Harrison County, West Virginia    Biography of Alexander Jackson FLETCHER 

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
Page 312


   ALEXANDER JACKSON FLETCHER was an ambitious young man of twenty-four
years when he came to Clarksburg, judicial center and metropolis of
Harrison County, and with a capital of little more than $100, engaged in
the general merchandise business, on a modest scale, as may naturally be
inferred.  He brought to bear energy, fair and honorable policies and
careful management, with the result that his enterprise prospered from
the start and he eventually developed one of the foremost mercantile
establishments in the city.  He continued his active association with
this line of business about twenty-nine years, and then sold out to turn
his attention to the banking business, in which likewise he has made a
record of admirable achievement.  In 1903 he became associated with
other representative citizens in the organization and incorporation of
the Farmers Bank of Clarksburg, of which he has since served
continuously as president.  Among others prominently concerned in the
founding of the new institution were Ira C. Posh ( its first vice
president), Hon. Harvey W. Harmer, Hon. J. E. Law, Dr. M. J. Bartlett,
Dr. J. B. Smith and other citizens of high standing.  The bank bases its
operations on a capitol stock of $100,000, an idea of its unequivocal
success is afforded in the statement that in 1921 its resources are in
excess of $1,500,000, and its deposits nearly $2,000,000.  In
Clarksburg, Mr. Fletcher has been a true apostle of civic and material
progress, and he has here maintained secure place as a representative
business man for virtually thirty years.  He is a stanch democrat, and
while ever regardful of civic stewardship, he has had no desire for
public office.  He and his wife are active members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.
   Alexander Jackson Fletcher was born at Farmington, Marion County,
West Virginia, February 2, `866, and is a son of Charles and Amelia
(Baker) Fletcher, both of whom likewise were born and reared in that
county, where the respective families were established in the pioneer
days.  Charles Fletcher, Sr., grandfather of the subject of this review,
was a native of Pennsylvania, the original representatives of the family
having come from England and settled in Virginia, in the colonial period
of our national history.  Charles Fletcher, Sr., was still a young man
when he came to what is now West Virginia, settled in Marion County, and
turned his attention to farm industry, with which he there continued his
alliance during the remainder of his life.  Charles Fletcher, Jr.,
learned the blacksmith trade and was successfully following the same in
his native county at the time of his tragic death in a railroad
accident, in 1869, when his son Alexander J. was but three years old.
The widowed mother reared her four children with earnest solicitude and
continued her residence at Farmington until the close of her gentle and
gracious life.  Her father, Jacob Baker, was a native of Pennsylvania,
of German ancestry, became a pioneer settler in Marion County, West
Virginia, and lived to the patriarchal age of 106 years.  He whose name
initiates this review is the youngest of the four children.  His two
brothers, Dorsey W. and Michael A., still reside in Marion County; and
the only sister, Catherine, is deceased.
   Alexander J. Fletcher obtained in his youth a good common-school
education and initiated his business career as clerk in a general store
in his home town.  For seven years he was in the employ of a leading
mercantile firm at Fairmont, county seat of Marion County, and it was
after serving this association that, at the age of twenty-four years, in
1890, he initiated his independent mercantile enterprise at Clarksburg,
as noted in a proceeding paragraph.
   In 1886 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fletcher to Miss Mollie A.
Bowers, who was in the State of Pennsylvania, and they have four
children:  Nellie C. (Mrs. G. K. Allman), Mabel C. ( Mrs. Frank Graham),
Ray Jackson, and Ward Bowers.  The two sons are now conducting a
prosperous business at Clarksburg, under the firm name of the Fletcher
Automobile Company.  Both were in the nation's military service in the
World War period, Ray J., having soon received an honorable discharge,
on account of physical disability, and Ward B. having become an
instructor in the aviation department.  All four of the children
received the advantages of the West Virginia Wesleyan College.