Re: JOHN P. FLETCHER born abt.1803 Tennessee
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In reply to:
Re: JOHN P. FLETCHER born abt.1803 Tennessee
Mel Harman 1/26/09
Thanks, that would explain the two older males in the 1800 Census.This family (The James Fletcher Senior Esquire Family and Descendants) has a long history of taking orphans and indigent children and raising them.Unfortunately, this charitable work complicates interpreting the census data.One has to correlate the Court records with the Census records to determine who is in the household.William and James both show frequent adoption or reception of orphans or other bounded youth to learn a trade.We long thought that James and William were related, probably brothers or father and son, but DNA analysis of their descendants later showed that they were not related.I believe that William or his father may have taken James as a bonded youth, raised and educated him and both their families remained close until their deaths.Both died within a year of each other about 1805.It is possible that William's father was the person who took James in, but I have not found any record to prove that.William is somehow related to Moses Fletcher of Fauquier Co. VA - we do not know exactly how - but their DNA is close enough to show a common ancestor.Keep me informed of what you find.