Nancy Ann Brown Fletcher
(click on above photographs for larger photographs)
My great-great-grandmother Nancy Ann Brown Fletcher lived a very hard life. Much has been written about her; a lot has not yet been proven.
Nancy Ann was born 17 December 1846, in what is now Garland County, Arkansas, to Samuel and Melinda Witham. Nancy’s mother died when she was only three weeks old, leaving her father with a baby and another daughter named Martha to raise. Records indicate that Samuel did not marry again until Nancy was about six years old. According to the 1850 Arkansas Census (Hot Spring County), they lived near Samuel’s brother Edward and his sister Margaret Wallace, who probably helped care for the young children.
Many “stories” have been shared about Nancy throughout the family for well over 100 years. Marilee Fletcher Malloy, a now-deceased family historian, wrote (found in The Record, 1970, published by the Hot Springs-Garland County Historical Society, p. 159):
During the Civil War, my grandmother (Nancy Brown) lived at Benton
with an aunt. Her half-brother David [some census records indicate
his name may have been Daniel] lived with them. "Bushwackers" burned
their house and everything they owned, except two of her homespun dresses,
which she was allowed to keep. They tortured her aunt by burning her feet
and took the small boy to the river where they made him believe they would
drown him.
During this time a skirmish took place near the old Saline
River bridge and several Confederate men were left wounded or dead. Nancy
went to the scene later, drove off the maurading hogs, cleaned
the wounded and gave them food and drink. She cleaned the dead and loaded
them with the wounded in an ox wagon, by dead of night to avoid the Federals;
she hauled them to their folks. The dead to be buried and the wounded to
recuperate. Some where too badly wounded to be moved far, so these she took
up to the hills, piled brush over them and daily went and bathed their wounds
and gave them food and water.
Virgle Thomas Fletcher, a grandson of Nancy Ann Brown Fletcher, published a small book named The Fletcher Family and Related Families of Terry, Brown, Witham, Ballard, Garrison, Owens, Hollinsworth, in 1989. It was researched by Marilee Fletcher Malloy and compiled by Shirlene Martin Chilton. Marilee Fletcher Malloy wrote (p. 8-9):
During the war, Grandma and David lived with her half-aunt. Perhaps
Martha lived there, also, but she never said. They lived in or near Benton.
It was during this time that a party of men, who I have heard my Dad say
many times (led by Rayborn Vance's grandfather), suffered this house and
all its contents burned. They also took her aunt out in the back yard, built
a fire and told her they were going to burn her feet.
My Grandmother
pushed her way into the room filled with carousing men and asked if there
was anyone in charge. She demanded of the man who was designated as being
in charge if he was going to allow them to burn her aunt alive and he said,
"no." He sent two men to stop them.
Then he said, "Young lady, is there
anything in this house that belongs to you?"
He said, "Them them." Then
they set the fire. They also took her little brother to the river and made
him believe that they were going to drown him unless he told them something.
I never heard her mention David again, and never heard my Dad ever mention
him at all. I also never heard my grandmother mention the name of her half-aunt.
In my opinion, I would say Great Grandpa Brown died in Hot Springs, Lonsdale,
or Gravel Hill.
The Arkansas Gazette ran a series called, "Chronicles
of Arkansas." The article on July 25, 1864, was on the killing of Dr. Holt.
Also in this same article it tells of an Enos Vance who was particularly
active in punishing former rebels and civilians in or near Benton. I believe
this is documented proof of what my Dad said.
Whether these
two stories are true will probably never be known. Some say that Granny
Nancy was actually living east of Hot Springs during this time. The family
was found in Dyer Township of Saline County in the 1860 Arkansas Census,
which makes me believe they were still in that area during the war. What
also makes these stories interesting is that the Enos Vance mentioned was
actually Enoch Vance, my paternal great-great-grandfather. Grandpa Vance
was an abolitionist and became extremely radical after escaping the Confederate
prison in Little Rock.
Nancy married Richard (also known as Merrill Dickson) Fletcher 20 July 1867, in Hot Spring County. They were the parents of at least three children: Lewis (also spelled Louis) Lee, John Tyson, Laura Ellen. Nancy also had two more daughters, Lula and Margaret Naomi "Oma." Some say both of these daughters were born after the death of Grandpa Fletcher and, perhaps, not his children. Some say only one, Oma, was born after his death.
Richard was murdered in Hot Springs and died 5 July 1877. From the Arkansas Gazette, 3 August 1877, Garland County, Hot Springs: Emile Sutton and Billy Hite the two parties who are charged with the murder of Richard Fletcher, and which case has just underwent a preliminary examination, have been committed by Justices Toale and Crim to await action of the next term of the Circuit Court. The attorneys for the defense will endeavor to get bail for their clients on a writ of habeas corpus. From the Arkansas Gazette, 11 August 1877, Garland County, Hot Springs: Billy Hite and Emile Sutton, charged with the murder of Richard Fletcher, were brought before County Judge Willoughby last Saturday morning, on a writ of habeas corpus, and admitted to bail of the sum of $500 each. Whether either of these men was found guilty is unknown, as most of the Garland County Courthouse records were destroyed by fire. No one in the family knows exactly where Richard is buried, except that they believe it was somewhere between Hot Springs and their home in western Saline County.
After the death of her husband, Nancy was left with a daunting task of raising a family, as many other widows of that time had to endure. She died 21 February 1929 in Saline County in the home of her son John Tyson and is buried next to her daughter Laura Fletcher Peeler, my great-grandmother, in McPherson Cemetery in Saline County. [Her marker has a different date of death from her death certificate.]
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