The Early Life of Frank Jack Fletcher
Rough Draft

Frank Jack Fletcher was born April 29, 1885 and raised in the home of his grandfather built at 202 Church Street, Marshalltown, Iowa. This was the second house built by George Glick after has family outgrew the first and when he became prosperous. Both houses stand today as museums to the family.

The house sits one block from the public square on which was being built the Marshall Country Courthouse, dedicated 1886, and is still in use, and in the midst of the principle business district on Main Street. The 6,000 square foot, two story brick house sits on a corner lot of 120 feet by 180 feet with a house of such substance as to become a hotel, the "Dodge House", soon after Jack went on to Annapolis and the house was sold. The stables across the back yard were almost the size of the house.
Church Street is aptly named and Jack was raised across from the Episcopal Church with a Methodist Church on the next block and many churches on that street.

George Glick (1827-1910) immigrated to America in 1840 at the age of thirteen with his parents, Johann Georg Glick and Katharina Geier from Otterberg, Bavaria in May 1840 to Mansfield, Ohio. On graduation from Cincinnati Medical College in 1849, George and a professor, Eli Teegarden, went to the California gold fields as doctors and miners for five years when he returned married Jane Ziegenfeller of Pickaway, Ohio, Nov 1, 1855. Persuaded by relatives to take a half interest in a dry goods and grocery store, he moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, 1856.


Marshalltown was founded in 1853 by Henry Anson. An1860 census shows 30 buildings in Marshalltown. Population in 1875 - 4,384 ; 1885 - 8,298 In 1893 the city built a four story high school.
In 1858, George opened a drug store and was appointed Postmaster. He ran the drug store with post office attached until 1870, speculated in land, helped build the town cemetery and was a leader in getting the railroad to run through the town in 1863. In fact, two rail lines intersect and remain as junction and repair yard to this day. As a result, George was elected a city councilman in 1868.

George and Jane Glick raised five children in a modest house at 201 East State Street they had built 1859 that is now it is the Glick-Sower Museum. They raised 5 children : Charles, Albert G. (c1860-1917), Alice (1858-1945) , Fred. E. (18__-1938) and Frank (1881-1897) who died in his teens. Charles sold furniture and ran an undertaking business in 1893. Alice married John Thomas Fletcher. Albert G. married Nellie Abott, prominent in Marshalltown. Fred E. in a lawsuit was said to be “with no means and no property”.

In 1863 George Glick formed with Rev De Los and others the Marshall Cemetery Association for the Riverview Cemetery -- a 65 acre showplace to this day.
In 1864 was treasurer of school board
In 1864 he helped establish the First National Bank of Marshalltown acting as cashier, vice president and president for 18 years.
He and two partners built Hawkeye Oil Mill, 1872, to process flax oil in which he both sold the seed and bought the crops -- bought by Standard Oil which closed Marshalltown operations in 1878. The building in now Diamond Vogle Paint factory.
With four partners organized the Marshalltown Public Library in 1879. This became a Carnegie Library in 1902. He was a co-founder in 1879 of The Bankers Life Association (now Principle Financial Group), to provide low-cost life insurance for fellow bankers and their employees as its first medical officer.

He with four partners formed Marshalltown Sugar Refining Company 1880, known as the "Glucose Company" to process corn, cane, and potatoes -- purchased by Firmenenich, Germany, employing 400 workers -- it closed in 1891 for pollution.

He persuaded the Iowa State Assembly to build the Soldier's Home, now the Iowa Veterans Home and still a major factor in Marshalltown.

He moved to Des Moines in 1893, but retained a vice presidency of his bank.
Glick Elementary School is named in his honor, built in 1902 to serve the third ward and had eight teachers.
George died 1910.



Brothers Thomas Jack Fletcher and Frank Friday Fletcher moved to Oskaloosa, Iowa, from Indiana. There had been an earlier Fletcher in Marshalltown, a doctor who sold patent medicine, which confuses the genealogy with the names Ancil (d 1912)and wife Etta (d 1966), Pearl (d 1939), Rollan (Ralph) (d 1954)
Frank Friday Fletcher (November 23, 1855 - November 28, 1928), uncle, went to Annapolis, class of 1875, He became a specialist in new weapons and was a Lt. Commander at the Torpedo Station, Newport, RI when Jack went off to Annapolis. Frank earned the Medal of Honor for his command at Vera Cruz in 1914 and became Admiral of the Atlantic Fleet before World War One. (more)
Thomas J. Fletcher, born 1842 - June 30, 1929), father, served in the Civil War, joining 25th Iowa Infantry at age 17. Mustered out July 1, 1865 at Lewisville?, KY. He moved to Marshalltown and was made cashier of the First National Bank in 1877. That same year he married George Glick's only daughter, Alice, age 18. They moved into her family's home and raised three children there : Frank Jack (called Jack) (1885-1973), George(18??-19??), and Belle (18??-19??). Cashier of First National Bank 1877-1882. Succeeded by A. G. Glick. In 1882 he was treasurer of the Glucose Company. Thomas was co-founder with Frank Letts of the Letts-Fletcher Wholesale Grocery where Tom was treasurer in 1886. The building is located at the other end of the block from the Glick-Fletcher home about [1894><1901]?. Tom ran operations/treasurer until 1889 when he sold his interests and rejoined the Bank as Cashier in 1891 for a further 16 years until the First National Bank was sold by the Woodbury brothers to City National in 1907. The Wholesale company operated at least through 1930. The building is now Iowa Plumbing Wholesale. Tom Fletcher and Frank Letts founded the Marshalltown Public Library. Later in life, Tom and Alice went to live with their daughter, Belle, in Hollywood, CA, where T.J. died June 30, 1929. Alice Glick Fletcher later returned to Marshalltown where she lived to see her son's victory in WW2. She died Oct 21, 1945.

Alice Glick Fletcher (1858 - Oct 21, 1945) , mother was almost as an enthusiastic booster of Marshalltown as her father and husband. She taught at the Industrial School for underprivileged children. She chaired the library committee. Was active in woman's rights. Helped for the Iowa Federation of Woman's Clubs, was state secretary in 1901 and President in 1903. Promoted the traveling library (now interlibrary loan system). She was a charter member of the Hawthorn Club, Twentieth Century Club and Marshalltown Country Club. She spent her final years living with her daughter Belle in Hollywood, California. Alice died in 1945 and is buried in Marshalltown's Riverside Cemetery.

Frank Jack Fletcher. Jack was raised in a household devoted to public service and entrepreneurship and familiar with politics. Young Jack attended the public school, and played football and graduated Marshalltown High School among a class of 29. Jack was appointed to Annapolis in 1902 by Senator Jonathan Dolliver. The Fletcher family home was sold soon after Jack left and the family moved to 5 S. Fifth Avenue.
Jack is only known to have only returned once to Marshalltown, for the funeral of his mother in October, 1945.

Dr. George Glick built his first home at 201 E. State Street, in 1859. He sold his house to the George Sower family in 1870. Today it is a museum know as the Susie Sower House. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the early 1990's.
Dr. George Glick built a new, larger house for his family in 1870 where Jack Fletcher was raised from birth until he entered the Naval Academy. About 1910 the Glick family sold the property and it became a hotel under the names of the Dodge House Hotel and the Wilson Hotel. The Historical Society of Marshall County purchased the building in the mid-1980's and made it the new museum and main office.

His Neighborhood.

An open town square was the center of Marshalltown when Frank was born a block away on the corner of 2^nd Street and Church Street. The present county courthouse was built on that square before he reached school age. The block on in which he lived had only seven houses, his and another facing Church Street, the others facing Main Street. Across the street was an Episcopal Church which had a varied history. By the time he was ten years old the center of town had grown, the church became Universalist, the Odeon Opera House was built next door, across second Street, a steam plant ran heat to the Courthouse and the Odeon, a carriage works was built between his house and the Courthouse, and Doctor Gets had established a Surgical Hospital on 3^rd Street.

Frank was raised in a household of many children. The Glick-Fletcher housed Frank, his sister Belle (18__-1966, Hollywood), his brother George (18__- >1950s, Des Moines), Fred had died infancy, and three Glick cousins Albert (c1889-?), Charlott (c1889-??), Carl (1890-??, actor and university professor). By the turn of the century, when Frank turned sixteen, The Stodart Hotel and the Letts-Fletcher Wholesale Grocery (now Wholesale Supply) were built on the property to the back of the Fletcher house, facing Main Street, and three shops where built diagonally across his block on Main, a tailor, a bakery, and a t{illegible}.

Episcopal Church across the street had a varied history. They had met at Woodbury Hall in 1863 until they built St. Mathews Chapel, 18 E. State Street (then River Street) in 1868 and then sold to the Lutheran Church. They met in the Former Lutheran Church in 1870. During the depression of 1878, they were forced to sell off parts of furnishings and finally sold the church building to meet debts in 1880. Bought by the Cooke family of NY who leased it to the Unitarian Church. In 1884 the Episcopalians met in a frame building on North Center Street called St. Paul's Chapel. In 1910 they re-bought the present building from the Cooke family as St. Paul's Episcopal Church and it was refinished in stone ten years later.

The Methodist Church down the street at First and Center was established in 1864. A new location was built at Second and Main and is still the First United Methodist Church. The old building became a theater.

The Odeom Opera House, at 13-17 S. 2^nd Street, across the street beside Fletcher's home, was built in c 1890 and was where some of the biggest names performed. It began showing movies in the 1920s, becoming all movies by 1935. It burned in 1942, was rebuilt and reopened in 1943 as a beautiful 756 seat movie hall with a large performance stage. With the advent of TV, the building was torn down in 1957 and remains a parking lot today.

Fisher Governor . In 1880 - William Fisher, town waterworks manager, invented a constant pressure pump governor. In a major fire, he had had to regulate water pressure by hand for many hours. He started to build them for other water works around the country . Early employees operated belt-powered machines to the light of tallow candles for $13-a-week. The first product catalog was hand-written. He incorporated the Fisher Governor Company in 1899 with a total of $30,000. Fisher Controls is now a billion business.

In 1900, the seventeen saloons in Marshalltown were temporarily closed by the Supreme Court until new licenses were approved.

Frank went off to Annapolis in 1902.
In the four years at Annapolis Naval Academy, a plebe develops a passing or close acquaintanceships with members of seven classes, in his case, the classes of 1903 through 1909, This group was to comprise much the naval leadership during World War Two. Twenty two of his own class of 116 graduates of 1906, achieved flag rank. Names from that seven year period that earned fame in the Pacific War include :

Seniors, class of '03 when he arrived were : Royal Ingersoll CINCLANT
Juniors '04 : William Halsey Third Fleet; Husband Kimmel CINCPAC
Sophomores '05 : Chester Nimitz CINCPAC, Royal Ingersoll CINCLANT
Fletcher's class of 1906 : Milo Draemel, Aubrey Fitch, Naval Air S.Pac ; Robert Ghormley,SoPacArea; Isaac Kidd, Arizona at Pearl Harbor; John McCain, BuAir; John Towers, BuAir; Leigh Noyes, Ch Inspections
The class behind him '07 : Robert Theobald, TF-8 ; Raymond Spruance, DCINCPAC, Fifth Fleet.
Two years behind, '08 : Thomas Kinkaid; Willis Lee, commander Battleships; Richmond Turner, commander Amphibious.
Entered when he was in his senior year '09 : Jonas Ingram CINCLANT


During World War I, Fletcher captained the destroyer U.S.S. Benham operating on convoy escort and patrol duty in British and French waters for which he was awarded the Navy Cross. He married Martha Richards in February 1917. She was the daughter of Gertrude M. and Walter B. Richards of Kansas City, MO. Martha Richards Fletcher passed away September 14, 1974, in La Plaza, Maryland at the age of 79 a year after her husband of fifty-six years.

Early in the war Marshalltown had a bond drive Sept 5, 1942 in his name complete with a band concert on the Courthouse lawn. Such concerts are a usual summer event on the Marshalltown courthouse lawn to this day.

References:

"In Bitter Tempest: The Biography of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher" by Stephen D. Regan.
"Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher and the Pacific Fleet" by John Lundstrom
MarshallTimes Vol 3 No 12, Dec 1994.
Sanborn Maps -- editions of 1884, 1888, 1894 and 1901 spanning Jack's life in Marshalltown.
Historical Society of Marshall County
School Presentation
Supreme Court decision clearing the Glick Estate of debts. Pages 648-663.
The GERMANS of IOWA And Their Achievements (Die Deutschen von Iowa und deren Errungenschaften) by Jim W. Faulkinbury
Archives Fletcher Papers.
"Past and Present of Marshall Country Iowa" by Battin & Moscript, 1912, published by Bowen & Company
Country History, 1878.
PastTimes, historical periodical about Marshalltown, July 2003

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