RobertFancher

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 Massacre victim 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 Spring (also called Caravan Spring), 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

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