Maricopa County AZ Archives Biographies.....Fleming, James A. 1849 - living in 1896
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 5, 2005, 4:39 pm

Author: McFarland & Poole

p. 482

  JAMES A. FLEMING.    It is a fact that cannot be truthfully contradicted, that
in the land lies one of the foremost essential instruments of trade investment
and profit. The great West has opened  up opportunities in  this direction that
are matchless when compared with any other section of the country, and Phoenix,
Arizona, is the teeming center of this golden chance. Prominent among the real
estate owners and bankers of that flourishing city may be mentioned the name of
James A. Fleming, whose reputation for veracity and fair dealing is unsurpassed
by any engaged in his line of business. Mr. Fleming was born in Indiana County,
Pennsylvania, in 1849, and his education was received in the common schools.
When but sixteen years old he embarked in the petroleum oil business at Oil
City, Oil Creek and Pit Hole, and was thus engaged until about 1879, when he
removed to Denver, Colorado, and engaged in mining and investments in real
estate. Mr. Fleming was prominently identified with the growth of that
flourishing city from the time of his residence, laid out the town of South
Denver and was elected the first mayor of the town, serving four years in that
capacity. He was the promoter of the first cable line in Denver;  one of the
committee of public improvements and public institutions of the Chamber of
Commerce; member of the Mining Exchange, and one of the organizers and head
pushers in erecting the Exchange Building. Mr. Fleming is the owner of Fleming's
Grove, a beautiful suburb of Denver, as well as the Mendota Building, one of the
finest blocks in the center of that city. He organized the Phoenix National
Bank, was president of that financial institution and has used his energy and
capital to develop the Salt River Valley with the same spirit he built up Denver.

  He was appointed territorial treasurer by Governor Hughes, but after serving
one year resigned the office in order that he could more fully devote his time
to private matters. While he was one of the foremost to build the city of Denver
into its present magnificent proportions, he has been no less active
and-instrumental in the development of and prosperity of the Salt River Valley
and the city of Phoenix. The "Fleming Block," the handsomest of the many
beautiful business buildings of Phoenix, was erected by him, and is a four-story
and basement brick structure equipped with passenger elevator and other modern
improvements. It was also through his influence to a considerable extent, as a
man of large means, that great wealth was brought into the Territory and
invested in the different avenues of trade, the ultimate result being the
development and prosperity of the country.

  Mr. Fleming is of Scotch ancestry, his forefathers coming to this country
before the Colonies had secured their independence from Great Britain. Members
of the family participated in the Revolutionary War, and settled at Philadelphia
when it was first laid out. Unquestionably, the family was of the nobility of
Scotland, the walls of Fleming Castle yet standing near Dundee; but of this
James A. Fleming cares nothing, being a firm believer with Burns that
                 "A man's a man for a' that."

  His great-grandmother was a Morton and a near relative of John Morton, one of
the signers of the Declaration of Independence.


Additional Comments:
From:

A Historical and Biographical Record of the Territory of Arizona
Published by
McFarland & Poole, Chicago, 1896


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