Jweaver28: ←Created page with '{{Short description|American lawyer and politician}} {{construction}} {{ Infobox officeholder |birthname = William Meade Fletcher | image = | imagesize = 220px |office = Member of the Virginia State<br> Corporation Commission |term_start = February 1, 1928 |term_end = December 19, 1943 |preceded = Berkley D. Adams |succeeded =Harvey B. Apperson | birth_date = {{Birth date|1870|10...'
{{Short description|American lawyer and politician}}
{{construction}}
{{ Infobox officeholder
|birthname = William Meade Fletcher
| image =
| imagesize = 220px
|office = [[State Corporation Commission (Virginia)|Member of the Virginia State<br> Corporation Commission]]
|term_start = February 1, 1928
|term_end = December 19, 1943
|preceded = [[Berkley D. Adams]]
|succeeded =[[Harvey B. Apperson]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1870|10|21}}
| birth_place = [[Sperryville, Virginia|Sperryville]], [[Rappahannock County, Virginia|Rappahannock County]], [[Virginia]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1943|12|19|1870|10|21}}
| death_place = [[Richmond, Virginia]]
| resting_place= St. Paul's Episcopal Churchyard, [[Woodville, Virginia|Woodville]], [[Rappahannock County, Virginia]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse = Florence Lea (d. 1911)<br>Martha Ball Buckner (m.1914)
| children = son, daughter
| alma_mater = [[University of Virginia School of Law]]
| profession = lawyer, professor, author, judge
| known_for =Fletcher's Cyclopedia of the Law of Corporations
}}
''' William Meade Fletcher''' (October 21, 1870 – December 19, 1943) was a [[Virginia]] lawyer, professor and judge, perhaps best known as the author of ''Fletcher's Cyclopedia of the Law of Corporations'' which continues to be revised after his death. A member of the [[Byrd Organization]], Fletcher served as member of the [[Virginia Corporation Commission]] (1928-1943).
==Early and family life==
Born near [[Sperryville, Virginia|Sperryville]], [[Rappahannock County, Virginia]] to the former Catherine Meade and her husband James William Fletcher, he was descended from the [[First Families of Virginia]]. He had a younger brother, James Hamilton Fletcher (1872-1948). After an elementary education locally, he traveled to [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]] and received a law degree from the [[University of Virginia School of Law]] in 1891.
Fletcher married Florence Lea (1868-1911) in 1896, but they had no children before her death, after which Fletcher moved back to Virginia. In 1914 he remarried, to the former Martha Ball Buckner (1888-1996), who bore a daughter, Anne Buckner Fletcher Smith (1915-1942), and a son, James William Fletcher (1918-1998).<ref>1920 U.S. Federal Census for Piedmont District, Rappahannock County, Virginia p. 17 of 32 on ancestry.com</ref>
==Career==
Admitted to the bar in 1891, Fletcher first practiced law in Montana (1891-1894) before moving to [[Chicago, Illinois]] where he practiced corporate law for nearly two decades beginning in 1895, also becoming a professor of law at what was then the [[John Marshall Law School]] (1899-1901) and then at [[Northwestern University]] (1901-1904). Between 1905 and 1912, Fletcher taught at law schools in Philadelphia and Chicago, before returning to Rappahannock County and remarrying. A member of the [[Byrd Organization]], he was a political ally of Virginia Governor then U.S. Senator [[Harry F. Byrd Sr.]], who also traced his lineage to the First Families of Virginia<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heinemann |first=Ronald L. |title=Harry Byrd of Virginia |isbn=9780813916422 |pages=233}}</ref>
In 1893 Fletcher served as Special judge of the Cascade County District Court in Montana. Three decades later, in 1925, Virginia legislators elected him as Judge of the Court of Juvenile and Domestic Relations for Rappahannock County, but he only served for a year. In 1926, Governor [[Harry F. Byrd Sr.|Harry Byrd]] appointed Fletcher to a Commission to Suggest Amendments to the Constitution of Virginia. The following year, Virginia legislators appointed Fletcher as a member of the [[Virginia Corporation Commission]]. He took office on February 1, 1928 and served until his death, with several terms as the rotating chairman.<ref>https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/members-of-the-virginia-state-corporation-commission/</ref> Fletcher also served as a Virginia delegate to the Delaware Democratic National Convention in 1932.
By 1914 Fletcher lived at [[Fall Hill|Thornton Hill]], the family farm in Rappahannock County, the earliest part of which had been constructed in 1790 for John Thornton, whose wife was a niece of George Washington (Francis Thornton had patented it in 1720). In 1936 Fletcher cooperated with a historic inventory by the [[Works Project Administration]].
==Death and legacy==
Fletcher suffered from diabetes in his later years, and died of a heart attack in Richmond on December 19, 1943, survived by his widow, daughter and son.<ref>death record available on ancestry.com</ref> He is buried at the former cemetery for St. Paul's Episcopal Church in [[Woodville, Virginia]]. Although the church itself was destroyed in 1929 and not rebuilt, the graveyard continues to be used by Trinity Episcopal Church in nearby Washington, Virginia.<ref>St. Paul's Episcopal Cemetery (trinwash.org)</ref> In 1952 his son would erect a kennel for a local foxhunting group.<ref>http://www.trinwash.org/About-Us-2/Saint-Paul-s-Episcopal-Cemetery/</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, William M.}}
[[Category: Virginia lawyers]]
[[Category
eople from Rappahannock County, Virginia]]
[[Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American judges]]
[[Category:20th-century Virginia politicians]]
Okumaya devam et...
{{Short description|American lawyer and politician}}
{{construction}}
{{ Infobox officeholder
|birthname = William Meade Fletcher
| image =
| imagesize = 220px
|office = [[State Corporation Commission (Virginia)|Member of the Virginia State<br> Corporation Commission]]
|term_start = February 1, 1928
|term_end = December 19, 1943
|preceded = [[Berkley D. Adams]]
|succeeded =[[Harvey B. Apperson]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1870|10|21}}
| birth_place = [[Sperryville, Virginia|Sperryville]], [[Rappahannock County, Virginia|Rappahannock County]], [[Virginia]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1943|12|19|1870|10|21}}
| death_place = [[Richmond, Virginia]]
| resting_place= St. Paul's Episcopal Churchyard, [[Woodville, Virginia|Woodville]], [[Rappahannock County, Virginia]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse = Florence Lea (d. 1911)<br>Martha Ball Buckner (m.1914)
| children = son, daughter
| alma_mater = [[University of Virginia School of Law]]
| profession = lawyer, professor, author, judge
| known_for =Fletcher's Cyclopedia of the Law of Corporations
}}
''' William Meade Fletcher''' (October 21, 1870 – December 19, 1943) was a [[Virginia]] lawyer, professor and judge, perhaps best known as the author of ''Fletcher's Cyclopedia of the Law of Corporations'' which continues to be revised after his death. A member of the [[Byrd Organization]], Fletcher served as member of the [[Virginia Corporation Commission]] (1928-1943).
==Early and family life==
Born near [[Sperryville, Virginia|Sperryville]], [[Rappahannock County, Virginia]] to the former Catherine Meade and her husband James William Fletcher, he was descended from the [[First Families of Virginia]]. He had a younger brother, James Hamilton Fletcher (1872-1948). After an elementary education locally, he traveled to [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]] and received a law degree from the [[University of Virginia School of Law]] in 1891.
Fletcher married Florence Lea (1868-1911) in 1896, but they had no children before her death, after which Fletcher moved back to Virginia. In 1914 he remarried, to the former Martha Ball Buckner (1888-1996), who bore a daughter, Anne Buckner Fletcher Smith (1915-1942), and a son, James William Fletcher (1918-1998).<ref>1920 U.S. Federal Census for Piedmont District, Rappahannock County, Virginia p. 17 of 32 on ancestry.com</ref>
==Career==
Admitted to the bar in 1891, Fletcher first practiced law in Montana (1891-1894) before moving to [[Chicago, Illinois]] where he practiced corporate law for nearly two decades beginning in 1895, also becoming a professor of law at what was then the [[John Marshall Law School]] (1899-1901) and then at [[Northwestern University]] (1901-1904). Between 1905 and 1912, Fletcher taught at law schools in Philadelphia and Chicago, before returning to Rappahannock County and remarrying. A member of the [[Byrd Organization]], he was a political ally of Virginia Governor then U.S. Senator [[Harry F. Byrd Sr.]], who also traced his lineage to the First Families of Virginia<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heinemann |first=Ronald L. |title=Harry Byrd of Virginia |isbn=9780813916422 |pages=233}}</ref>
In 1893 Fletcher served as Special judge of the Cascade County District Court in Montana. Three decades later, in 1925, Virginia legislators elected him as Judge of the Court of Juvenile and Domestic Relations for Rappahannock County, but he only served for a year. In 1926, Governor [[Harry F. Byrd Sr.|Harry Byrd]] appointed Fletcher to a Commission to Suggest Amendments to the Constitution of Virginia. The following year, Virginia legislators appointed Fletcher as a member of the [[Virginia Corporation Commission]]. He took office on February 1, 1928 and served until his death, with several terms as the rotating chairman.<ref>https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/members-of-the-virginia-state-corporation-commission/</ref> Fletcher also served as a Virginia delegate to the Delaware Democratic National Convention in 1932.
By 1914 Fletcher lived at [[Fall Hill|Thornton Hill]], the family farm in Rappahannock County, the earliest part of which had been constructed in 1790 for John Thornton, whose wife was a niece of George Washington (Francis Thornton had patented it in 1720). In 1936 Fletcher cooperated with a historic inventory by the [[Works Project Administration]].
==Death and legacy==
Fletcher suffered from diabetes in his later years, and died of a heart attack in Richmond on December 19, 1943, survived by his widow, daughter and son.<ref>death record available on ancestry.com</ref> He is buried at the former cemetery for St. Paul's Episcopal Church in [[Woodville, Virginia]]. Although the church itself was destroyed in 1929 and not rebuilt, the graveyard continues to be used by Trinity Episcopal Church in nearby Washington, Virginia.<ref>St. Paul's Episcopal Cemetery (trinwash.org)</ref> In 1952 his son would erect a kennel for a local foxhunting group.<ref>http://www.trinwash.org/About-Us-2/Saint-Paul-s-Episcopal-Cemetery/</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, William M.}}
[[Category: Virginia lawyers]]
[[Category
eople from Rappahannock County, Virginia]][[Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American judges]]
[[Category:20th-century Virginia politicians]]
Okumaya devam et...