Pettis Fleming

PETTIS FLEMING. - A public-spirited and highly esteemed citizen of Delaware township, and a prominent member of the agricultural community, Pettis Fleming is widely and favorably known throughout this section of Wyandotte county as an unright,[sic] honest man, of sterling worth and character. He was born April 18, 1855, in Platte county, Missouri, of pioneer stock.

His father, David Fleming, was born in North Carolina, in 1805, and died in Platte county, Missouri, in 1880. Moving with his parents to Missouri in his boyhood days, he subsequently taught school a few terms in Platte county, where he was afterwards engaged in general farming. He married Minerva Fox, a native of Tennessee, and to them twelve children were born, as follows: John; William; Henrietta; Theodore; Cicero; Pettis, the special subject of this brief personal record; Rush; Pleasant P., deceased; Oscar; Mandana, Abner and Eunice, the three last being deceased.

Spending his early life on the home farm, Pettis Fleming obtained his early knowledge of books in the district schools. Leaving home in 1880, he came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, in search of more remunerative employment than he could find in his native county, and for awhile worked by the month on the farm which he now owns and occupies. This farm, which contains one hundred and twenty acres of rich and fertile land, he is managing with excellent pecuniary results, raising large annual crops of wheat and corn, and also growing hogs and cattle to some extent.

A loyal supporter of the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Fleming has never shirked the responsibilities of public office, but has served on the township board; has been supervisor; has filled the position of township clerk; and for twenty years has been treasurer of school district No. 30. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.

Mr. Fleming, in 1883, was united in marriage with Alice Bishop, of Kansas, whose father, James Bishop, was superintendent of the Wyandotte county poor farm at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming are the parents of five children, namely: James Howard, a farmer and school teacher; William W., a school teacher; Harry Thomas, living at home; Edna Alice, also at home; and Curtis Verne, attending the public schools.