People
Biographical Sketches: F Surnames
Ignaz Fanz
Packer and dealer in meats; born Steinback, Baden, Germany, August 1, 1842; son of Franz and Maria Anna (Huck) Fanz; educated in schools at Steinback, Baden, Germany; married Emma J. Cooley October 4, 1866; member G. A. R., and B. P. O. E.; enlisted in Camp G 6th Tenn., Vol. Infantry U. S. A., April 14, 1862, and was honorably discharged May 17, 1865 as First Sergeant; served as alderman of the 6th ward of Knoxville, Tenn., 1896-1898; engaged in the meat and ice business at Knoxville, Tenn.; President of the Knoxville Ice Co. Source: Who's Who in Tennessee: A Biographical Reference Book of Notable Tennesseeans of To-Day (Memphis, Tennessee, Paul & Douglass Company, 1911), 217-218.
Leah Fletcher
(July 4, 1863 - January 2, 1944) Leah Fletcher, educator, social worker, was born in Greeneville, Tennessee, the daughter of Andrew Jackson and Emily Elizabeth (Hickey) Fletcher. She spent her early years in Bradley county and, during her father's term as Secretary of State for Tennessee, in Nashville. She graduated at Martha Washington College, Abingdon, Virginia; studied at the University of Tennessee and, finally, spent four years at Columbia University. Her career as a teacher began in the public schools of Indiana. In 1902 she became principal of Rose Avenue (now Staub) school in Knoxville, Tennessee. At this school she organized the first Mother's Club in Tennessee, a beginning that led to the establishment of the Tennessee Congress of Parents and Teachers. In 1913 she became Superintendent of Knox County Industrial School, which was renamed John Tarleton Institute in 1933, and held that position until her resignation in 1941. Through her efforts a camp site in the Smoky Mountains was secured and, for thirty years, children have spent vacations there. When Leah Fletcher had served for twenty-five years as head of the Industrial School the Rotary Club of Knoxville placed at the school a bronze plaque in commeration of her work there. In 1934 an oil portrait of Leah Fletcher was presented to the Institute by the Tennessee Federation of Business and Professional Women's clubs. At the time of her resignation in 1941, after twenty-eight years of service, the Mayor of Knoxville, Fred Allen, designated July 25 as Leah Fletcher Day and requested that citizens assemble at the Hotel Andrew Johnson upon that day and show their appreciation of the service she had rendered to humanity. A dinner was given in her honor at which representatives of social and political clubs, clergymen and students of John Tarleton Institute gave testimony. Leah Fletcher was a charter member of the Tennessee Federation of Business and Professional Women; also an honorary life member of the same organization and was at one time president of the Knoxville Club. For more than a quarter of a century she was an active member of Ossoli Circle. She was a member of the Methodist church. She died in Cleveland, Tennessee, where her neices and nephews lived. Source: Mary U. Rothrock, editor, The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1946), 418-419.
