FLETCHER, MICHAEL JAMES (1879-1947)

FLETCHER, MICHAEL JAMES, lumber scaler and forest service inspector; b. Newcastle, 12 Sep 1879, s/o Charles Fletcher and Mary Eliza McMahon; m. 1906, Theresa Phee, d/o Edward Phee and Jane Pinkerton, of Bushville; d. Nelson, 20 Mar 1947.

Soon after the New Brunswick Forest Service was organized in 1918 Michael J. Fletcher, a licensed lumber scaler, was appointed forest service inspector with responsibility for the work of the agency throughout most of Northumberland and Kent counties. Within his supervisory district there were eight sub-districts, each headed by a forest ranger who was responsible for scaling wood cut on crown land and overseeing the work of fire wardens and lookout tower observers.

Efficient travel to and within the woods was a major problem for the Forest Service in this period. Fletcher had a car by 1926, but roads were poor and were not plowed in winter until many years later. He remained with the service until his retirement in 1945. The following year, a new forest service structure headed by a professional forester was introduced.

Fletcher served as a county councillor for Nelson parish between 1924 and 1926. He was a member of St Patrick's Catholic Church. When he died in 1947, at age sixty-seven, his survivors were his wife, Theresa Phee, four daughters, and four sons.