Robert L. FLEMING, b. 1811, d. 1894
Robert L. Fleming, who for many years was
a respected and leading agriculturist of
Mahaska county, was born in Harrison county,
West Virginia, September 3, 1811, and died
upon the home farm in Richland township,
June 28, 1894. He started out in life on his
own account when only thirteen years of age
being employed as a farm hand by various farmers
in the neighborhood in which his parents
lived. He later served a three years'
apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade and in
compensation for his services was given a suit of
clothes and a sum of money. He then started
started west, intending to go to Indiana, which was
regarded as the "far west" in those days. On
reaching Wood county, West Virginia, about
eighty or one hundred miles from his home, he
found a chance to teach school and, abandoning
his idea of going to the Hoosier state, he there
engaged in teaching and at the same time
devoted all of his leisure time to study, so that he
greatly improved his own education. He
became a well informed man and throughout his
entire life added to his knowledge through
reading and investigation. I
While in Wood county, Mr. Fleming met and
married Miss Amy Maddox, the wedding being
celebrated June 6, 1833. She was born in West
Virginia, January 1, 1814, and died in
Richland township, September 13, 1880. After his
marriage Mr. Fleming sold his shop and bought
a little farm in the hills of West Virginia,
where he resided until March, 1852, when he
packed up his household goads, which he loaded
on a boat at Parkersburg, West Virginia,
together with a horse and cow, and thus started
for Iowa. After ten days spent upon the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers, his effects were unloaded
at Keokuk, Iowa. He was accompanied by his
wife and seven children. He had tittle ready
money, but he possessed strong determination,
willing hands and a stout heart and thug he
began life in the west. He had written to Amos
Bartlett, who had settled in Mahaska county, to
meet them at Keokuk, and move them to
Mahaska county, and Mr. Bartlett with three teams,
together with a man by the name of Raulles, who
also possessed a team, went to Keokuk and in
two days they traveled twelve miles over the
old plank road as far as Primrose, Iowa. There
they halted and Mr. Fleming and his family
moved into a log shanty, which had previously
been used for a stable. They cleared it out and
resided there for three weeks until they could
secure a better home. The following May Mr.
Fleming came on to Mahaska county to see Mr.
Bartlett and try to get him to help move them
again. Bartlett was busy putting in crops, so
Mr. Fleming returned to Primrose, where he
rented fifteen acres of land and planted corn.
In October of that year he gave his crop to a
man to move him to Mahaska county. They
reached Oskaloosa on the second day and just
before dark crossed South Skunk river. That
night they found the cabin of Jacob Bartlet
whom they had known in Virginia, and stayed
with him for two weeks while looking over the
country. Mr. Fleming found a place which had
been claimed by a man named Johnson and
purchased this property, comprising two
hundred and forty acres, for four hundred dollars.
He went to Iowa City to have it entered and
until Johnson moved Mr. Fleming and his
family lived in an old log schoolhouse. The land
was partially broken. There were few fences
and a log cabin, in which the family lived until
1857, when Mr. Fleming built a rock house
which is still standing, Mr. Fleming making
his home therein until his death. As he
prospered in his undertakings he added more land
to his original purchase and afterward divided
this among his children. He was a self-made
man in the truest and best sense of the term.
He taught school for three terms after
coming to this county, and as he possessed
considerable knowledge of surveying he followed that
profession to some extent and did much toward
bringing about changes in his township along
lines of general improvement and progress.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Fleming were born
thirteen children, but the first three died in West
Virginia. Seven were brought by the parents
to Iowa, and the remaining three were born in
Mahaska county. The family record is as
follows: Leander J., born March 15, 1834, died
October 9, 1840; Edward Randolph, born
October 27, 1835, died October 24, 1840;
Robert Luther, born December 26, 1837, died in
Virginia; Martha V., born January 8, 1840,
is the wife of J. R. Ryan, a minister residing in
Nebraska; Charles, born January 18, 1842, is
living in this county; Orin, born December 17,
1843, and now residing in Prairie township,
married Elizabeth Evans, now deceased;
Justin, born March 13, 1846, wedded Mary E.
Murdock and resides in Greenfield, Iowa;
Austin, born September 23, 1847, married Janette
McCutcheon and is living near Grinnell, Iowa;
George, born August 6, 1849 is married an
resides upon a part of the old home farm in
Richland township; Fletcher, born May 8, 1851,
died February 27, 1881; R. C. born
November 2, 1857, is mentioned elsewhere in this
work; Amy Cornelia, born November 2, 1857,
is the wife of D. W. Richards, of Greenfield,
Iowa.
For twenty-five years Robert L. Fleming
was a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal
faith, after which he became a believer in
Christian Union. He never had a regular
charge, but promoted the interests of the gospel
as a local preacher and until nearly eighty years
of age conducted funeral services when called
upon. In politics he was a democrat of the old
school, and he often made political speeches.
For twenty-eight years he acted as secretary
of the district school board but advanced age
finally compelled him to abandon that task. He
was a man of sound judgment, whose opinions
were largely considered authoritative on matters
which he discussed. He was an extensive reader
and his books and records, many of which are
very old, are now in the home of his son, R.
C. Fleming. Two volumes of history of the
Revolutionary war, published in 1779 and
written in Quaker style, are very interesting
mementoes of those early days. He also owned a
pair of scales or old-fashioned balances which
are still in possession of the family and which
was presented to Captain Prunty, a
grandfather of our subject, by General George
Washington at the close of the Revolutionary war.
Mr. Fleming stood as the supporter of all that
is just, right and honorable in man's relations
with his fellow men. He lived to the advanced
age of more than eighty-two years, enjoying the
full confidence and respect of all who knew
him and when he was called away the county
mourned the loss of a worthy pioneer and valued
citizen.
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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy
Iowa Genealogy
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