Zachariah Fletcher¶
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Decision¶
Supplemental early settler, verified in the future-Brooks 660th District by 1836. The original Lowndes County militia return names Zachariah Fletcher as a private in that district. The return establishes his district association; it does not prove active Creek War service.
Land and family¶
An 1846 deed involving District 12, Land Lot 244 names Mary Fletcher as Zachariah's wife. An 1850 deed concerning District 11, Lot 297 explicitly identifies A. Z. DeKalb Fletcher, Samuel Fletcher, and Jeremiah Fletcher as his sons. The second tract lay outside the future-Brooks area, but its relationship language makes it important family evidence.
Compiled genealogies also assign William Lofton Fletcher and John Wesley Fletcher to Zachariah and Mary. Those additional parent-child claims remain secondary-supported because no inspected original record names them as sons.
The surviving 1840 census locator is compatible with Zachariah, but the handwritten row has not received a controlling independent transcription. A former 1850 candidate is not used as evidence because the surname may read Frederick rather than Fletcher.
Barney connection¶
No descendant bridge to Barney has been proved. Cleve Fletcher, a Black lodger enumerated at Barney in 1910, cannot be connected to Zachariah's white antebellum household or to the three sons named in the 1850 deed. The shared surname alone is not evidence of kinship.
Sources¶
- Lowndes County general-militia return, 660th District, 1836; Valdosta State University Archives, item 10428/1219.
- Lowndes County deed extract, Book E, p. 108, October 22, 1846, Zachariah and Mary Fletcher, District 12, Lot 244.
- Lowndes County deed extract, Book C, p. 635, April 21, 1850, naming A. Z. DeKalb, Samuel, and Jeremiah Fletcher as Zachariah Fletcher's sons.
- 1840 U.S. census, Lowndes County, Georgia, preserved household locator; Ancestry image
4411334_00481. - 1910 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Cleve Fletcher entry.