Charles F. Fleming
1914 Delaware County History pgs. 328-331
To some men who have been blessed with strong constitutions and who respect the
laws of nature it is given to enjoy an old age that is vigorous and active and
such a man is Charles F. Fleming, who, although he
is eighty-six years of age, still personally manages his extensive business
interests, as he owns several thousand acres of land in this and other states.
He has led an eventful life, having been sailor, miner, miller,
farmer and capitalist. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on the 3d of
June, 1828,
a son of Andrew M. and Anna (Nordenshuld) Fleming, both of whom passed away in Sweden.
In April,
1840, at the age of eleven years, Charles F. Fleming left home and shipped upon
a boat bound for South America and for a number of years followed the sea. At odd times he
attended school at Kingston,
Massachusetts. He quickly mastered the principles
of seamanship and navigation and when but a boy of sixteen was second mate of a
ship in the American registry and this necessitated his becoming a naturalized
citizen of the United States. He was at the time the only person
in this country who had taken out his naturalization papers at so early an age.
In 1849, when a young man of twenty years, he went to California, by way of Isthmus
of Panama, and there remained for six prosperous years, but in 1855 he returned
to Massachusetts and was there married. In 1857 he came west and located in Delaware county, Iowa, and his family followed him in
1858. He purchased land and built a gristmill, which he ran successfully for a
time,
but in 1861 he turned his attention to sawmilling, erecting a mill upon the
Maquoketa river. He successfully conducted this enterprise until 1894, when he
sold, and the mill was in use for a number of years after that. Throughout his
life he has displayed great business ability and as the greater part of his
capital has been invested in land, he now owns eleven hundred and forty acres
in Iowa, seventy-six hundred acres,
comprising six plantations, in the "black" belt of Mississippi and Alabama, and two
hundred and forty acres in Missouri. He and six other men, namely:
Judge F. B. Doolittle, Benjamin Thorpe, Sr., Judge John M. Brayton, Rensselaer
Eddy, A. E. Martin, and R. Boon, built through Delaware county the railroad
first known as the Davenport & St. Paul, but which has since become a part
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He is the only one living of
the seven founders of the road. Although he has lived much longer than the three
score years
and ten allotted to man, his mind is yet clear and decisive and his physical
health is good. In the conduct of his business, which is extensive, he
manifests those qualities which we expect to find only in men many years his
junior, as he is able to quickly grasp the salient points in a given situation,
prompt in coming to a decision and resolute in the execution of his plans.
On
September 13, 1855, at Plymouth, Massachusetts, Mr. Fleming was married to Miss
Mary S. Holmes, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Holmes, both of Mayflower
stock and natives of Massachusetts, They both passed away many years ago and
are buried in Plymouth. Mrs. Fleming died April 11, 1911, at the age of seventy-six years.
Mr. and Mrs. Fleming became the parents of six children: Charles F., who died
in Delhi in 1880; David A., who passed away
in Scooba, Mississippi, in 1894; Elsie Caroline, who died
in 1887; Andrew M., a resident of Mississippi; E. H., the postmaster of Delhi; and Mary L., the wife of George H.
Barr, who lives in Manchester.
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