Capt. Joseph Fitch

Biography

CAPT. JOSEPH FITCH was born on 11/24/1627 in Bocking, Essex, England. He was the son of Thomas Fitch and Anne Reeve. His father died when he was young and his mother brought the family to America around 1638.This is based upon the testimony of his brother James that their mother brought them to America when James was sixteen. With his older brother and other settlers, in 1651 he took part in purchasing land from local Indians to create the town of Norwalk, Connecticut.

However not too long after he is noted to have moved to Northampton, Massachusetts. Though not an original signer, he seems to have received a lot of land soon after the town’s foundation in 1653. In 1655 he was chosen to help lead the town. The following year he was put on a committee that was to meet with the General Court on behalf of the town. By 1657 he was chosen to help divide some newly acquired land and was also named a selectman for the town. By 1658 he is recorder to have owned4 acres for his lot home and an additional 60 acres of meadow land. In 1658 he helped set rules as to the use of the town’s ferry across the river. That same year he was a witness to a land purchase from Indians to create the neighboring town of Hadley. In 1659 the town of Northampton sold some of its land to a group of men from Hartford and Joseph Fitch was a signer of the agreement on behalf of Northampton. Around 1659 or 1660 he received 10 acres of meadow land in Northampton. However he is noted to have moved to Hartford by 1660 and then at some point to Podunk (part of or near Windsor).

He married Mary Stone (~1639-1672), daughter of Rev. Samuel Stone Sr. and Hope (maiden name unknown, sometime around 1657 around the Hartford area. They had 7 children:

• Mary;
• Lydia;
• Rebecca Elmer (1664-1710);
• Joseph Jr.;
• Nathaniel;
• Sarah; and
• Bridget. He was noted as a freeman in 1662. That same year he was appointed to hire a vessels to transport corn up the river after it arrived from New London. He was appointed the Deputy for the Hartford Court for multiple periods from 1662 to 1668. In 1664 he was involved in fixing or expanding the colony’s jail/prison. He appointed Samuel Wyllys in 1669 to be his attorney to sell his land in Great Birch, Essex County, England.

When King Philip’s War began he was appointed as commander of 60 dragoons in Hartford County after Lt. John Stedman was killed in the Great Swamp Fight. In 1676 an Indian named Joshua, son of chief Uncas of the Mohegan (allies during King Philip’s War), willed a large tract of land to Joseph and 15 other men, which was later used to create the town of Coventry, Connecticut. That same year he was again appointed as Deputy to the Hartford Court. In1672 he and a few other men petitioned the Court to enlarge the boundaries of the town of Windsor. He was again appointed Deputy for Windsor to the Hartford Court in 1684, 1685, 1689, and 1690. In response to the increasing French and Indian threat, he was confirmed as the leader of the militia for the northern part of Windsor in 1689. In 1690 Connecticut sent extra militia men to Albany under Joseph’s command. He was noted in history books to have been a large landholder. He made his Will in 1719 and died sometime just before 1727 when his Will was probated.

Sources

• American Genealogist, Vol. 14, Pg. 87-96
• American Genealogist, Vol. 68, Pg. 1-10, 95-105
• Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (1985) Pg. 269*Hall, The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Connecticut (1847) Pg. 35*Stiles, The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut (1891) Vol. 2, Pg. 261, 466
• History of the Fitch Family, Vol. 2, Pg. 207
• Windsor Connecticut Deeds Vol. 4, Pg. 238-39
• Judd, History of Hadley, Pg. 106-07
• Barbour, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut (1982) Pg. 245*Trumbull, History of Northampton, MA (1898) Pg. 19, 28, 35, 54, 56-57, 61, 70, 78, 145*Hinman, … early Puritan settlers of the colony of Connecticut (1852) Pg. 672*The public records of the colony of Connecticut, Vol. 1, Pg. 383-84, 386, 392, 425, 439*The public records of the colony of Connecticut, Vol. 2, Pg. 13, 43, 82, 185, 390*The public records of the colony of Connecticut, Vol. 3, Pg. 139, 168, 250, 253*The public records of the colony of Connecticut, Vol. 4, Pg. 2, 4, 7,9, 15, 25, 27
• Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Records.
• FoundersofHartford.org* http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=adgedge&id=I2298... http://www.treetreetree.org.uk/Alphabet/F/Fitch/FitchJosephsonThoma...

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ellen Blackwell for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Ellen and others.

Biography

http://www.treetreetree.org.uk/Alphabet/F/Fitch/Fitch.htm#ThomasTho...

Anne accompanied her sons Thomas, James, Samuel and Joseph to New England and they appear in Connecticut not long before 1950. They lived briefly in Norwalk, where Thomas settled, and at Northampton, Massachusetts. Samuel was engaged as a school teacher in Hartford and Joseph and his mother accompanied him there. [Ref]

Children of Thomas Fitch and Anne Reeve:

7. Capt. Joseph Fitch was born about 1630 in Bocking. [Ref][Ref] He died between 17 Nov 1719, when he signed his will, and 3 Oct 1727, when administration was granted on his estate. [Ref]

He married Mary Stone, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Stone. [Ref] Samuel Stone refers to Joseph as his son in his will. [Ref]

Joseph went to New England. [Ref] He owned land in Norwalk in 1650/1. [Ref] He moved to Northampton, Massachusetts. [Ref] He purchased a home in Hartford in 1660. [Ref] He lived in Podunk, which is currently in South Windsor and East Hartford. [Ref]

Joseph was a freeman in 1662. He was Deputy for Windsor on 8 May 1664. [Ref]

some descendants of Joseph Fitch.

References

1. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187542792/joseph-fitch