GEORGE HENRY FLETCHER – The name of Fletcher has been known in the United States since 1630, and has been borne by many prominent citizens, the Fletchers having generally been leading people in the various communities where they have dwelt. Originally the name was written Fledger, and was the name of the trade of the makers of arrows, or as some authorities think, of the affixing the feather to the arrow, fledging it. In French the word Flechier has also the same meaning, and some have inferred a French extraction. The traditions, however, all concur in making the early ancestors of most of the Fletchers here of English or Welsh stock, and Yorkshire, one of the northern counties of England, as the spot whence they early emigrated to America. The name has been and still is of frequent occurrence there. Of this present family, the grandfather of Mr. Fletcher was Pelatiah, of whom further.
(I) Pelatiah Fletcher was born in Pepperell, Massachusetts, at the end of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was a farmer, and lived for a number of years in Groton, where he took active part in public life, serving as a selectman, and as a Representative to the State Legislature. He married Susan Hamlin, and they were the parents of three children: 1. Henry H., of whom further. 2. Dana. 3. Carrie.
(II) Henry Hathaway Fletcher, son of Pelatiah and Susan (Hamlin) Fletcher, was born in Westford, June 11, 1831, and is still living (1924), at the age of ninety-three years, in Greenfield. He spent his early life in farming, subsequently working in a market and store in Westford, whence he came to Springfield, where he conducted a market opposite the Massasoit Hotel for a period of eight years. From there he went to Chicago, where he spent two years, returning to Pepperell he resided with his father until the death of the latter. In 1864 he came to Greenfield, and for eight years ran a restaurant under the Mansion House, later purchasing the place where he now lives, on High Street. This tract comprised some thirteen acres of land, on which he kept cows, and sold milk for seven or eight years. He has been retired for a number of years, having been an active member of the community, and an attendant at the Unitarian Church.
Henry Hathaway Fletcher married (first) Emily Reed; (second) Georgianna Jones; and (third) Almira Newton. His children were:
- Lulu Allen, deceased, who married Jerome Waite, and had two children:
- Andrew.
- Agnes.
- George H, of whom further.
(III) George Henry Fletcher, son of Henry Hathaway and Georgianna (Jones) Fletcher, was born in Greenfield, October 28, 1876. He received his education in the schools there, and then learned the machinist trade, following which he worked for the Goodell Pratt Company, of Greenfield, for ten years. He then went to Russell, where he acted as clerk in the store of Mr. Rogers, and was also assistant postmaster of the town up to 1919, when he returned to Greenfield. Here he worked for Mr. Harris in the market business, until 1922, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Louis J. Donaldson, under the firm name of Donaldson & Fletcher, of the Greenfield Market Company, in which they have continued to be associated, since that time. Mr. Fletcher is active in all matters of general public interest that tend towards the progress and welfare of the community, and like his father is an attendant of the Unitarian Church.
George Henry Fletcher married, December 30, 1895, Mary Isabelle McMaster, of Springfield, daughter of Mahlon K. and Mary (Whalen) McMaster, and they are the parents of one daughter:
- Marian Georgianna, born in 1898, who graduated from the Greenfield High School, and is now assistant treasurer of the Greenfield Savings Bank.