Charles Horace Fletcher, one of the prominent farmers of his native town, Canterbury, Merrimack County, was born August 3, 1837, son of John and Nancy (St. Clair) Fletcher. John Fletcher was born in Loudon, N.H., March 16, 1795. He married Miss St. Clair, of Canterbury, born October 2, 1799, and settled on St. Clair Hill in Canterbury township, where he became a prominent farmer. His wife’s father, Noah St. Clair, was, it is said, a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He had ten children. Some of them spelled the name St. Clair, and some spelled it Sinclair. If the same as Noah Sinclair, in the “Revolutionary War Rolls,” vol. iii., he enlisted in February, 1777, was a drum major, and was discharged in February, 1780.
Mr. and Mrs. John Fletcher reared four children; namely, Lovinia A., William M., John M., and Charles Horace. Lovinia A. Fletcher married Edmund D. Hill, and died at the age of sixty-five. Her husband is also deceased. William M. was born December 31, 1827, married Lucina Jane Hill (now deceased), who was born January 24, 1833. William M. Fletcher resides in Canterbury. His children are: John T., a farmer, born February 5, 1853; Charles W., a carpenter born January 12, 1855, married Miss Nettie Ordway, of Loudon, N.H., March 31, 1883, died August 12, 1894; Albert O., born July 7, 1857; Annette D., born April 24, 1860, died April 14, 1862; Iva May, born September 20, 1861, married Frank Chamberlin, of Loudon, professor of music; Cora Belle, born October 6, 1863, married Charles Buckland, of Concord, N.H.; George M., born January 12, 1865, married Miss Lillie Grover, of Canterbury, N.H.; Lucina Jane, born September 23, 1868, married January 30, 1885, Frank Wells, of Loudon, N.H., a blacksmith by trade.
John M. Fletcher, born July 24, 1832, is now a practising dentist in Concord, N.H. A sketch of his career will be found on another page of this volume.
Charles Horace, the youngest child of John and Nancy Fletcher, in his boyhood went to school in Loudon. He remained at home with his parents until his marriage, and directly after that he lived for a time on Gibson Hill and he then returned to the old homestead, where he lived for nine years. Mr. Fletcher next made his abode in East Concord, and there learned the stone cutter’s trade. Again returning to the home of his boyhood, he took up farming, subsequently making several changes, until he finally settled down on his present estate, known as the old James farm, and consisting of about forty acres. In addition to this property he owns ninety acres elsewhere in the township. His life has been a most industrious one and, on the whole, successful. He is a man much esteemed by all who know him. He has been a Republican, but now votes the Democratic ticket. Though not eager for office, he has held several minor positions of trust.
Mr. Fletcher married first Miss Lucy Jane Peverly, who was born September 17, 1842, daughter of Nathaniel and Judith Peverly, her father being a farmer of Canterbury. Mrs. Lucy J. Fletcher March 24, 1878; and on April 7, 1880, Mr. Fletcher married Mrs. Hannah Young Potter, the widow of Thomas G. Potter, of Gilmanton, N.H., and the daughter of David and Mary (Bachelder) Young. Her father was a farmer of Loudon township, N.H.
By his first wife Mr. Fletcher had four children-Annette D., Anna A., Warren S., and Nancy J. Annette D. was born January 29, 1862, became the wife of A. B. Chute, of Canterbury, and has one son, Howard; Anna A. was born November 20, 1865, married John A. Dow, and lives in Canterbury; Warren S., was born July 17, 1868, and is now living in Canterbury; Nancy J., the youngest, was born September 25, 1870, and married John H. Meade, of Concord, N.H., and had one child, a daughter, Jenney A. Mrs. Meade died June 8, 1889. The present Mrs. Fletcher is the mother of two children: Lucy May, born May 16, 1881; and Laura E., born December 3, 1886, both residing at home with their parents.