Last updated: May 15, 2025
Person
Jenny Fletcher
Graham County Historical Society
Quick Facts
Significance:
Early Nicodemus settler, first teacher in Nicodemus, first Black postmistress in Kansas.
Place of Birth:
Kentucky
Date of Birth:
Around 1854
Place of Death:
Nicodemus, Kansas
Date of Death:
January 8, 1897
Place of Burial:
Nicodemus, Kansas
Cemetery Name:
Nicodemus Cemetery
As the first woman on the Nicodemus townsite, Jenny Fletcher used her own skills, knowledge, and generosity to help Nicodemus grow and flourish.
Jenny Fletcher, also known as Francis Fletcher, was born around 1854 in Kentucky, the daughter of Reverend W. H. Smith, president of the Nicodemus Town Company, and Martha Smith. While we don’t know much about her early life, we know that by the mid-1870s, Jenny and her husband Zachary Fletcher lived in eastern Kansas. According to newspapers, the Fletchers lived in Lawrence, Kansas in spring 1877 and in Junction City, Kansas at some point. They also spent time in Topeka, where the Nicodemus Town Company formed.
Jenny Fletcher and her family arrived at Nicodemus with the very first group of 35 settlers in July 1877. She was the first and only woman in the settlement until September 1877 and became heavily involved in the early development of Nicodemus. During the winter of 1877–78, Jenny ran the settlement’s first informal school out of her family’s dugout. She taught basic hygiene, literature, arithmetic, and moral values to her first class of about 15 students.
She was also one of the founding members of Nicodemus’s A.M.E. Church in 1879 and was very active in the church her whole life. Jenny was often seen organizing concerts, children’s days, and other events for the A.M.E. Church.
As Nicodemus grew its legs, so did Jenny Fletcher. When her husband Zach Fletcher established the St. Francis Hotel with his brother Thomas Fletcher in 1881, Jenny played an important role in the success of the business. Likely the namesake and sometimes called the “landlady” of the St. Francis, many praised Jenny Fletcher for her hosting skills and the delicious meals she served to boarders and other patrons.
Jenny Fletcher also had a flair for business. She ran a millinery (hat shop) and dress-making business in the general store next to the St. Francis Hotel from at least 1885–95, according to census records. However, this was not Jenny’s first venture in this field. In March 1877, when the Fletchers lived in Lawrence, Kansas, the Lawrence Daily Journal advertised: “Mrs. Z. T. Fletcher, hairdressing and shampooing; braids and curls made to order. Residence northeast corner of Connecticut and Warren Streets.” During the winter of 1881–82, Jenny Fletcher set up shop with a Mrs. Goodspeed in Ellis, Kansas, about 35 miles south of Nicodemus. The Ellis Review-Headlight advertised that Jenny invited the women of Ellis to “examine her stock of hair switches, curls, frizzes, etc etc. She is also prepared to take orders for weaving hair, curls and frizzes.” Jenny also actively advertised her millinery and dressmaking businesses in Nicodemus newspapers from 1886–88, though she didn’t need advertising to keep up her business after the newspapers shut down.
On top of her business, Jenny Fletcher remained very community-oriented. Besides being active in the A.M.E. Church, she was also president of the Nicodemus chapter of the Daughters of Zion and Sons of Union, a benevolent society that gave aid to members during sickness and helped provide for their burial. From December 1889–January 1894, Jenny was the Nicodemus postmistress and likely the first Black woman postmistress in Kansas.
Jenny and Zach Fletcher had two sons: Thomas, born about 1872, and Joseph, born about 1874. Census records also show that Jenny’s younger brothers, Walter and Bill Smith, lived with the Fletchers for some time in the 1880s, and that the couple raised Saphronia and Francis Young, Jenny’s nieces, for at least part of the 1890s.
Unfortunately, much of Jenny Fletcher’s life was marked with periodic illness. Newspapers frequently mentioned Jenny “on the sick list” and her eventual recoveries, though the exact details of her sicknesses are unknown. On January 9th, 1897, Jenny Fletcher passed away from tuberculosis, which had also taken her son Joseph in 1895.
Jenny’s death was definitely felt in the community she had helped grow. On January 23rd, 1897, the A.M.E. Church published a resolution in The Hill City Republican, including the following statement:
“Resolved, that the wisdom and ability which she has exercised it [sic] the aid of our church by service, contribution and counsel, will be held in grateful remembrance,Resolved, that the sudden removal of such a life from among our midst leaves a vacancy and a shadow that will be deeply realized by all the members and friends of this church, and prove a serious loss to the community and the public…”
This heartfelt resolution shows the impact Jenny Fletcher had on Nicodemus and its people. She demonstrated the importance of building community and persevering through hardship. As a businesswoman, teacher, postmistress, hostess, mother, and church leader, Jenny Fletcher used her generosity and many skills to help grow Nicodemus into a successful Black community.
Sources
- "1879 Census Report of Graham County," A. T. Hall. Graham County Historical Society.
- 1880, 1885, and 1895 U.S. Census.
- Burden, Don, et al. Historic Resources Study, Nicodemus National Historic Site. Omaha, NE: Midwest Regional Office, National Park Service, 2011.
- Graham County Times, January 30, 1890. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.
- "Hair Dressing." Lawrence Daily Journal, March 8, 1877. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.
- Hamilton, Kenneth Marvin. "The Settlement of Nicodemus: Its Origins and Early Promotion." In Promised Land on the Solomon: Black Settlement at Nicodemus, Kansas, edited by Gregory D. Kendrick. U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Rocky Mountain Region, 1984.
- "List of Known African American Postmasters, 1800s," United States Postal Service, last modified October 2017. Microsoft Word - african-american-postmasters.docx
- "Resolutions of the A.M.E. Church." Hill City Republican, January 23, 1897. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.
- "The Colored Pioneers: They Celebrate Emancipation in Graham." The Atchison Champion, August 7, 1886. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.
- The Ellis Review-Headlight, November 19, 1881. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.
- The Junction City Tribune, September 20, 1877. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.
- The Nicodemus Cyclone, July 20, 1888. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.
- The Western Cyclone, July 29, 1886. Kansas Historical Open Content (1800-2001) on Newspapers.com.