My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM WALLACE FLETCHER, attorney-at-law of Carlisle, is a native of Chambersburg, Pa. He received his early education there, attending both the Academy and Mercersburg College, after which he entered newspaper work, in 1883. In 1886 he removed to Carlisle, and while acting as city editor of one of the papers for a number of years also read law in the office of Judge Robert M. Henderson, and later attended the law department of Dickinson College, from which he received the degree of LL. B., in 1896. He then entered into active practice in Carlisle, and is now serving his third term as referee in bankruptcy. He has been admitted to the Superior and Supreme courts of Pennsylvania and United States district courts. Mr. Fletcher is an Episcopalian and a member of the vestry of St. John’s parish, Carlisle. In politics, he is a Republican.

Mr. Fletcher was married in Carlisle in 1889 to Miss Isabel Faller, a daughter of the late John Faller, of Carlisle, and one child has been born to them, Mary.

FLETCHER FAMILY. Before the Revolution broke out Abraham and Thomas Fletcher, brothers, emigrated to America from Ireland and fought under Washington during that struggle. Thomas died unmarried.

(I) Abraham Fletcher (born in the city of Cork, Ireland) was appointed lieutenant in Capt. Andrew Patterson’s Company, 4th Battalion, York County Militia, June 17, 1779. He married Margaret Twinum, daughter, of Rev. Mr. Twinum, one of the first Methodist ministers to come to America. They had issue: (1) Margaret, Mrs.
Shafer, had issue; Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Cashman, Mrs. Tate, Mrs. Studebaker, Abraham and David. (2) William married Catharine Deardoff, of Adams county, they had one son, David. (3) David. (4) John died without issue. (5) Thomas (II).

(II) Thomas Fletcher, son of Abraham and Margaret (Twinum.) Fletcher, died when a little past middle life. He enlisted or service in the war of 1812, on Sept. 15, 1812, in Capt. Andrew Oak’s Company of Greencastle, and served until 1814; he then re-enlisted at Chambersburg in the Company commanded by Capt. John Findley. Thomas Fletcher was a contractor and builder and erected a number of stone bridges in Franklin county, also constructing the middle division of the Chesapeake & Ohio canal. He married Sarah Wallace, daughter of Robert and Margaret (Wallace) Wallace, and they had issue: (1) Josiah Wallace (III). (2) John married Mary Freshwater; they had issue: Sarah (married Thomas McCurdy; they have Nellie and Frank), John, Cecilia, and Lillie (deceased). (3) Jean Wallace died in childhood. (4) Margaret married William Crawford; they had no issue. (5) Ann Elizabeth married James Allen, they had Ella, deceased; Annie Wallace, who married William Hyssong (they have Catharine, Olivia, James Allen and William Le Van); and Emily, deceased. (6) Thomas Loudon was a member of the Franklin County Bar; he married Maggie Wingert, and they had two children, both of whom died in infancy. (7) Sarah married Charles Le Van; they had issue: William, who died in infancy; Sarah Esther, married to Alexander MacRitchey; and Anna, who died in infancy.

The ancestor of the Wallace family to which Mrs. Sarah (Wallace) Fletcher belonged, was Robert Wallace, who emigrated to Lancaster county and later removed to Franklin county, near Duffield. He married Margaret Wallace, his cousin, and they had issue: (I) Sarah married Thomas Fletcher (II). (2) Anna died unmarried.

(III) JOSIAH WALLACE FLETCHER, son of Thomas and Sarah (Wallace) Fletcher, married Mary Peach, of Wilmington, Del., daughter of William Peach. They had issue: (1) Mary died in infancy. (2) William W. lives in Carlisle. He married Isabel Faller. (3) Clara married Jacob Strealey, of Hagerstown, Md., and they have Marian and Clair. (4) Edward died in infancy. (5) Charles died in infancy. (6) Nellie died in infancy. (7) Thomas died in infancy. (8) Fannie died in infancy. (9) Ella Catharine married Percival Tebault, of Hagerstown, Md., and they have Eleanor Dalton.

Josiah Wallace Fletcher (III) was born in 1816, received an academic education, and taught school. During the Mexican war, following in the footsteps of his ancestors, he served as a private soldier. Returning after the war, he was honored by election to the office of clerk of courts, but later resumed teaching in Chambersburg, in the high school. For two years he was sergeant-at-arms in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and he was a prominent man at the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, 126th Regiment, becoming first lieutenant, and participated in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg (where he was wounded) and Chancellorsville, at which latter he was taken prisoner. He was confined in Libby prison, and was kept there until his term of service had expired. Returning to Chambersburg, he was made deputy sheriff, and thus continued for three years, when he was elected sheriff and served for three years more; still again he was elected, so that in all he filled that office for nine years. His death occurred at Chambersburg in 1889.