Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/139

 FLETCHER

FLETCHER

1871-76. Slie came to the Uiiitetl States iu 1879 and was assistant in the Harvard college observa- tory, 1881-98. wlieii slie was appointed curator of astronomical pho- tographs, and was latel- assigned to the charge of the Astro- ])hotographic build ing of Harvard university. She ex- amined the photo- graphic spectra of the stars, which led to the discovery of nu- merous new objects, Including five new stars, eiglity stars of the fifth type, and a hundred variable stars. She was inar- ried to James Orr Fleming, May 26, 1877, and her only son, Edward P. Fleming, was educated at the Massachusetts i:i;titute of technology.

FLETCHER, Alice Cunningham, ethuolo.nist, was boni in Bo.ston. Mass., in 184."). Early in life she became interested in arclutological and eth- nological research and removed to Ohio where she made a study of the archaeological remains found in the Jlississippi and Ohio valleys. She was employed in 1881 in investigating the habits and traditions of the Omaha Indians for the Pea- liody institute. Harvard university, in the interest of the museum of archasology and ethnology. She took ui> her residence -with the tribe and in 1883 the department of the interior employed her to allot to the Omahas their lands in severalty. She selected a number of Indian children and adults as pupils for the Indian schools, at Carlisle, Pa., and Hampton, Va. The "Woman's national Indian association made her its financial agent to loan small sums of money to worthy Indians to enable them to buy land and build houses. At the request of the Indian division, department of the interior, she prepared an exhibit illustrat- ing the progress of the Indians in the last quarter century and it was a feature of the New Orleans exposition of 1884-85. In 1886 she visited Alaska at the request of the U.S. commissioner of edu- cation to report on the condition of the native Indians in the direction of civilization and educa- tion. In 1887 she was appointed by the interior department, special agent to the Winnebago Indians. She was elected a member of the An- thropological society of Washington, and a fel- low of the American association for advancement of science, Slie published Iiiilian Edueation aiul Civilization (1888): a report of her investigation in Alaska in iss(i:;uid various pajiers.

FLETCHER, James Cooley, clergyman, was

born at Indianapolis, lud., April lo, 1825; son of Calvin and Sarah (Hill; Fletcher, and a descend- ant of Robert Fletcher, who emigrated from England to America in 1640, and was one of the founders of Concord, Mass. He was graduated from Brown university ' in 1846, and studied at Princeton theological seminary, 1847-48, and at Geneva, Switzerland, 1849-.50. He was married to Henrietta, daughter of the Rev. Dr. C'^sar and Jenny Malan of Geneva, Switzerland. He was agent of the American and foreign Christian union in the United States, 1851; ordained to the Presbyterian ministrj', 1851; missionary for the American and foreign Christian union, and sea- man's chaplain at Rio de Janeiro. Brazil, 1852- 55; U.S. secretary of legation ad interim, Rio de Janeiro, 1852-53, and in 1855-56 he travelled 3000 miles in Brazil as agent of the' American Bible society. In 1856 he returned to the United States where he remained until 1802, when he returned to Brazil as agent of the American Siuiday-school union, and when;iscending the Amazon to Peru employed his leisure time in making a collection of natural history objects for Prof. Louis Agassiz, jirevious to Agassiz's voyage to Brazil. In 1805 he was instriunental in inducing the government of Brazil to join the United States in estalilisliing a line of steamers between New York city and Rio de Janeii-o. He was U.S. consul. Oporto, Portugal, 1869-73; ckarye d'affaires ad interim, Lisbon, 1870; missionary and newspaper corre- si^ondent, Naples, Italy, 1873-90, after which he returned to the United States and held pastorates at Wilmington, Cal., 1892. and La Crescenta, Cal., near Los Angeles, Cal., from 1893. He re- ceived the degree of Litt. D. from Brown in 1896. In collaboration with the Rev. D. P. Kidder. D.D., he published Jlra.-il and the Brazilians (1857) which in England and America passed through nine editions. He died in Los Angeles, Cal. April 23, 1901.

FLETCHER, Julia Constance, " George Flem- ming. " author, was born in Riode Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 24, 1853; daughter of the Rev. James Cooley and Henrietta (Malan) Fletcher; and granddaugh- ter of Calvin and Sarah (Hill) Fletcher, and of the Rev. Dr. Cfi.sar and Jenny Malan of Geneva, Switzerland. She was educated at the Ladies' seminary, Andover. JIass., and in Lausanne, ■Switzerland. She published under the pen-name "George Flemming": Kismet (1877, 20th ed., 1882); Miraeie (1878); Head of jMednsa (1882); Vcs- tigia (1884); AndrniJieda {XmH'): The Trvth ahovt Clement Ker (1889); and many short tales. Slu; wrote several plays, which were well received. and, in connection with Sirs. Frances Hodg.son Burnett, The First Gentleman of Europe, a melo- drama.