Lafayette G. M. Fletcher was born in Stockholm, New York, February 13, 1830. He grew up on his family's farm, and attended school at St. Lawrence and Ogdensburg Academies. He taught school for five years, then moved west and settled in Mankato in 1854. Fletcher married Lucina Bacon in Canton, New York in 1858. They had four children together; Lucina Fletcher died in 1870. While in Mankato, Lafayette Fletcher worked on the government survey of Blue Earth County, farmed, was involved in grain storage and real estate sales, was president of the Mankato Savings Bank, and served on the Mankato school board. He was also elected to the Minnesota State Senate in 1883, and served one term.

Fletcher married Susan Marshman Dyer in New Sharon, Maine in 1872. Their seven children included artist Gilbert Fletcher and May Fletcher. L. G. M Fletcher died at his Mankato homestead January 21, 1910.

Biographical information found in The Daily Review, Mankato, January 21, 1910.