He was a schoolteacher, later entered the lumbering and mercantile business. They had nine children who reached maturity. Five of them were alive in 1880. In 1840 a Jabez Fitch and a Joel Fitch are living in LaSalle County, Illinois. The 1850 census lists Lucius Fitch, born Illinois, as part of the household (Isaac and Agnes were Lucius’s grandparents). Julius C, Alva B, and Joel had all relocated to the west by 1880, according to the “History of Mooers”.