Charles Henry Fletcher (aka Chas. H. Fletcher in company advertising) organized and led the Centaur Company, makers of "Fletcher's Castoria", serving as president and general manager. [1]
Charles Henry Fletcher (aka Chas. H. Fletcher in company advertising) organized and led the Centaur Company, makers of "Fletcher's Castoria", serving as president and general manager. [1]
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He was born December 25, 1837, (according to most records) in New York City, New York.
As a boy of 13, Fletcher went to work for a proprietary medicine company. In 1872 he managed to save enough to buy from a physician, Dr. Samuel Pitcher, the formula of a laxative called Castoria. With this formula, he made a fortune.
Originally marketed as Pitcher's Castoria, the product has had several names, notably Fletcher's own.
A little known fact is that he was sent south before the Civil War to collect debts by Demas Barnes. He returned (successfully) just before Fort Sumter was attacked (so shortly before April 12, 1861, he returned north). Partly due to this success (and others both before and after), Barnes backed him in forming the Centaur Company.
"[The Centaur Company is] probably the largest proprietary medicine concern in the country, if not in the world. Mr. Fletcher's name has become so identified with the product of the company that it is known all over the civilized world." [1]
"Charles H. Fletcher['s] ... signature is perhaps better known than that of any other man of his day. ... The [Centaur] company's advertising is said to have created a new epoch in advertising, and among the famous slogans which made it world-known was 'Babies cry for it'," [2]
He married Jemima Elizabeth Bright (September 10, 1848, England - May 8, 1932, Manhattan, New York) [3] in 1866 (according to 1890 census records). He had three daughters who lived to adulthood, Mymie (My-me) (May 16, 1868, in Brooklyn, New York - May 28, 1958, in Pasadena, California) who married the Reverend William Morrison (October 5, 1863 - January 4, 1915) who was the priest at Trinity Church in New York City, Lucille (December 16, 1873, in Brooklyn, New York - February 29, 1956, in East Orange, New Jersey) who married George Howard Betts (August 5, 1871, Brooklyn, New York - 8 Jul 1940 in Pinehurst, North Carolina) who was a cosmetics manufacturer, [4] Ettye (Et-E) (November 25, 1870, in Brooklyn, New York - December 7, 1929, in Orange, New Jersey) who married Albert Bryant also had large roles in the Centaur Company and Sterling Products later known Sterling Drug. Albert Bryant's sister, Sara Cone Bryant, was a well-known children's book author. Records indicated he had one daughter, Eva born about 1869 who died young and another child who is believed to have died at birth and was unnamed.
He had one sister, Catherine Gale Fletcher and two half-sisters, Fanny Fletcher and Lucille Bennett. His house still stands and is privately owned on Berkeley Avenue in Orange, New Jersey. The house has seven full bathrooms.
Charles Henry Fletcher died April 9, 1922, in Orange, New Jersey. He was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. [5]
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