BIO: James FLEMING, Dauphin County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JAWB Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/dauphin/ http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/dauphin/runk/runk-bios.htm _______________________________________________________________ Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 232-233. _______________________________________________________________ FLEMING, JAMES, son of Samuel Fleming and grandson of Robert Fleming, was born June 25, 1810, in Hanover township, Washington county, Pa.; died January 30, 1857, in Hanover, Pa. In 1812 his parents removed to Hanover township, Dauphin county, Pa., where his early life was passed. His boyhood was marked by a laudable ambition to excel in his studies, and the influence of his mother in this direction had its good effect, not only during his youth, but throughout his life. Thrown upon his own resources at the age of eighteen, he resolved to educate himself by alternately acting as teacher and pupil, and pursued this course for seven years, thereby becoming conversant with the higher mathematics, the ancient languages and French. Much of his time was passed in the States of Kentucky and Ohio. About 1835 he commenced the study of medicine, and graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in March, 1838. For four years he practiced his profession, but finding the duties too arduous for his slender constitution, his attention was drawn to the science of dental surgery, then comparatively in its infancy. Observing the necessity for good operators in this field, he went to Philadelphia and acquired a thorough knowledge of that specialty. Returning to Harrisburg, he met with deserved and well- marked success. During the remainder of his life he was a frequent contributor to both medical and dental journals, and occasionally to the newspaper press. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Dental Surgeons and of the American Society, and one of the original advocates of the establishment of a dental college at Philadelphia, in which he was subsequently tendered a professorship, but declined. He was twice the recipient of the honorary degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. He was a director of the Harrisburg National Bank, president of the board of school directors and an elder of the First Presbyterian church there. Dr. Fleming married, June, 1852, Jennette Street, daughter of Col. Thaddeus Street and Martha Davenport Reynolds, of Cheshire, Conn., a lineal descendant of Rev. John Davenport, the founder of New Haven. Her maternal grandmother, Martha Davenport, was a descendant of Oliver Wolcott, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She resided in Germantown, Pa.