I believe this is not Fletcher's signature but was written in the guest register by Vermont Senator Edward Seymour, with whom Fletcher shared a room.

From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryland_Fletcher

Ryland Fletcher
(February 18, 1799 - December 19, 1885)
was an American farmer, politician, the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1854 to 1856, and then was the 24th Governor of Vermont from October 10, 1856 to October 10, 1858.[1]



Biography[edit]

Fletcher was born in Cavendish, Vermont, and in his early years he worked on his father's farm. He attended Norwich University and taught in a local school during the winter months. He married Mary May on June 11, 1829, and they had three children.[2]He was the brother of United States Representative Richard Fletcher and Horace Fletcher; and the father of Col. Henry Addison Fletcher, who served in the Civil War, a state senator, and Lieutenant Governor of Vermont.[3]

Career[edit]

When Fletcher was eighteen, he became a member of the Vermont state militia, where he attained the rank of Brigadier General in 1835.

In 1854, Fletcher was the nominee of the Whig, Free Soil, and Liberty Parties, and won the election as Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. Nominated by the newly formed Republican Party, he was re-elected in 1855. He was a strong proponent of biennial rather than annual gubernatorial elections and was a tireless worker for the anti-slavery and temperance causes. After the State House burned down in an 1857 fire, he called a special legislative session to plan for rebuilding. In 1858, he called the first muster and training of the Vermont militia since the Mexican War. That training proved useful at the start of the Civil War.[4]

Fletcher was a member of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothings in 1856. Fletcher had said that "immigrants brought with them the 'mortal disease (of) monarchy and despotism, of Romanism and heathenism... which left unchecked would sweep away our most cherished liberties and dearist institutions.'"[5]

After leaving office of Governor, Fletcher served in the Vermont legislature from 1861 to 1864, and a Presidential Elector for Vermont in 1864. He received an honorary degree of M.A. from Dartmouth in 1869.[6] He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1870.

Death[edit]

Fletcher died in Cavendish, and is interred at Cavendish Village Cemetery, Cavendish, Vermont.[7]