Los Angeles Times – April 24, 1901:

DR. J. C. FLETCHER, A NOTABLE MAN, DEAD

Dr. J. C. Fletcher died yesterday morning at his home, No. 173 Bonnie Brae street, in this city.

Death was due to a stroke of paralysis, which he had suffered on Wednesday last, since which time he had been confined to his bed and had been gradually sinking until the end came quietly and peacefully, yesterday morning, at 10 o'clock. The wide circle of friends which he had in this city and many throughout the United States and in other countries, where Dr. Fletcher was well-known, will feel a great personal loss in his death.

James Cooley Fletcher was born in 1823 in Indianapolis, where his father, one of the pioneers of Indiana, was engaged in the practice of law. The family is of sturdy English origin, but since 1630, when Robert Fletcher settled in Massachusetts, it has been loyally American. To New England it has furnished many eminent professional men and a number of high official position, among these, two governors of States. It was from among Dr. Fletcher's near relatives that Daniel Webster chose his wife, Grace Fletcher.

Dr. Fletcher was graduated from Brown University in 1846, with high honors, and immediately thereafter took up the study of theology at Princeton, and later at Geneva, Switzerland, where he was a pupil of the celebrated theologian Meldobini. His first charge after his return to the United States was the Newburyport (Mass.) Presbyterian Church. During his ministry of more than fifty years Dr. Fletcher was ever faithful to his calling, and though his cultivated intellect and broad knowledge made him a person much sought for in other fields of action, he remained always a minister of the gospel.

In 1851 Dr. Fletcher went to Brazil as a chaplain and missionary of the American and Foreign Christian Union and American Seaman's Friend Society. He traveled 3000 miles during 1855-56 through Brazil as agent of the American Sunday-school Union, and again in 1862 he went up the Amazon 2000 miles. Upon this voyage he made a collection of specimens in natural history for Professor Agassiz, the result being so encouraging that Agassiz, three years later, entered upon an exploration of the Amazon. During his stay there he became an intimate friend of the Emperor, Dom Pedro, and gained such a broad and accurate knowledge of the country and its people that he was appointed by President Lincoln United States charge d'affaires at Rio de Janeiro.

In 1864-65 Dr. Fletcher was sent by the government as a special envoy to induce the Brazilian government to join in establishing a line of steamships between New York and Rio de Janeiro, in which mission he had complete success. He remained in Brazil during 1868-69 as agent of the American Tract Society and at the same time contributed many valuable articles to American periodicals on the country and its people. At the same time he was doing valuable missionary work among the sailors of that seaport, his linguistic abilities enabling him to preach the gospel to men of many nationalities.

His next important work as a diplomat was in Portugal where he was sent under President Grant's administration as United States consul to Oporto. Here he rendered distinguished services, and gained the confidence of the administration to such an extent that when the minister at Lisbon was obliged to leave his post, Dr. Fletcher received orders from Washington to go there and take the position. In 1873 Dr. Fletcher left Portugal for Naples, and resided there until 1877, during which time he was engaged in missionary work and was also occupied in archaeological research in the buried cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Few better articles on Naples may be read than that written by him for the Encyclopedia Britannica.

While in Brazil and in Europe, Dr. Fletcher was a correspondent of several periodicals, the most important among which were the American Register, the New York Advertiser and the Evangelist. In addition to newspaper and magazine correspondence, which was voluminous and covering a wide range of subjects, Dr. Fletcher was the author of "Brazil and the Brazilians," published by Harper Bros., which is a recognized authority on the history of the South American republic.

In 1898 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Dr. Fletcher by his alma mater, Brown University, in recognition of his distinguished services in the fields of intellectual endeavor.

For the last six years, up to the time of death, Dr. Fletcher had been president of the Los Angeles School of Art and Design. While in Los Angeles, where he had resided for the past ten years, he had been actively engaged in the ministry, but for the last two or three years had confined his attention especially to the little mission church at La Crescenta, where he was greatly loved, being an especial favorite of the children.

Dr. Fletcher was a man of great learning, and possessed a mind remarkable for its breadth and grasp on all subjects. His memory was wonderful, stored with facts of men and events of all times and countries to such an extent that he was an authority on historical matters, especially those of the last fifty years, in which he had figured so conspicuously. He enjoyed the intimate acquaintance of the great men of the last fifty years, among the Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Lowell, Bryant and Gladstone. It may be said that hardly could the name of a great man of the past half-century be mentioned whom he did not know.

He leaves a widow, a son, Elmond R. Fletcher, who is a retired officer of the United States army, living at Hampton, Va., and a daughter, Julia Constance Fletcher, who lives in London. The latter is the author of the well-known novels "Kismet" and "Andromeda," "The Head of Medusa," and others, besides some successful plays, a book of travels, etc.

The funeral will be from Immanuel Presbyterian Church at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.