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 just before Fort Sumter was attacked . Partly due to this success, Barnes backed him in forming The Centaur Company.
Testimonials
" 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." "Charles H. Fletcher... signature is perhaps better known than that of any other man of his day...... The 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,"" See the accompanying image for an example.
Personal life
He married Jemima Elizabeth Bright in 1866. He had three femalechildren who lived to adulthood, Mymie who married the Reverend William Morrison who was the priest at Trinity Church in New York City, Lucille who married George Howard Betts who was a cosmetics manufacturer, Ettye 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 Ave in Orange, New Jersey. The house has seven full bathrooms. Charles Henry Fletcher died Sunday April 9, 1922 in Orange, N.J. He was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. See New York Times, April 10, 1924, p46, C8.
Related Facts
In 1884, The Centaur Company offered to pay for the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty when the Pedestal Fund Committee found itself short of money in return for placing "Castoria" on the base for one year. The offer was declined.
Charles Henry Fletcher's son-in-law Albert Bryant began working for The Centaur Company in 1899 and retired from the company November 8, 1937.
In July 1908 he received from Charles L. Seabury Company the "largest yacht in the world driven by motor power" at the time, the Jemima F. III which was approximately 111 feet in length, named for his wife, Jemima, a trend for large luxury yachts that continues.
