FLETCHER, JAMES COOLEY: 1823-1901.
" James Cooley Fletcher … missionary, the son of Calvin and Sarah (Hill) Fletcher … was born in Indianapolis . He prepared for college at the Indianapolis Seminary, and at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H., and graduated from Brown University in 1846 … he entered Princeton Theological Seminary and took the full course there … he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, N. J. He spent the following year in theological study at Paris, France, page: 111[View Page 111] and Geneva, Switzerland, and married, on Aug. 28, 1850, in Geneva , Henrietta, daughter of the Rev. Dr. César and Jenny Malan … He was ordained on Feb. 13, 1851, by the Presbytery of Muncie, Ind., and at the close of the same year went to Brazil as missionary of the Christian Union and chaplain of the Seaman's riend Society. During the year 1852-53 he was first secretary pro tern. and then acting secretary of the United States legation at Rio de Janeiro , a position which brought him into intimate relations with the Emperor Dom Pedro 11. In 1854, after a visit to Chile , he returned to the United States for several months … From 1856 to 1862 he lived in Newburyport, Mass., engaged in writing, preaching, and lecturing…
"In 1862-63 he was agent in Brazil of the American Sunday School Union, cooperating with the American Bible Society. He made a journey of 2,000 miles up the Amazon to the borders of Peru , gathering natural history specimens for Prof. Louis Agassiz–a journey which led to an expedition by Agassiz himself in 1865
… In 1868-69 he was Brazilian agent of the American Tract Society. From 1869 to 1873 he resided in Portugal as U. S. consul at Oporto for the full period and during the year 1870 acted also as United States charge d'affaires at Lisbon . On Oct. 22, 1872, he married at the consulate in Oporto his second wife, Fredrica Jane Smith. From 1873 to 1890, save for a brief visit to the United States , he resided in Naples , Italy, engaging in voluntary missionary work with the Waldenses and the Free Church of Scotland ; and contributing numerous articles to American newspapers and magazines … He returned to the U. S. in 1890 and took up his residence in Los Angeles, Calif., serving as stated supply of the Presbyterian Church at Wilmington, Calif., during 1892, and at La Crescenta, Calif., from 1893 until his death. On Jan. 2, 1897, he married Mrs. Elizabeth (Mutton) Curryer of Oakland, Calif. During the last six years of his life he was president of the Los Angeles School of Art and Design. He died and was buried at Los Angeles . He was survived by his third wife and by a son and daughter of his first marriage …"
Condensed from J. C. A., Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. VI.
- Brazil and the Brazilians (with the Rev.D. P. Kidder). Philadelphia, 1857.
- Our Commercial Relations with South America.
Pompeii.
