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An Illustrated History of the
State of Iowa F Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Richard Barton. Gen. Jonathan Emerson Fletcher Gen. Jonathan E. Fletcher was a native of Thetford, Vermont, and came to Muscatine in the summer of 1838, when Iowa was made a separate territory. He attended the first land sale in the territory, in November, 1838, at which he bought lands six miles west of the city, upon which he located in the fall of 1839, and went to farming, having previously returned to Vermont and married his surviving wife. He had resided a few years in Ohio before he came to Iowa. Gen. Fletcher held many responsible offices in this territory and state. He was a member of the convention which framed the old constitution, taking an important part in the formation of our fundamental law. In 1846, he was appointed, by President Polk, an Indian agent for the Winnebagoes, and served in that capacity eleven years; few agents were ever better calculated to manage a tribe of Indians. The Winnebagoes, Sioux and Chippewas were frequently at war, and he was often instrumental in saving much bloodshed. With quiet apprehension, decision and firmness, and great courage to face and surmount all difficulties, his valuable services in his long career as Indian agent, to the government, and to the country, are incalculable. Gen. Fletcher returned to his farm, one mile west of Muscatine, Ia., 1858,where he resided till his death. He left a wife and eight children, his eldest son a practicing physician at Detroit, Mich. |