck to you.

[fletcher]

Thanks for the advice. I will join the New England Historic Genealogical Society and see what it has to offer. I inherited much of my information from relatives who visited the Boston area to do family research in 1984. I am looking to verify the accuracy of the information plus go back as far as possible beyond Ichabod on the Fletcher line.
Apparently Ichabod Fletcher (b 1795 in Stoddard NH (possibly Chelmsford MA)) was first married to
Rebecca Barden ( b 7/28/1793 Stoddard NH) on 10/29/1818.
They had a son Rodney Charles Fletcher ( b. 1813 oops! In Stoddard NH)
The short story of it is Rodney had a son Charles H. who had a son Paul H. who had a son Donald P. who was my father.
Ichabods first wife Rebecca died in 1857 in Stoddard NH. Ichabod married again in 1858 to Rhody Huntly ( spelling?) Rhoda Huntley (maiden name Tubbs, b. 26 Mar 1800, Marlow NH) The Huntley name comes from her first marriage in 1827 to Gardner Huntley (b. 1804 in Marlow NH).
This info. all seems to fit – that’s why I’m zeroing in on the Marlow – Stoddard area to find more info.
It is possible there might be more than one Ichabod Fletcher in the area at the time but I doubt it. Also it’s possible that Rhody Huntly listed as from Stoddard b. 1802 in some of the info. I inherited and Rhoda Huntley (Tubbs) of Marlow are two different people but this also seems unlikely. I think women even back then liked to play games with their ages!
Anyway it will take some more work to verify all this and I thank you for your help .
Also I look forward to visiting out there someday soon. Brian

[tpeters]

Best of luck to you Brian. I was at Keene NH public library doing some searching and will be going back in the near future. I'll take along what you have shared and if I come across anything for the Fletchers I'll copy it and share with you

[Loisanne Foster]

Hello, Brian,

Good news and bad news: I found evidence in History of Marlow by Elgin Jones that Ichabod Fletcher was indeed here in the 19th C., but no details and, although there are a number of Fletchers, none seem to match your immediate family. Page 123 lists the shoemakers who lived and worked in Marlow. Elgin Jones writes, "in the later years," [meaning the second half of the 19th C,] ...Ichabod Fletcher, Parker Fletcher..."

Jones had set out to list all the properties in seven districts and their owners over the years. I had hopes of finding your Ichabod there, but, unfortunately, Jones did not complete work on two of those districts, and I suspect your Ichabod fell through the cracks there.

I'll enumerate the other Fletchers mentioned in the Marlow history in case some are obliquley related:

"The first company to go from Marlow to the Revolutionary War in 1776" included Samuel Fletcher and seven others "destined for Fort Ticonderoga service May 7 to June 10-15, 1777." Also in 1777, Marlow also sent Jonathan Fletcher with 20 others, "probably to Fort #4, Charlestown [N.H.]" Both were in "Stark's army in the 1777 August 16th battle" and "discharged Sept. 22. Also, we find that John and Samuel Fletcher, with other Marlow men, fought in Massachusetts regiments. So did a Frederick Tubbs. (pp 77-78)

Fletcher Property:

District #6, Lot 149 ( house #605) John Fletcher (from David Knight) 1866 (but Edward Barnes took it in 1870.) p. 154

District #7, Lot 9 (#701)
Polley Foster Fletcher Rogers 1887 [This is way over next to the Acworth line on Honey Brook N. of Stone Pond.]
*Note: Myra Fletcher Rogers inherits old mill in Acworth, Alden Gee, 1824.
p. 159 As they say, "Go figure!"

Maps:

An 1858 (p. 211) map shows no Fletchers near the Acworth - Honey Brook area, but J. F. Foster, Rogers, and Gee,

An 1877 map (p. 212) shows J. F. Foster and J. W. Fletcher as neighbors in that location. This map also shows a J. or I. [can't make it out] Fletcher on the extreme SE side of town on a road perpendicular to Grassy Brook on the Gilsum border (No longer a through road.) That might possibly be Ichabod, but, I would think that, as a shoemaker, he might be in the village. I can't find him there.

An 1892 map (p. 213) shows J.W. Fletcher (probably Jonathan?) on the Acworth border (See above.)

Town Reports:

At the Marlow Historical Society and now in the Marlow Town Library, we have Town Reports starting with 1899, too late to record the death of your Ichabod. We do have a Harriet Fletcher, d. 1898; Polley F. Fletcher, d. 1905; Jonas W. Fletcher, d. 1910 (Jonas' mother was a Marlow Huntley.) Let me know if you want the details there.

Cemetery:

Ichabod is not in the West Burying Ground. I'm not 100% certain he is not in the Village Cemetry, but I did a "Fletcher" stroll through there recently and didn't find him.

In the Village Cemetery on Church Street we have on the left of the entrance drive:

Jonas W. Fletcher
June 14, 1888 - June 7, 1910
Polly Foster, his wife
Aug,21, 1838 - May 2, 1905

Amos E. Rogers
Aug 6, 1852 - Oct. 17, 1917
his wife, Myra A.
April 7, 1865 - Sept. 20, 1953
[This must be the Myra FLETCHER Rogers mentioned earlier.]

---
Capt. Joseph Tubbs
Nov. 12, 1845, 80 yrs.
Rhoda Tubbs, widow
died Sept. 6, 1853, 86 yrs.

[Hummm. Maybe there WERE two persons named Rhoda Tubbs. Perhaps this one is the aunt of the one you are seeking??]

Oh, where, oh where are the others?

I hope that in this mish-mash there is some clue that will help you on your search. The Keene Public Library has good gazeteers and histories. the Historical Society of Cheshire County (HSCC) has those and also some family papers on file. The N. H. Historical Society in Concord is another possibility. I'll e-mail you another possibl source.

I have one other idea. If, by chance, your Ichabod were connected to those Fletchers over on the Acworth border (N side of town), he might not be buried in Marlow. There is a cemetery, I just learned, over that way, just off Route 10 in Lempster on what is now just an old logging road. It is (or was) called Gee Road. I am told by one who knows that there are many Marlow names on the stones up there. There's a possibility that Ichabod's bones might rest over there.

Good luck!

[fletcher]

Thank you Loisanne for your helpful response and interest. This is a wonderful web site – very well developed – I’m impressed. I will go over your information in detail. It may be that Ichabod ended up in Marlow in his later years after spending most of his life in the Stoddard area with his first marriage. Also I’ve noticed a lot of Fletchers in the Walpole area prior to 1800 – maybe there is a connection. Marlow has a very interesting history – I was looking over the Huntley family.
I’m sort of new to genealogy and it reminds me of doing literature searches in science, only it’s more fun and may be slightly addictive! It’s interesting to see the family structures in the old census records. More children and extended family members like in-laws and older parents all under one roof. It’s also interesting to see how quickly people remarried after their spouses died. I don’t see many people living alone.
Maybe with the way the cost of living is going up we will be seeing more extended households in the future.

[Loisanne Foster]

I had an opportunity to check over the Marlow Town Reports for vital statistics, and I did find a few Fletchers. We have one stray early report from 1873 which does not contain the vital statistics, but, under the school expenses (for 1872) is listed this item under "By cash, paid to the several school districts." - "#7 [School #7] Willard J. Fletcher, $67.36." That might have been a salary for teaching a semester, perhaps.

Death: Oct. 10, 1888, Clara W. Fletcher, 71, widow, father - Asa Whittemore, mother - Mary Burnham

These I had given to "BeckyJ," so you probably have them:

Death: Nov. 16, 1898, Harriet Fletcher, 81, 2 mos., 8 days, born -Stoddard, widow, father - Gardner Hodgman, m. - Cynthia Wood

Death: May 3, 1905, Polly P. Fletcher, 65 years, 8 mos., 12 days, born - Langdon, father - Jacob Foster, mother Elmira Farr, Hartland, VT

Death: June 7, 1910, Jonas W. Fletcher, widower, 72, 3 mos., born - Lempster, father - Jonas Fletcher, born - New Ipswich, mother --- Huntley, Marlow

I'm still looking for Rhoda (Tubbs) Huntley, but without success so far... If I find her, you'll be the first to know! Since Rhoda and mean red, I wonder if she were born with red hair. That's no help, is it? When I have a chance, I'll check out several old Marlow Academy Catalogs to see if I can find her there. I wish we had a complete set, but we have only several.

[Loisanne Foster]

A propos of nothing much, as I recall, the name "Fletcher" means arrow-maker or arrowsmith.

[fletcher]

Thanks Loisanne
I really appreciate your efforts, you must enjoy doing this kind of research like I do. I will look over this info. and try to make any connections. I will also try to respond with more information as I find it about the connections between my family and the history of the Marlow - Stoddard - Keene areas. In general I know that Ichabod married Rebecca Barden at Stoddard, NH on Oct 29, 1818 and the service was performed by a Rev. Isaac Robinson. Ichabods son Rodney Charles was born in Stoddard, NH and later moved on to become a successful "trader" in Salem, Ma and died early (b. 12/11/1813 ? Stoddard, NH - d. 6/18/1856 in Salem, MA) He married Maria Messer at Louden, NH 12/5/1839. Maria M. Messer was born in Concord, NH Nov.20 1813 and died Maria Messer Fletcher in Salem, Ma Aug. 22, 1871. Their gravestones are in Salem, MA Harmony Grove Cemetery, on Halidon Ave.
I lived in Boston and Andover from 1996 to 1998 and I kick myself that I was not interested in geneaology at that time. But as Arnold says "I'll be back"
That's probably enough for right now

[Loisanne Foster]

We received this from Brian Fletcher:

I found the graves of Ichabod Hathorn Fletcher (born Apr. 27, 1794, Temple, NH) and his second and third wives in the Marlow cemetery. They were in the older section to the right as you enter the cemetery through the drive. While in the cemetery I ran into Mary Blank and several others who were very helpful in showing me around.
Ichabod’s second wife was Rhoda Tubbs Huntley. She was the widow of Gardner Huntley and died in 1864 at age 63. Ichabod’s third wife was Clara W. Whittemore Higney (died 1888 at age 71) the widow of James H. Higney.
Ichabod died Nov. 19, 1877 at Marlow. His gravestone is small and was broken half-way down. What can be read is Capt. I. H. Fletcher and “died” – the rest of the lower part of the stone is so damaged as to be not readable.
I confirmed my suspicions that Ichabod’s father’s name was Samuel Fletcher after I contacted the Nelson town archivist and she quickly located a reference to him and his family members. I found the graves of Samuel Fletcher and his wife Beulah (Hathorn) Fletcher in the Nelson cemetery on the hill above the town square. Nelson was known as Packersfield prior to 1814. Ichabod and his father are both in the 1820 census of Nelson.
Samuel Fletcher originally came from Chelmsford, MA and married Beulah Hathorn of Temple NH, Aug, 10 1786 by Rev Noah Miles. Samuel and Beulah had 7 children, and Samuel shows up on the 1790 and 1800 Temple NH census’ with various numbers of family members. Long story short, Ichabod is descended form Robert Fletcher who came from England and was in Concord MA by 1635. The lineage goes like this: Robert F. 1597, William F. 1622, Samuel F. 1652, Samuel F. 1684, Samuel F. 1722, Samuel F. 1765, Ichabod F. 1794. All the Samuels were born in Chelmsford or in nearby Westford or Lowell MA.