Biographical Sketch of John Fleming, Crawford County, Missouri

>From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and 
Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing 
Company, 1888.

**********************************************************************

John Fleming, an acknowledged representative citizen of Crawford County
was born in 1820, in Ireland, the eldest of four sons and four daughters
of James and Rachel (Strain) Fleming.  The former was a weaver and a
farmer of County Monaghan, Ireland, in which locality young John was
reared and educated, receiving a common schooling.  At the age of twen-
ty he began learning the trade of stonecutter and brickmason, at which
he soon became an adept.  In 1845, filled with a spirit of determination
and courage that knew no failure, he immigrated to America, and began 
work at Quebec, going thence in about eight months to Kingston; follow-
ing this he worked at various places, including the bridge at Niagra.
During this time he was in the Government employ, part of the time for
the British Government, or until 1848, when he was employed by the 
United States Government at Fort Phillip and Fort Jackson.  In 1852 he
came to Crawford County, MO., and worked at the Moselle furnace two
years, and the Meramec Iron Works for some time.  By good management
and keen judgment he made fortunate investments in land, and added to
his original purchase of 200 acres of land from time to time, until he
now owns about 1,200 acres, half of which is in one tract.  In 1853 Mr.
Fleming was married to Eliza J., daughter of Archibald and Matilda
(Montgomery) Jones, and from this union eleven children have been born,
two of whom (sons) are dead.  Jane, James, Rachel, John S., Matilda,
David, Elizabeth, Margaret E. and William G. still survive.  During the
late war Mr. Fleming was a member of the Home Militia but was not in 
active service.  Since his marriage he has followed agricultural pur-
suits and stock raising, the latter receiving a considerable share of
his attention.  His home life and surroundings are all that could be
desired.  Politically, he is a Democrat, but by no means a political
aspirant.  He and his wife are worthy members of the old school Pres-
byterian Church, in which he is a ruling elder, and it is a fact worthy
of mention that he built the church house at Cuba with his own means,
afterward selling it to the church for less than one-third of its cost.
He also took prominent part in the organization of the schools of the
county, and erected at his own expense and presented to the people the
first school building in Cuba; in other ways he has borne his share of
public improvement.  Mr. Fleming is a member of Lebanon Lodge No. 77,
A. F. & A. M., at Steelville.

====================================================================
     USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
         free information on the Internet, data may be used by
         non-commercial entities, as long as this message
         remains on all copied material. These electronic
         pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
         or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

         Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
         for purposes other than stated above must obtain the
         written consent of the file contributor.

         This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
         Archives by: Joe Miller <mio@netins.net>
		      Penny Harrell <Incog3678@aol.com>

====================================================================