High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Ryland Fletcher was the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1854 to 1856, and then was the 24th Governor of Vermont from 1856 to 1858. After leaving office, he served in the Vermont legislature and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1870. He was born on February 18, 1799 in Cavendish, Vt. He died on December 19, 1885 in the village of Proctorsville Cavendish, Vt. In his early years he worked on his father's farm and taught in a local school. He was a member of the Vermont state militia, where he attained the rank of Brigadier-General. 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.