FFA
FANCHER FAMILY ASSOCIATION
BIOGRAPHIES
James Knox Polk7 FancherJames Knox Polk7 Fancher (James6, Richard5, David4, Richard3 Fancher, William, Jr.2, William1 Fanshaw.) Note: James Knox Polk Fancher was born 16 October 1842 in Osage, Carroll Co., Arkansas. His birthplace of Kansas in this sketch is an error. Addition information can be found on page 187 of Paul Buford Fancher's Richard Fancher (1700-1764) of Morris County, New Jersey.)
Source: History of the Carlock Family and Adventures of Pioneer Americans, Carlock, Marion Pomeroy, Los Angeles, Calif., M.P. Carlock. 1989, p. 358.
De Lafayette Fancher9
(Note: De Lafayette Fancher9, Edward D.8, Adams P.7, Jared6, Adin5, Thomas4, William3, William2, William1 Fanshaw)Mr. De Lafayette Fancher, an energetic young farmer of Ainsworth precinct, Brown county, Nebraska, was born October 11, 1874, at Floyd Corners, Oneida county, New York, a son of Edward Fancher, a man of prominence in that state. He was a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war. After residing in Iowa and eastern Nebraska for a number of years he removed to Brown county, Nebraska, in 1880, making his home in Brown county, where he settled on a homestead in section 11, township 30, range 23, where he died four years later. The family came from eastern Nebraska in a covered wagon and were about six weeks on the way, enduring the usual discomforts of movers in the early days.
Mr. De L. Fancher, the third of a family of seven children born to his parents, was a lad of six years when the family moved to Brown county and here he was reared and educated in the early schools of the day, living for a time in a log house. He has memories of the privileges and privations that come to hearty, healthy youth on the frontiers. He remained under the parental roof until his marriage, though he spent some ten months in the Black Hills four years prior to this interesting event.
Mr. Fancher and Miss Ada Dwyer were married in Ainsworth, December 30, 1900, and she has proved a most helpful and companionable wife. She was born on the home farm near Glenwood, Mills county, Iowa, a daughter of Chester L. and Leonora (Warren) Dwyer. The former was a native of Vermont, and a settler in Iowa at a very early day. In 1884 he located in Brown county, Nebraska, settling on a homestead under a soldier's claim. Mrs. Fancher remembers Brown county before schools or churches were established, and largely received her education at the hands of her mother, who was a highly educated lady. She became a teacher, too, and was engaged in the work of public instruction for some nine years prior to her marriage. She also secured a homestead, upon which she has proved up, and now holds a clear title. It lies in section 4, township 29, range 25, of Cherry county. That she has been able to sustain herself as an applicant for this homestead and meet all the requirements that were thrown around its acquisition by the land office, argues much strength of character and great persistence. Mr. and Mrs. Fancher are the parents of three children - Ruth, Violet and Eunice.
Mr. and Mrs. Fancher made their location on the farm where they are found at the present time in 1900. It is in section 17 and was originally a tree claim, constituting a part of the family estate inherited from his father. In political views Mr. Fancher is a Democrat, is a member of the Methodist church and affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America of Ainsworth.
Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence & Biography of Western Nebraska, pg 237.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/cofhar/cofh0235.html
(Note: Matthias Hart8 Fancher, James H.7, John6, John5, Richard4, Richard Fancher3, William, Jr.2, William1 Fanshaw.)
A resident of Morris county all his life, of an old and respected family, Matthias H. FANCHER has long pursued a business which has been profitable to himself and has afforded a much needed service to a large community at Kenvil and vicinity. His father before him was in the butchering and meat business, and Matthias H. has developed the enterprise on his own initiative. He handles high class products, does everything on a sanitary and wholesome scale, and has a large list of regular patrons whom he serves by wagon delivery throughout this section of the county. Mr. FANCHER is the owner of a pleasant and comfortable home and four acres of land from which he supplies a large patronage with truck during the summer seasons.
Matthias H. FANCHER was born in Succasunna, Morris county, New Jersey, August 24, 1852, son of James H. and Marguerite R. (HART) FANCHER. The paternal grandfather was John FANCHER. Both parents were born in Morris county, and James H. FANCHER as already mentioned was a farmer and butcher, and held a place of prominence in the public affairs of the county, serving as county judge for ten years. Both parents are now deceased. The father was a Jackson Democrat. Their children were: Reuben W., Peter, Matthias H., John W., William H.
In the common schools of Succasunna, Matthias H. FANCHER pursued his book studies, until he was about seventeen years of age. At the same time during vacation he assisted his father, and when his school days were ended he joined the elder FANCHER in conducting the retail meat business. He started in as driver of the wagon, and now for many years has been familiar to the people of his neighborhood as a man who supplies first class meat products, and also a fine line of vegetables and fruits.
In 1879 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. FANCHER to Carrie Amelia Ann CARY, born in Morris county, daughter of Ralph H. and Elizabeth (HART) CARY. Her parents were likewise Morris county people, and her father is now living at the age of eighty-six, after a long career, first as a farmer, and later as a miller. Mrs. FANCHER was the only child of her parents. The following children were born to Mr. FANCHER and wife: 1. Elizabeth S., wife of Edward E. KILPATRICK Jr., has two children, Mildred H. and Edward W., the latter being the third to bear successively the name of Edward W. KILPATRICK. 2. Marguerite R., wife of Charles ZEEK. 3. Ralph C., married Lula LOWREY. 4. Grace L., wife of Raymond ZEEK, and they have one child Marion R. In politics Mr. FANCHER is a Democrat. With a public-spirited attitude towards the affairs of his community, he served for about fifteen years on the board of education, and is one of the men to whom credit is due for getting the high school located in Succasunna for Roxbury township. He and his family attend the Presbyterian church.
Source:History of Morris County, New Jersey. Vol. II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.
Additional Information can be found in Paul B. Fancher's Richard Fancher (1700-1764) of Morris County, New Jersey, on page 233.
John Wesley8 Fancher
(Note: John Wesley8, James H.7, John6, John5, Richard4, Richard Fancher3, William, Jr.2, William1 Fanshaw.)Morris county has been fortunate in the possession of many citizens who combine with successful ability in private enterprise a high degree of public spirit, so that they have served well in both themselves and their communities. In this class of residents belongs John W. FANCHER, who for many years has been actively identified with business affairs in Succasunna, where for the past ten years he has conducted an establishment for undertaking and as a funeral director. His family is an old honored one, and many of its members besides himself were in the day and generation useful and esteemed citizens.
John W. FANCHER was born in Morris county, November 8, 1854, a son of James H. and Margaret (HART) FANCHER. James H. FANCHER, the father, first followed the trade of blacksmith; was for ten years associate judge of the Common Pleas Court of Morris county, and was long an active Democrat. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and died at his home on Friday, February 3, 1905. He was born at Ledgewood, Morris county, New Jersey, September 2, 1818, and was therefore eighty-seven years of age at the time of his death. All his life was spent in Roxbury township, and in the borough of Mt. Arlington. Judge FANCHER had the following children:
- Reuben FRANCHER, who died June 6, 1912, in Succasunna, at the age of sixty-seven years, four months and sixteen days;
- Peter, born July 20, 1844, died at the age of forty-two years;
- Mary E., born August 16, 1848, died August 9, 1850;
- John H., born December 17, 1850, died February 7, 1851;
- Matthias, who is a butcher in Kenvil;
- John W., mentioned further;
- William H., of Slide Mountain, New York;
- two other children died in childhood.
Margaret (HART) FANCHER, the mother of these children, died October 29, 1883, at the age of sixty-three. She was born at Alpaugh, Morris county, and her parents were representatives of old families in this section.
John W. FANCHER attended school at Chestnut Hill and was early instructed in practical accomplishments. For some fifteen years he followed the trade of carpenter, was in the coal business thirteen years, and since 1903 has been a funeral director, and given a skillful and much appreciated service in that important capacity. Always a Democratic voter of Morris county, Mr. FANCHER has for thirty years served as a justice of the peace in Succasunna, and in all this time he has never had but one reversal. His first office was that of constable, which he filled six years. For fifteen years he has been a member of the board of freeholders, and in 1911 was director of the board; he has held offices of various kinds, always giving intelligent and faithful service in every capacity. His church is the Presbyterian, and fraternally he is affiliated with the J. O. U. A. M. and the I. O. R. M.
His first marriage was celebrated November 21, 1877, when Sarah VORHEES, a daughter of William VORHEES, and a native of Washington township, Morris county, became his wife. Her death occurred August 1, 1898, at the age of thirty-eight years. During the twenty-one years of their happy married life, one daughter and two sons were born, and the three children are:
- Alice, wife of George HAND, of Succasunna;
- George, who is with the LeHigh & Hudson River Railroad Company;
- Allen H., with the New York Telephone Company.
Both sons are unmarried. On May 16, 1900, Mr. FANCHER married Elizabeth Grace RODER, daughter of Henry RODER, of Newark, New Jersey. Her grandfather was a native of Germany. To this second union has been born one child,
- Linnet, now ten years of age.
Mr. FANCHER has spent all his active life in Succasunna, has been known to the citizens of that locality since childhood and since reaching majority has been a valued member of the community. The residence in which he and his family now enjoy the comforts of life was built by him in 1900, and prior to that he had erected two other houses, both of which he sold.
Source:History of Morris County, New Jersey. Vol. II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.
Additional Information can be found in Paul B. Fancher's Richard Fancher (1700-1764) of Morris County, New Jersey, on page 233 & 234.
(Note: James Alexander Polk7, Thomas Hampton6, Richard5, David4, Richard3 Fancher, William, Jr.2, William1 Fanshaw)
J. A. P. Fancher, a prosperous farmer and grist-mill proprietor of the Sixth District, was born February 26, 1841, in Overton County, Tenn. He is a son of Thomas H. and Susan A. (Officer) Fancher, of White (now Putnam) County (Tennessee). The father was born January 24, 1799, of English-Irish descent. He was an extensive stock raiser, and a man of considerable prominence and a Democrat; was a major of militia, a justice of the peace and magistrate of Overton County, and was instrumental in relieving the county of debt. He was several times urged to represent his county in the Legislature and Senate. From 1843 to 1846 he resided in Arkansas, after which he came to White County. He died April 5, 1884. His wife was born August 17, 1817; was married February 16, 1840, and died May 31, 1850. She was a consistent member of the Methodist Church South. Our subject was raised on a farm and received a fair education. Since his twenty-fifth year he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and with decided success. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate Army, Sixteenth Tennessee, under command of Col. John H. Savage. After two years' service his health failed, when he hired a substitute and returned home. Later he was arrested by the Federals and taken to Rock Island, Ill., prison. He was offered his liberty if he would take the oath of allegiance, but he refused. In 1865 he returned to White County, where he has since resided. October 9, 1867, he married Jane, daughter of Rev. James K. and Jane S. (Simpson) Lausden. Mr. Lausden is of Scotch-Irish descent, and his wife of Irish. To Mr. and Mrs. Fancher four sons and three daughters were born, one now deceased. Mrs. Fancher, who was a consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, died May 18, 1884. July 6, 1884, our subject married Levina T. Lausden, his sister-in-law, who has borne him one child. Both are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Fancher is a stanch Democrat, and a liberal contributor to, and supporter of, all laudable enterprises.Source: Goodspeed's History of White County, Tennessee
Frederick Bartlett8 Fancher ~Seventh Governor of South Dakota
(Tillotson7, Richard6, Richard5, Richard4, Richard3, William2, William1)
Frederick Bartlett Fancher was the son of Tillotson Fancher and Julia A. Kenyon. He was born 2 April 1852 in Medina, New York. He married (1) Sarah Van Vorhies (Vorhees), daughter of John Jacob Vorhies and Helen M. Hatch on 14 October 1874 in Albion, Michigan. (2) Clemma Buck, 1909 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Residence: Jamestown, Stutsman County
- Years Served: 1899-1901
- Date of Inauguration: January 3, 1899
- Age at Inauguration: 46
- Politics: Republican
- Born: Orleans County, New York - April 2, 1852
- Died: Los Angeles, California - January 10, 1944
Political Background:
- 1889: President of North Dakota Constitutional Convention
- 1894-1897: North Dakota Insurance Commissioner
- 1899-1901: Governor of North Dakota
Frederick Bartlett Fancher was born in New York, and lived there until the age of fifteen. He moved to Michigan with his parents and was educated at Michigan State Normal School at Ypsilanti. In 1871 he went into the insurance business at Chicago.
Fancher came to North Dakota in 1881 and began a very large farming operation near Jamestown. He also ran an insurance company in Jamestown and served as president of the board of trustees of the State Hospital.
Fancher was president of the 1889 constitutional convention. He organized the Alliance Hail Association, then ran for state insurance commissioner, serving two terms. While Fancher was governor, the twine and cordage plant was established at the state penitentiary.
In 1901 Fancher moved to Sacramento, California, and operated a wholesale and retail grocery business until his retirement in 1925.
Governor Fancher's first political venture was in 1889 when he served as president of the Constitutional Convention.
Newton Carol Fancher was the son of William S. Fancher and Christine Allen. He was born 18 January 1835 in Overton Co., TN. He had 4 wives. He died 20 Oct. 1919 in Kansas City, KS.
As so often happens with family stories as they are passed down through generations, he has mixed up some names. His line of descent is Newton C. Fancher 7, William S. 6, James 5, David 4, Richard 3, William 2, William 1. His great grandfather was David 4, not a man named Isaac. David 4 Fancher did not have a brother Isaac, but he did have a son Isaac 5 who was born 1760 in Morris Co. NJ. Isaac 5 was the brother of James 5 who was Dr. Fancher’s grandfather. Now Isaac 5 didn’t have any brothers named Samuel and John, neither did David 4 or Richard 3, or William 2. So it is unknown who he might be referencing in his story. However, Dr. Fancher did have an Uncle named Wesley… but did Wesley really kill Tecumseh? Many men have claimed credit, all of the claims are unproven. (Certain eye-witness sources state that Tecumseh was killed by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, future vice-president of the United States under Martin Van Buren, although it has not been proven.)PIONEER HISTORY OF KANSAS
by Adolph Roenigk
CHAPTER III
DR. N. C. FANCHER
Services of the Fanchers to Their Country; With Glen Green
in the Revolutionary War; Daniel Boone
and Tippecanoe HarrisonDr. Newton C. Fancher
About twenty years prior to the Revoluntary War, my great grandfather, Isaac Fancher, with two brothers named John and Samuel, emigrated from England and settled in New York. When the war broke out John held up for King George and remained in New York; Samuel enlisted in Gen. Green’s army; Isaac, my grandfather’s father, went west and settled in Pennsylvania. Near the close of the war, my grandfather, at the age of sixteen, ran away from home to join Green’s forces in North Carlonia six months prior to the battle of Essex. In this engagement he was wounded in the knee with a ball and two buckshot. His father went after him and brought him home but he did not remain long. At the age of twenty he went over into Virginia where he met Daniel Boone. Accompanied by a few other young men he went with Boone to Kentucky and helped him erect the stockade at Boonsborough. The following spring he went back to Virginia with twenty head of pack horses to convey supplies to the fort in Kentucky.
While getting ready to return, my grandfather formed the acquaintance of my grandmother and they were married. She would not allow him to return to the wilds of Kentucky, which decision, it is said, made Boone very angry. From Virginia my grandmother moved to Tennessee and settled on the French Broad River, lived there a few years, then moved to Overton County, Tennessee. This was the year 1789. He continued to reside at this place until his death which occurred in 1853. His given name was James and may be found on the military records of the U. S. at Washington, D.C. He had a family of thirteen children; my father, William S. Fancher, was one of this bakers’ dozen. He emigrated from Tennessee in 1850 to Harrison County, Missouri. He raised ten children, I being the oldest, having arrived at my 77th mile post on January 18, 1912.
If not out of place I will make a brief digression to speak of my father’s oldest brother, Wesley Fancher, who was a volunteer under Gen. Jackson in the Indian war in Florida and who endured many hardships, even to that of having to boil their moccasins of rawhide and drink the soup so made to preserve life. He also took part in the battle of New Orleans when the British redcoats received such a bloody repulse. My uncle was the soldier who shot the famous Indian chief, Tecumseh, (see note above) while serving under Gen. Harrison in Indiana. The chief had Gen. Harrison singled out and was behind a forked oak firing at him. He fired twice, the first passing through Harrison’s hat and the second cutting away the epaulet from his left shoulder. The General then turned to Col. Johnson, whose regiment was engaged near by, and said, “Colonel, if you or your men do not get that Indian, his next shot will get me.”
Johnson turned to Wesley Fancher and said, “Well, can’t you get him?” pointing out the tree where the Shawnee was ramming a load down his rifle. The Indian turned his head and looked through the fork of the tree to see if the General was still in sight. As he did so, Wesley fired and the savage fell. “It was my bullet; it struck him one inch above the eyes and straight with the nose,” and the mark was found as he gave it. He never cared to talk of this incident in after years. He was Johnson’s son-in-law and held a Lieutenant’s commission. It was told of him that he could shoot out a squirrel’s eye two hundred feet away.
In the spring of 1853 I and a gentleman by the name of Moore were living near the town of Missouri City, east Clay County, Missouri, crossed the river at the Blue Mills about four or five miles northeast of Independence, Jackson, County, Missouri. We came to Independence afoot hunting a job of work. At that time there was not a pound of railroad iron west of the Missouri River. Freighting overland was the only means by which supplies were carried westward to their destination. The freight was loaded on large, strong wagons drawn by mules or oxen. My object was to hire to some government agent to drive a team of some kind either to Santa Fe, Laramie, Fort Smith or some other distant point. There were agents at Independence, Leavenworth, Westport, Shawnee Mission, and a little fort eight miles down the river from the present location of Kansas City, Missouri. We tried all the above agencies except Leavenworth. There was a town of about 200 population in and around Westport. West from there to the landing on the Missouri River there was no town then. There was a long cottonwood log staked against the bank for the boats to land against in lieu of a wharf.
There was about 100 Mexicans camped near Westport with burro outfits. Every three or four hours half a dozen wagons would start for the landing. There was a government blacksmith shop located at about where is now Main Street, Kansas City. The shop consisted of two forks about eight feet high set up about fifteen feet apart, a good sized pole was laid in the forks and 1x12 cottonwood boards sloped back against the bank for a roof. There was a rick of steamboat cord wood about fifty feet long, also a box house about sixteen feet square made of new, raw cottonwood boards with the marks of the circle saw on them. A single rough twelve-inch board was placed as a counter and the first saloon was complete. The stock of liquors never consisted of more than a five gallon keg of whiskey, a jug of wine and one of gin.
The two blacksmiths at the shop were busy shoeing the burros. The Mexicans would lasso the burros, throw them, whirl them on their backs, draw their feet all up in a bunch, then they were all ready to be shod. The blacksmith would run out with a hot shoe, hold it to the burro’s foot until it would burn itself set, then cool it off and nail it on, taking not more than five minutes to the animal.
While we were at the landing a boat came up and put off her cargo for Santa Fe. As the teams were shod and laden they would return to the camp at Westport and wait till all was ready, then the train would start on its long, dangerous journey. They were generally supplied with a guard of soldiers to escort them through. Sometimes they were ambushed or openly attacked and the whole outfit captured or killed. Dangerout as was the occupation of drivers in these trains there were always plenty of applicants for the position.
Well to the west from the landing, over gullies, ridges, bluffs and into what is now called West Bottoms we passed, crossing drifts left by the flood of 1844 some twenty feet high and almost impassable. These bottoms were heavy timbered; grape vines entwined with the underbrush and treetops made a fearful laybrinth. We struck the Kaw River a little above the mouth. There was a Wyandott Indian on the west side in a log canoe; we made motions for him to come over to us; he did so and set us over the river and pointed out the way to their village, also four white men who had married Indians wives. There were about 1,500 Indians in the village. One of these men was the chief interpreter. We asked the Chief’s permission to pass through his reservation. He told us, through the interpreter, that we could go to Leavenworth, but as he did so he made signs with his hands to go fast. As he spoke in the Indian tongue I asked the interpreter what the chief meant; he said he meant, “go fast, like a turkey running, not let grass grow under the moccasin,” and we didn’t. There was a sort of a trail from their village up to the fort. The fort was about seventy-five yards north of where Grant’s statue now stands. It was about one hundred yards square with a parapet at each corner. It was pierced with port holes on all sides and had trenches running all around it. The fort was built of stone with offices inside. Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827 by a detachment of the 3rd U. S. Infantry, and named in honor of Col. Henry Leavenworth, of that regiment.
There were 2,000 soldiers stationed there at the fort at the time I was there. This was about the first days of May, 1853. We went to the Quartermaster and I hired to drive a four-ox team with a load of 6,000 pounds to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, for which I was to receive $35 a month in gold. But the ox teams were not to start until the 15th of May as by that time the grass would be sufficiently matured to sustain the cattle. The train was to consist of one hundred ox teams and one hundred mule teams, all to travel together. The mule train was already loaded up and out on the Grasshopper Creek with orders to wait until we moved out to their camp. As it was yet two weeks before our ox wagons were to move, and we could not draw rations until actual service, we crossed back into Clay County to the settlement where we could find a stopping place until the 15th of May. I took a contract to cut and split 1,000 oak rails at fifty cents a hundred. I finished the work on the 13th of May, and that evening our Wagonmaster came down from the Fort and informed us that we would not be needed, as they had taken on several more drivers from the immediate vicinity. He told us how the mule train had become restless waiting so long, and moved away up on the Platte River in Nebraska, near Grand Island. The next morning at break of day the Indians had surrounded their camp and killed all the men but three who managed to break through the savages and return to the Fort with news of the massacre. The Indians took the mules, loaded the rations upon them, and after burning the wagons, struck for the mountains.
The soldiers were called in from all nearby points to Fort Leavenworth, but it was not until the 10 of June that they were fully equipped for pursuit. They took up the trail at the camp and followed it into the mountains where the Indians scattered in all directions. Though the soldiers searched the mountains the remainder of the summer they never found the mules, plunder, or Indians. The soldiers returned to Leavenworth in the fall, dirty, ragged and half starved. Many of their horses died or grew so weak they were abandoned, and what did survive were mere skeletons, scalded and scarified with sore backs.
When I Iook back and view the past and consider the privations suffered by the early pioneers, then look about me and see how few of them are enjoying the fruits of their labor, a deep feeling of sad regret fills my mind. While the generations of pioneers labored to make the west the Eden of all the world, the message telling of its accomplishment only brought to our land a host of grafters upon our heritage. The early settlers of Kansas did not know the value of the land they rescued from savagery, but let it pass to easily from their possession, and now many, well along upon the highway of life, must crouch by the cold ashes of the campfires of the past.
CAPT. WILLIAM 6 FANCHER (See photograph from which this illustration was made)
(Enos5, Thomas4, William3 Fancher, William2,William1 Fanshaw)LEON (New York)
CAPTAIN WILLIAM FANCHER
Capt William Fancher was born at German Flats, Herkimer Co., N. Y., June 1823,, and was the youngest of a family of nine children. His father, Enos Fancher, was a farmer and blacksmith in moderate circumstances. His mother’s maiden name was Sally Roberts, of English and Welsh descent. His father died during William’s infancy, but his mother managed to give him a fair common-school education.
At about the age of sixteen he went to work with his brother. George Fancher, of West Winfield, Herkimer Co. at the blacksmith business, but becoming dissatisfied with his occupation and desirous of change, he enlisted in the ‘United States military service at Albany, on the 13th of July, 1841, and served for a period of five years, when he was honorably discharged at New York in July, 1846, as first sergeant of Company F (Capt. H. Day commanding), Second Regiment United States Infantry.
During the period of his enlistment he was much of the time in active service, first in the Florida and afterwards in the Mexican war, during which his regiment was attached to Gen. Scott’s command he was present at the taking and capitulation of the city of Mexico, as well as many other battles during the campaign. After the close of the Mexican ‘war he was for some time employed as recruiting officer for the United States army.
Soon after his discharge he re-enlisted in the United States naval service, in which he served four years, and was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.
During the period of his service he was much of the time employed in the foreign service, accompanying the expedition to Japan, China, etc. He was discharged at San Francisco, in 1850, and was for a short time there employed in the custom-house. In the spring of 1851, he came to Leon, N. Y., and went to work with his brother John Fancher (then a resident of Leon), at the blacksmith trade, at which he worked for about a year, when he and his brother purchased a farm of one hundred and forty-six acres in the east part of Leon.
In September 1852, he was married to Lydia Mills daughter of Thomas Mills, an old resident of Leon.
Mr. Fancher worked on his farm until the commencement of the civil war, frequently holding responsible positions in the town. In the spring of 1861 Capt. Fancher was elected to the office of supervisor of Leon, but on the breaking out of the Rebellion his military talent was again called into requisition; a company of home guards was formed, of which he was elected captain. Sept. 18, 1867 he enlisted in the military service, and soon received a captain’s commission in Co. K, 64th Regiment. He was active service until the latter part of March 1862, when he was stricken down by typhoid fever, and on the latter part of May following he received a furlough, and was allowed return home. He reached the residence of his father-in-law, Thomas Mills, May 17, 1862, and died on the 24th following, the relentless hand of death cutting short bade fair to be an honorable and useful career.
Capt. Fancher left two children—a daughter and son. The former, Evangeline, is now the wife of Dr. A. A. Hubbell, of Leon; and the son, Albert T., is in the mercantile business, in the firm of Shannon & Co., Leon. Capt. Fancher’s widow is still living at Leon. The captain was a man of strict integrity and good business habits. He was highly respected as a citizen of his town, and his loss was severely felt by a large circle of friends. His remains repose in the cemetery at Leon Center, but his memory is still cherished in the hearts of his friends and townsmen.Source: Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts, 1879.
(Note: Thomas Washington Fancher7, James6, Richard5, David4, Richard3, William2, William1 Fanshaw)
Thomas W. Fancher, a prominent farmer of Carroll County, Ark., was born in Overton County, Tenn., on January 24, 1833. He is a son of James and Elizabeth (Carlock) Fancher, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. When twelve years of age James Fancher removed from his native State to Tennessee. After his marriage in the latter State he located on a farm, and resided there until 1838, when he came to Carroll County, Ark. Locating on a farm, he spent the remainder of his life here, and died on June 8, 1866. His widow is still living (1888). James Fancher served as a private in the War of 1812. In 1842 he represented Carroll County in the Arkansas Legislature. Thomas W. Fancher grew to manhood on his father's farm, and on July 9, 1857, was married to Elizabeth B. Sneed, a daughter of Charles Sneed. She was born and reared in the neighborhood of her present home. After his marriage Mr. Fancher located on a part of his present farm. The place now contains 500 acres, of which 230 acres are under cultivation and finely improved. Mr. and Mrs. Fancher have a family of ten children, viz.: James, Wilburn H., Martha J. (a widow, who resides with her parents), Mary D. (one of the county teachers), Polk, Charles R., Wilkins H., Bessie May, Joseph J. and Jesse. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fancher are earnest Christians. She is a member of the Methodist Church, and he of the Cumberland Presbyterian. In 1862 Mr. Fancher enlisted in the Confederate army, and was assigned to the Fourth Arkansas Infantry. Later he was placed in Herrell's battalion, and served until hostilities ceased, acting part of the time as first lieutenant. Among other engagements he participated in the battles of Prairie Grove, Poison Springs and Marks Mills. His regiment was disbanded in Texas, after which he returned home, arriving in June, 1865. Mr. Fancher is a charter member of Osage Masonic Lodge, and is a Master Mason. Source: History of Carroll County, Arkansas, Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
George Allison Fancher8
(Jonathan Waterbury, Jonathan Waterbury Jr., Peter, John, John, William, William)GEORGE A. FANCHER, proprietor of the Fancher Printing Company of Coffeyville is a veteran of the printing art and has followed his trade in many states and towns all over the Far West. For the past thirty years his home and center of activities have been in different cities of Kansas and he is now proprietor of one of the leading job offices in the southern part of the state. He comes of old and substantial American stock, Mr. Fancher's great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution.
J. W. Fancher, grandfather of the Coffeyville business man, was born in New York State in 1792. He spent most of his life in his native state as a farmer, and when he retired he moved to Michigan, living with his son J. W., Jr., and died at the latter's home in Buchanan, Michigan, in 1876. He married Eliazbeth[sic] Hicks, who was born in New York State and died at Syracuse. She was a Quakeress and a regularly ordained preacher in that faith. The children of these worthy people were: Alva, who enlisted in a New York regiment in the Civil war and died while in service; George H., who became a banker and died at San Francisco, California; Bradley C., who was a lumberman and was killed in an accident in a sawmill at Berrien Springs, Michigan; J. W. Fancher, Jr., father of George A.; Lee R., who is a banker at Merced, California, and was a soldier for four years in a New York regiment of infantry during the Civil war, and the sixth of the family was also a volunteer from New York in the war and was killed in one of the battles in which his regiment engaged.
Mr. George A. Fancher was born at Buchanan, Michigan, February 20, 1868. His father, J. W. Fancher, is now living retired at Merced, California. He was born at Syracuse, New York, in 1838, was reared there, educated in the public schools and afterwards in the schools of Ypsilanti, Michigan. As a young man he went to Buchanan, Michigan, where he married. By trade he was a cooper, and at one time he served as principal of the public schools of Buchanan. He has been a successful business man and now has extensive land holdings in Michigan, Indiana and California. While a resident of Berrien County, Michigan, he served as sheriff and also as chief of police at Buchanan. Politically he is a democrat. J. W. Fancher married Miss Margaret Roe, who was born in 1842 in LaPorte County, Indiana, and died at Davis in that state in May, 1906. Their children were: Alva C., who is a rancher at Athlone, California; Melvin H., who lives on one of his father's farms in Starke County, Indiana; George H.,[sic] who is the third in age; Willis, a fruit farmer at Los Angeles, California; Clarence, who lives on one of his father's farms at Merced, California; Lona, wife of Doctor Winan, a physician in Chicago; Chloe, wife of Doctor Denaught, a physician at Hamlet, Indiana.
While attending the public schools at Buchanan, Michigan, George A. Fancher learned printing in one of the newspaper offices there, and in 1884, following his graduation from the Buchanan High School, he went to Chicago and had his first journeyman's experience in that city. He had his share of traveling about over the country as nearly all printers do, and from Chicago went to Leadville, Colorado, and in 1886 reached Kansas and secured employment at his trade in Hutchinson. In 1889 he went to Saline, and from there to Winfield in 1891. He followed the trade at Winfield for ten years. In 1901 he moved to Iola, and from there four years later came to Coffeyville, where he has had his home and his business since 1905. At Coffeyville he was employed for four years as a printer in the offices of the Journal.
In 1909 Mr. Fancher established the Fancher Printing Company, which has complete mechanical facilities and an organization of expert printers for all classes of jobs of printing. His plant is at 108 West Tenth Street. Mr. Fancher resides in a country home with ten acres of ground three miles northeast of Coffeyville, and built his attractive residence there in 1910. He also owns a dwelling house at 302 East Eleventh Street and another at 612 East Fifth Street.
Politically he is a republican. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and affiliates with Coffeyville Camp No. 665, Modern Woodmen of America.
In 1895 at Winfield, Kansas, he married Miss Anna Brown, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Brown. Her father was a farmer now deceased and her mother still lives in Winfield. Mr. and Mrs. Fancher have two children. Alva Keath was born April 20, 1905, and is now in the public schools at Coffeyville. Carl Prentice was born May 14, 1909, and is attending school in the country district near his father's home.
Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; volume 4, page 1988
HAMPTON BYNUM FANCHER
(Note: Hampton Bynum Fancher7, James6, Richard5, David4, Richard3, William2, William1 Fanshaw)
CAPT. HAMPTON B. FANCHER. The intelligence and ability shown by Capt. Hampton B. Fancher, as a progressive tiller of the soil, and the interest he has taken in the advancement of measures for the good of Boone County, Ark, caused him long since to be classed as one of the leading citizens of his section. The most that he has achieved or gained has come as the result of his own efforts, and he deserves much credit for his industry and enterprise. He is a native Tennesseean, born in Overton County in 1828, and the son of James and Elizabeth (Carlock) Fancher, natives of North Carolina, the former born in 1790 and the latter on March 18, 1800. This worthy couple were married in Tennessee, whither they had moved with their parents when young, their nuptials being celebrated in 1818, and about 1838 they came by ox-team to northwest Arkansas, being about two months on the road. They located at the head of Osage, eight miles west of Carrollton, on a claim for which he paid $700 in gold. This he at once began improving and soon had a good home. He was one of the most prosperous, practical and enterprising farmers and stock traders in the county, and accumulated a fortune. However, he lost nearly $50,000 during the war, besides many slaves. He represented Carroll County in the Legislature in 1842 as a Democrat, and was instrumental in the formation of Newton County. That was the only official position he would ever accept. He sympathized with the South during the Civil War but took no part. For a number of years he was a Cumberland Presbyterian, and was one of Carroll County's most honest and influential citizens. His death occurred on his farm in Carroll County in 1865. He was one of eleven children, one of whom died in Illinois, two in Arkansas and the remainder in Tennessee. Mr. Fancher was in the Creek War with Jackson, and was in the fight at Horse-shoe Bend. His father, Richard Fancher, was born on Long Island and the latter's wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Jerniga(n), was born in Virginia. They were married in North Carolina but removed from there to Tennessee at a very early day. Mr. Fancher died there but his wife came with her son to Arkansas and died in this State. She was entirely blind the last ten years of her life. Mr. Fancher and several of his brothers were in the Revolutionary War. They were of French origin. Our subject's maternal grandfather, Isaac Carlock, was a native of the Old North State, as was the grandmother, Sarah (Rutman) Carlock. They moved to Tennessee at an early day, and from there to Dade County, Missouri, where Mr. Carlock died, and where some of his descendants are now living. Twelve children were born to our subject's parents and named in the order of their births as follows: Asenath, deceased, was the wife of William Morris; Arminita, deceased, was the wife of William Coker; Martha J. is the widow of William Boatwright; Hampton B., subiect; Sarah, wife of Amos Kindall, of Madison County, Arkansas; Thomas W. was killed in August, 1892, in Carroll County, while defending his son who was being assaulted (he was a Confederate soldier, and held the rank of lieutenant in Harrold's battalion of cavalry); Henrietta, widow of Robert Dixon; James P., the present county clerk of Carroll County (for a number of years he served as circuit and county clerk, and was afterward a member of the Legislature; during the Civil War he was in the Confederate Army and was captured at Vicksburg;) George M.; Dallas died in infancy, and two others died in infancy. Until ten years of age our subject remained in his native State and then moved with his parents to Carroll County, Arkansas, where he grew to manhood with limited educational advantages. On July 26, 1858, he was married to Miss Eliza 0. McKennon, daughter of Dr. Archibald and Sarah McKennon. Mr. and Mrs. McKennon were natives of South Carolina, but came to Tennessee when young, were married there, and sub-sequently moved to Carroll County when Mrs. Fancher was a girl. From there they removed to Johnson County, and there received their final summons. He was a successful physician for many years. He had four sons in the Confederate Army, one of whom, Hon. Archibald S. McKennon, a prominent lawyer of Clarksville, Arkansas, is one of the United States Commissioners now treating with the five civilized Indian tribes for the abandonment of their tribal relations. The names of the other sons are unknown. Mrs. Fancher was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and died in June, 1892. Eight children were born to this union: Elizabeth, wife of John H. Walker, of Carroll County; James Archibald, died in infancy; Thomas H., a lawyer of Clarksville, Arkansas Virginia Lucretia, deceased, was the wife of Thomas N. Lancaster of Texas; Sallie Mac., wife of Jeremiah Bentley, of Boone County; Susie Jessie; Maggie Polk, died young, and Grover Cleveland, a little girl. In 1861, when the war cloud hung darkly over the nation, Mr. Fancher enlisted in the Fourth Arkansas Infantry, State troops, as Captain of Company H, and fought at Oak Hill. After a few months this company disbanded and he was then enrolling officer for about a year. After that he went with his father to Texas, and after his return was in Harrold's battalion until the war closed. Afterward he followed farming in Carroll County until 1880, when he came to Boone County and settled five miles northwest of Lead Hill, where he has a fine river farm of over 400 acres. For some time both before and after the war he was engaged in merchandising at Fair View. Fraternally he is a member of Polar Star Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 224, at Lead Hill, and was W. M. two terms. He is also a member of Berryville Chapter. Mr. Fancher was made a Mason when twenty-two years of age, and was a delegate to the Grand Lodge in 1853, obtaining the charter of Yell Lodge No. 64, at Carrollton. For many years he has been a prominent member of the Cumberland Presby-terian Church, and his wife held membership in that church also. In politics he is a Democrat.
Reminiscent History Of The Ozark Region, pub. Goodspeed Brothers, Publishers, Chicago 1894
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