Banker

Nickname:

A. S.

Born:

April 8, 1833, Manchester, Chesterfield County, Virginia

Died:

October 8, 1908, Huntsville, Alabama

Buried:

Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama

Father of:

Charles Fletcher

Brother of:

Dr. Richard Matthew Fletcher (1830)

Son of:

James Nicholas Fletcher

Father of:

Mary Louise Fletcher

Father of:

Shelby Sidney Fletcher

Notes:

•  "He began the practice of law in Huntsville, 1858. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the 4th Alabama infantry regiment, C. S. Army, and was appointed quartermaster of the command with the rank of captain and served until the end of the war. Gov. L. E. Parsons appointed him alderman in 1868, and he was alternately alderman and councilman of his city for over fifteen years; represented Madison County in the legislature in 1876-77, 1878-79, 1892-93, 189495, and was re-elected in November, 1902. He was elected a delegate from Madison County to the Constitutional convention of 1901, serving on the committee of municipal corporations, and as chairman of the committee on banks and banking in that body. At the time of his death he was vice-president of the First National Bank of Huntsville." - Owen

•  Alabama Member of the Alabama House of Representative from Madison County, 1876-1879, 1892-1893, 1894-1895, 1903-1907. - Record, Vol. 1

•  Delegate to the 1901 Constitutional Convention. - Record, Vol. 1

•  Served on the Board of Trustees for Alabama A and M College (Now University)1880-1903. - Record, Vol. 1

•  Served on the Alabama State Welfare Board, 1935-1937. - Record, Vol. 1

•  A.S. served on the Board of Directors for Huntsville's first cotton factory. - Record Vol. 2

•  Huntsville Alderman 1869-1870, 1871-1872, 1887-1889, 1889-1891, 1899-1901, 1901-1903. As Aldeerman, he took William F. Mastin's place as Mayor when he died in 1871. - Record Vol. 2

•  Commissioner to Tennessee Centennial, 1896. - Record Vol. 2

•  "The City Council ordered a new foot bridge over the Spring Branch in the Spring Park. Alderman Fletcher was instructed to see that it was built according to requirements." - Pruitt

•  New opera house "In March 1905 the Elks proceeded to acquire property for $9,500 on Eustis Street from Samuel H. Lowry, A. S. Fletcher, James H. Ballentine, A. McDonnell, and George P. Turner, and thereafter began serious planning for construction. Many members, although not liking the location, their having favored the Newman property on Jefferson Street, nevertheless gave their wholehearted cooperation." - Elks

•  A.S. was a member of the Huntsville Elks Lodge. - Elks

•  One of the original directors of the National Bank of Huntsville organized after the American Civil War ended in 1865. - Jones

•  A. S. Fletcher was a trustees of the North Alabama College - Ford

•  Controversy over water:
     "Unanimity was not always a feature of decision-making concerning the waterworks. A.S. Fletcher, a candidate for mayor in 1891, made a campaign issue of the free water granted to the Dallas Mill. He protested the city's expenditure for laying an eight-inch cast iron main from Walker Street to the Dallas Mill. The mill, he said, had enough incentive with the tax exemptions provided by the state of Alabama; and furthermore, the precedent would compel the city to offer free water to every new industry that located here. Besides, he said, the 500,000 gallons given away would cost the city $4 a day.
     Fletcher, a major stockholder in Huntsville Cotton Mill Co., a competitor of the Dallas Mill, lost the mayoral election to William Mastin. But by 1899 when the free water grant and tax exemptions for Dallas Mill came up for renewal, Fletcher was an Alderman again. He renewed his objections within the Board, and the water grant was not renewed." - McCauley

•  Speaking of the house at 210 Williams Street: "By 1883, A.S. Fletcher was in residence. Fletcher was a trustee for Robert Fearn, Jr., as well as a representative in the Alabama House and a delegate to the 1901 constitutional convention. He and his wife, Mattie Lowe Fletcher, replaced the Federal house with the present chateau-style structure, now 210 Williams Street. The house was completed in 1902. Fletcher's nephew, Robert Joseph Lowe, inherited the property upon Fletcher's death in 1908." - Fisk

•  Son of James N. and Matilda Golden (Cheatham) Fletcher, natives of Virginia, the former early emigrated to North Alabama. - Owen

•  He was educated at Green Academy of Huntsville, LaGrange College, where he graduated in 1855. - Owen

•  Father of:
William Holding Fletcher (1868 - 1935)
Charles Fletcher (1869 - 1943)
Shelby Sydney Fletcher (1872 - 1936)
Mary Louise Fletcher Coleman (1877 - 1939) - Find A Grave

•  Married:
1.) Matilda "Mattie" Holding. Married April 24, 1867. She was born March 1838 in Alabama and died Sept 25, 1931 in Madison Co., Alabama.
2.) Mrs. Robert J. Lowe on April 24, 1867, in Huntsville - Owen

•  "Shelby S. Fletcher lived with his parents at their home on Randolph Avenue during 1900. His father, A. S. Fletcher, was born April 1833, in Virginia. He was a lawyer. Shelby's mother died and his father remarried in 1896. Her son from a previous marriage lived in the home. His name was R. H. Lowe."
     Children that lived in the home were:
W. H. Fletcher, (a banker) born in March 1868
Charles, (a bookkeeper) born in December 1870
Shelby S. (a lawyer) born in March 1873
Martha L., born April 1879. - Simpson

•  Second marriage was to Mrs. Mattie Lowe, recorded April 24, 1867 (dates given here are for the marriage license, not necessarily for the wedding.) - MCRC

•  Captain Algernon Sidney Fletcher (b.1833) had a nephew, son of Dr. Richard M Fletcher (b.1831), named Algernon Sydenham Fletcher (b.1861). Both were sometimes called "A.S." - Editor's Note


Related Links:

•  Ad - History of the Cotton Textile Industry of Alabama, 1809 to 1950, by Dwight M. Wilhelm, 1950, page 82.

•  Ancestry.com - Page owned by DFletcher0728 and can be viewed only with an Ancestry.com paid subscription. (Originally found at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/28032295/person/12182554687.)

•  Elks - Great Elks in Madison County?? You Better Believe It!! A History of Madison County, Alabama, Elkdom, by James Record, 1972, pages 8 & 70.

•  Find A Grave - Page created by Hutch with photos of tombstones.

•  Fisk - Article titled: "Early Days on Williams Street" by Sarah Huff Fisk in Historic Huntsville Quarterly, Vol. XXX, #1-2, Spring-Summer, 2004, Historic Huntsville Foundation.

•  Ford - Article titled "North Alabama College 1858-1864, the Non-Existent School" by Mrs. Earle R. Ford, page 24.

•  Jones - Article on Banking in Madison County by Pat Jones in Huntsville Historical Review, Volume 5, #2 & #3, Apr-75, Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, page 27.

•  Matttie's Find A Grave - Page created by TravelinAnn centering on Captain Fletcher's second wife, Matilda "Mattie" Holding Lowe Fletcher with good biographical and genealogical information.

•  McCauley - Article titled "The Origins of Huntsville's Waterworks Utility Board" by Patrick McCauley in Huntsville Historical Review, Volume 25, #1, Jan-98, Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, page 2.

•  MCRC - Madison County Records Center, Marriages

•  Owen - History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Volume 3, by Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, 1921, page 588.

•  Pruitt - Eden of the South: A Chronology of Huntsville, Alabama, 1805-2005, by Raneé G. Pruitt, Editor, 2005, page 83.

•  Rankin File - John P. Rankin has, over the years, collected information about families living in Madison County, AL. He has made these files available here at Huntsville History Collection. The files include Rankin's notes, photos, digital copies of documents, and clippings from newspapers and periodicals. He has a Fletcher family file and some of it might apply to Captain Algernon Sidney Fletcher, 1833.

•  Record Vol. 2 - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume II by James Record, 1978, pages 50, 355 - 359, 671.

•  Record, Vol. 1 - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume I, by James Record, 1970, pages 38, 268, 270, 292, 341.

•  Simpson - The Sins of Madison County, by Fred B. Simpson with Mary N. Daniel & Gay C. Campbell, 2000, page 305.

The Following Pages Link to this Page:
•  Charles Fletcher
•  Dr. Richard Matthew Fletcher (1830)
•  Fisk
•  Ford
•  James Nicholas Fletcher
•  Jones
•  Mary Louise Fletcher
•  McCauley
•  Owen
•  Pruitt
•  Record Vol. 2
•  Record, Vol. 1
•  Shelby Sidney Fletcher