ROBERT FANCHER
*Victim
of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre*
Robert
Fancher was the third son of Alexander Fancher and Jane Johnson, born abt.
1838 in Carroll County, Arkansas. (Robert's father, Alexander Fancher,
was Captain Alexander Fancher's paternal uncle.)
The Fanchers descended from English Puritan stock, who had immigrated
to to the New Haven (Connecticut) Colony in 1643. Said to have
served in the War of 1812, Robert's father, Alexander Fancher,
actually served in the Creek War (1813-1814). (Information
on his father's Creek War Service.) After his return from the
Creek War, Robert's father returned to his parents home in Overton
County, Tennessee, where he married Robert's mother, Jane Johnson.
Seven of Robert Fancher's nine siblings were born in Overton County.
Around 1838 the Fanchers moved to Osage Township, in Carroll County,
Arkansas, and a few years later, between 1843-1845, Robert's father,
Alexander Fancher, died there. Robert's widowed mother moved her
family from Osage to Terrapin Creek in 1845. His mother was married briefly to John Clark, then
continued to use the Fancher name after the marriage broke up. In
October 1850, Robert's oldest brother, Thomas B. Fancher, was
appointed guardian of their minor siblings, so that he could
collect the veterans benefits they were due for their father's
military service in the Creek War.
Although Robert Fancher
was the first cousin of Captain Alexander Fancher, he did not travel
with "The Fancher Train" when it left Benton County, Arkansas.
(Robert
was the brother-in-law of
Milum Lafayette Rush, who
lived in
Carrollton Township, and also died in the Massacre.) Robert Fancher was
part of "The Baker Train", that under the leadership of Captain John
Twitty Baker, departed for California from Milum Springs (also called
Caravan Springs), Carroll
County (now Boone County), Arkansas in April 1857. He was headed for
the gold fields and probably worked
as a drover, or a hired-hand, for the Bakers on the trip. Robert Fancher was 19 years old, and single, when he died
in the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah Territory.
© 2008 A.C. Wallner for the Mountain Meadows Association. All rights
reserved
Inscription:
IN MEMORIAM
IN THE VALLEY BELOW BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 7 AND 11, 1857, A COMPANY OF
MORE THAN 120 ARKANSAS EMIGRANTS LED BY CAPT. JOHN T. BAKER AND CAPT.
ALEXANDER FANCHER WAS ATTACKED WHILE EN ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. THIS
EVENT IS KNOWN IN HISTORY AS THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE
ROBERT
FANCHER, 19
Please note that the names of the victims of the 1857 Mountain Meadows
Massacre that appear here are those who we have personally researched
and verified as actual victims. In some cases this list will differ
from the names that were inscribed on the 1990 Monument on Dan Sill
Hill.
Leave
virtual flowers - MMA FIND A GRAVE
MEMORIAL FOR ROBERT FANCHER
