Thomas Hampton Fancher, son of Grey and Celia, was born in Overton Co., Tenn. on 15 Aug 1823. He married 1) Malinda Smith, who was born 4 Dec 1828 in Mattoon, Illinois. They were parents of 7 children: Thomas Hampton, Jr. (1853-1908); Franklin Greene (1856-1893); Sarah Alice (Belk) b. 1859; William Bynum b. 1861; Leander A. b. ____; James Polk b. 1867; and, an infant daughter died in infancy. Thomas and Malinda left Illinois circa 1861/62 and moved to Central Missouri, settling in the Big Richwoods of Miller County. Malinda died at her home near Iberia on Dec. 31, 1867. She was buried at the Livingston cemetery (called Castleman cemetery over a century ago).

Her son, James Polk, was born on the day Malinda died. Thomas married 2) Sarah Elizabeth Rothwell in Miller Co. on 1 Nov 1868. She was a daughter of William and Margaret Rothwell and was born in Missouri 29 April 1845.

 

Thomas and Sarah became parents of 10 children: Charles Emerson b. 1870 m. Belle Williams; LeRoy (1873-1875); Frederick T. (1879-1880); Lannie b. ____; Olive Emaline (1880-1881); Everett Bird b. 1881 m. Anna Laura Wilson; John M. b. 1876 m. Hattie Setser; Mary C. (1883-1883); Eltnan (1884-1884); James Monroe (Roe) b. ____; Myrtle Susan (1887-1966) m.(1) Phelix Setser (2) Rolla Merl Stout; and an infant daughter (1885-1885).

Thomas died near Iberia in March,1901. He and both wives are buried at Livingston cemetery near the Barren Fork creek.

 

Everett Bird Fancher, son of Thomas Hampton Fancher and his 2nd wife, Sarah Elizabeth Rothwell, and a grandson of Grey Bynum and Celia (Matlock) Fancher of Tennessee, was born in Miller County near Iberia on 12 Dec 1881. Everett married Anna Laura Wilson, daughter of John P. and Rachel (Ponder) Wilson on 30 Oct 1902. They were parents of 11 children: Anna b. 1903 (never married); Euna b. 1905 m. Emerson Stark; Charles b. 1907 m. Mabel Workman; John Preston b. 1909 m. Vivian von Gremp; Claude b. 1911 m. Myrtle Lucas; Norman Jackson b. 1913 m. Anna Lorene Keeth; Byron b. 1915 m. Elvera Tornquist; Truman b. 1918 m. Alta Jean Lamb; Vivian b. 1920 m. Alfred Hammann; Wayne b. 1923 m. Dorothy Fudge; and Lillian b. 1927 m. Robert C. Tracy.

Everett died at his home in the Fairview community north of Iberia on April 2, 1940. He died in the same community where he had been born 58 years earlier. He was buried in Livingston cemetery where many of his family members had been laid to rest. His wife, Anna Laura, lived until 1967 when she died at the age of 84 years. 

​​ It is believed the name is French in origin, once spelled Falchier/Fauchier.

ADDEDUM:
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Some of the information I have on hand has been researched by a member of the Fancher family and is well documented.
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The Fancher family of Miller County are descended from the same ancestral family as Capt. Alexander Fancher, wagon master and guide of an ill-fated wagon train that headed west to California in 1857. The Fancher Wagon Train left Carroll Co., Arkansas about the end of April, 1857 and spent many long weeks on the overland trail. Their destination was the western land of California.

There were over 125 persons in this wagon train as it ventured across the plains. When they reached Utah, they had entered Mormon country. When they left Salt Lake City, they headed south across Utah and reached Mountain Meadows. This five-mile long valley, filled with rich grasslands, was a favorite 'stopping off place' for west-bound travelers. The Fancher Wagon Train was ambushed in this valley on Sept. 11, 1857 and over 100 persons were massacred including men, women, and children. There were 17 survivors, all small children. There have been several books written about this terrible episode in America's history.

Capt. Alexander Fancher was a cousin to Thomas Hampton Fancher who settled in Miller county. Capt. Fancher and his family once lived in Miller Co. also, in the mid 1840s. Two children were born while they lived in the Big Richwoods, near Iberia. They moved on south to Carroll Co., Arkansas before 1850 and lived there until 1857 when they decided to move again. They had a vision of green and fertile fields in that far-away land of California and, like so many other pioneers, did not hesitate to travel again into the unknown. Their dreams ended in the grassy valleys of Mountain Meadows in southwest Utah on an Autumn day in 1857.

One of the best books written about the Fancher Wagon Train is called: MASSACRE AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS by William Wise (Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1976). Another writer and author, who was living near Mountain Meadows in southern Utah a few years ago, was also researching and writing a new story about the massacre and events leading up to that fateful day in 1857. He contacted me several years ago asking if I could do some Missouri research for him, but I declined the request because his book was going to be somewhat different than what had been written in the past and I chose to not be part of what could be some incorrect data.