Genealogical and biographical record of New London County, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the early settled families, Part 12

Author:
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1568


USA > Connecticut > New London County > Genealogical and biographical record of New London County, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the early settled families > Part 12


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'ANLEY G. MORGAN was born in Waterford Ma 9, 1846, and received his schooling in Lake's Po district, No. I. Leaving school at about fif- tee1 years of age, he then remained at home until


188 when his father-in-law died and he removed to his esent farm. He has about 330 acres where he car s on general farming, and keeps from eight to ten ws. He has prospered steadily in this line. Th amily are members of the First Baptist Church in : w London, although one daughter attends the Sec d Congregational Church' in New London. He s served as road commissioner and grand juror in 1 town, but has not taken a particularly active int st in public affairs, having refused many posi- tior of trust. His political support is given to the Replican party.


anley G. Morgan was married Sept. 28, 1880,


to Julia Alice Douglas, daughter of Albert G. and Lucy A. (Fox) Douglas, of Waterford, where Mr. Morgan now lives. Three children have come to this union, all born in Waterford: (I) Anna Haven attended the district schools of her native town, and graduated in 1901 from Williams Memorial Insti- tute, of New London, later taking the post-gradu- ate course in that institution, finally entering Welles- ley College. She is preparing herself for teaching. (2) Stanley Douglas attended the district schools, and is now in the Nathan Hale Grammar School of New London. (3) Christine E. attends the Robert Bartlett school at New London.


DOUGLAS. "Douglas is one of the most ancient and honored names in the annals of Scot- land." [See article on the Douglas family in Cham- bers Encyclopædia.] (I) William Douglas, born in 1610, probably, in Scotland, and a son of Robert Douglas, married Ann Mattle, born in 1610, only daughter of Thomas Mattle, of Ringstead, North- amptonshire, England, and with their two children, Ann and Robert, they came to America in 1640. For a time they were at Gloucester, Mass., but in that same year removed to Boston, thence to Ipswich and back to Boston, where he purchased property in 1646. He there followed his trade, that of a. cooper. In December, 1659, he bought property in. New London, Conn., and removed thither in 1660, taking with him his family, which comprised his wife and children, Robert, Sarah and William. Mr. Douglas was chosen one of the first two deacons of the church in 1670. He was one of the townsmen in 1663, 1666 and 1667; was chosen deputy to the General Court in 1672, and held other offices, show- ing him to have been one of the active and prom- inent public men of the town. He died July 26, 1682. His children were: Ann and Robert, born in Scotland; Elizabeth and Sarah, born in Ipswich ; and William, born in Boston.


(II) Robert Douglas, born in 1639, in Scotland, married Sept. 28, 1665, Mary, daughter of Robert: Hempstead, of New London, she being the first child of English parents born in the town of which her father was one of the founders. Mr. Douglas. had lands set off to him in New London in 1663, and he inherited a house on New Street, and also had other property. By trade he was a cooper. His. name occurs frequently on both church and town records. From time to time he served on important town committees. He died Jan. 15, 1715-16, and his wife died Dec. 26, 17II. Their children were: William, born Nov. 1I, 1666; Mary, June 13, 1668; Ann, Dec. 25, 1669; John, July 17, 1671 ; Hannah, May 14, 1673 ; Sarah, Dec. 2, 1674 ; Elizabeth, April 26, 1677; Thomas, May 15, 1679; Phebe, Jan. 20, 1681 ; Susanna, about 1683; and Ruth, about 1685.


(III) Thomas Douglas, born May 15, 1679, in New London, married, Nov. 25, 1703, Hannah Sperry, of New Haven. Mr. Douglas was admitted to church privileges April 9, 1710, and was a prom- inent member of the New London Church. He held


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several important town offices, was chosen collector in 17II, and died March 3, 1724-25, leaving prop- erty inventoried at £776. His widow married Sam- uel Chapman, and died in 1758. Mr. Douglas's nine children were: John, born Sept. 7, 1704; Rob- ert, Dec. 28, 1705 ; Thomas, Feb. 18, 1707 ; James, April 5, 1710; Daniel, Sept. 18, 1713; Mary, Feb. 13, 1715-16; Stephen, May 18, 1719; Nathan, April 15, 1721 ; and John, April 8, 1724.


(IV) Robert Douglas (2), born Dec. 28, 1705, in New London, married, Aug. 5, 1731, Sarah Edgecomb, and they resided on the farm which had been his father's. Both he and his wife were mem- bers of the church Oct. 5, 1735. His house was fre- quently the place of church meetings, and at one time nine were baptized there. Mr. Douglas died in October, 1786, and his widow in about 1797 removed with her son Daniel to Wallingford, Vt., where she died in a few months. Their children were: Han- nah, born June 5, 1732; Thomas, Aug. I, 1734; Sarah, July 15, 1738; Robert, Aug. 7, 1740; Mary, Dec. 4, 1742 ; Samuel, Feb. 26, 1744-45 ; Mehetabel, Sept. 8, 1747; Joseph, June I, 1750; and Daniel, May 22, 1752.


(V) Thomas Douglas (2), born Aug. 1, 1734, in New London, married in 1761, Grace, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Edgecomb) Richards of New London, and they resided on the old Douglas place on the Colchester road (near the late residence of Albert G. Douglas), settling there many years before the Revolutionary war. He was a farmer, and in his leisure time engaged in tanning and shoemaking. He died in Waterford in 1826, aged ninety-two, and his widow died July 13, 1831, aged ninety-four. Their children, all born in New London, were: Guy, born Jan. 7, 1762; Elizabeth, in 1764; Mary, in 1766; Sarah, in 1768; Hamill, June I, 1771 ; Esther, February, 1772; Robert, Jan. 18, 1774; Grace, January, 1776; and Abigail, in 1779.


(VI) Robert Douglas, born Jan. 18, 1774, in New London, Conn., married, June 13, 1802, Abiah Douglas, born May 25, 1775, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Lucas). Douglas. Robert Douglas and his family lived on the Douglas homestead. They were farmers in good circumstances. He died in Waterford, Oct. 8, 1834, and she died June 30, 1851. Their children, born in what is now Water- ford, Conn., were: Abiah, born May 4, 1803, mar- ried William Gorton, of Waterford. Henrietta, born July 18, 1805, married, Oct. 16, 1856, Isaac Watrous, of Waterford, and both are now deceased, he dying Sept. 5, 1857, and she Sept. 23, 1863. Thomas was born March 29, 1807. Albert Gallatin, born Feb. II, 1809, is mentioned below. John, born Feb. 23, 18II, married Ann E. Raymond. Robert, born Jan. 18, 1813, was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, and was a railroad civil engineer living in the West. Guy, born Jan. 18, 1815, married Eme- line Browning. Elizabeth Lucas, born July 14, 1817, married the late Hon. H. P. Haven, of New London, Conn. They are all now deceased.


Robert Douglas was a prosperous farmer, owned and operated a sawmill which stood near home, and which remained there many years a: his demise as a monument to his thrift and frug ity. His was a devout Christian character, and was a worthy member of the First Congregatic Church of New London. In politics he was an ( line Whig, and took an active part in the coun of. that party.


ALBERT GALLATIN DOUGLAS was born Feb. 1809, in Waterford, in the house where his daugh Mrs. Stanley G. Morgan, now resides. He recei a common-school education, supplemented by ( year at Hamilton (New York) Academy, dur which time he had for a classmate, the late H Henry B. Payne, who later became United Sta Senator from Ohio. Returning from school at. age of twenty-one years, he went to live with uncle, Guy Douglas, with whom he remained twenty years, or until the death of his uncle, wh. occurred in May, 1849. In March, 1851, Mr. Do1 las removed to the old home farm adjoining, a there continued to reside during the remainder his life. This old home, which has been in the p session of the family for several generations, is s occupied, by a descendant, Mrs. Stanley G. Morg Mr. Douglas was a prosperous and success farmer, and was also extensively engaged in lumb ing. He was an extensive land-owner, having h in his possession over 600 acres of land.


In political faith Mr. Douglas was an old-1 Whig, and upon the organization of the Republic party in 1854 he became an adherent of its pr ciples, and was active in the councils of the par; He served his native town as- selectman seve years, and also held other town offices of trust. represented the town in the State Legislature t terms. Although not a member Mr. Douglas w an attendant and liberal supporter of the Bapt Church, to which his wife belonged. Mr. Doug was an acknowledged leader in the community which he resided. He was a careful, conservat business man, whose advice was often sought and often given, yet he was a man of few words, a given to keeping his own counsel except when call upon. In disposition he was quiet and reserved, 1 possessed a genial, pleasant manner, by which gained many stanch and warm friends. He w charitable and benevolent, always ready to ass the needy and unfortunate.


Mr. Douglas was married, Oct. 10, 1849, to Lt A., daughter of Otis P. and Mary Ann (Thompso Fox, of Maine, and to them came two children, bo born in Waterford: (I) Julia Alice, born July : 1850, married Stanley G. Morgan, of Waterfo: (2) Albert, born May 4, 1854, married Mira Fish of New London, where they reside; they have ty children, Lucy Wilhelmina and Williams Dougl.


Albert G. Douglas passed to his reward Dec. 1889, and his wife died Feb. 18, 1885, both passi away at the old homestead in Waterford. In t


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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.


imer of 1876 Mr. Douglas had torn down the c house, which had stood for over a century, and S ected upon the site a new one of modern style.


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FITCH. From the very dawn of the settlement Norwich through a period of nearly two and a f centuries, the name of Fitch has been con- cuous in the annals of that or neighboring towns. - a hundred years and more, from soon after the Idle of the eighteenth century, Col. Asa Fitch, sons, and in turn some of his grandsons, have, h little exception, been among the foremost men business activity, enterprise and public spirit ong their contemporaries in their locality. En- ;etic, active men, they were not content with the New England farm and forge, but went to the st-across the sea, and some to the Golden Gate, 1 were there as at home princes among business n and most successful in their pursuits. Such .nes as Rev. James Fitch, the first minister of Nor- ch, Col. Asa Fitch, Asa Fitch (2), Stephen, Doug- s Woodworth, William, Asa Douglass, and Will- a Huntington Fitch will long live in connection th history of the old town of Norwich and Bozrah, d some of them as well with cities in France, on the cific coast, and in our Eastern Metropolis-New rk.


It is with these men and their Fitch lineage this icle is to treat. The last of this group of men, illiam Huntington Fitch, a leading citizen and althy man of Norwich, passed away Oct. 28, 04.


The Rev. James Fitch, a native of the County of sex, England, born Dec. 24, 1632, was brought his mother, with other sons, to America in 1638. appears that the father of the family had previ- sly died. All that is known of young Fitch evious to his ordination, in 1646, is the statement his birth, emigrating at the age of sixteen, and ven years of theological instruction at Hartford ider Revs. Hooker and Stone. After a pastorate fourteen years at Saybrook he with the larger rtion of his Church removed to Norwich in 1660. e was a useful and valued citizen, one of the most ominent of the founders of the town. "As a pas- r he was zealous and indefatigable. In addition his other labors, he trained several young men for e ministry, as he himself had been trained by r. Hooker. Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Wind- un ; Taylor, of Westfield; and Adams, of New ondon, received a part at least of their theological struction from him." Mr. Fitch was twice mar- ed and had fourteen children, the first six of whom ere born at Saybrook. He married (first) in ctober, 1648, Abigail, daughter of Rev. Henry Whitefield. She died at Saybrook, Sept. 9, 1659, id in October, 1664, he was married to Priscilla [ason, who survived him. Rev. Mr. Fitch, in the the year 1701, retired to the new plantation of ebanon-a plantation in which he took great in- rest, having figured in lands there, and where


several of his children had established their homes. Here he died November 18 or 19, 1702, when in the eightieth year of his age. Of his sons, James went to Canterbury ; Samuel settled on a farm in Preston ; Daniel became an inhabitant of the North Parish of New London, in the immediate neighborhood of Norwich, but not within its bounds; John went to Windham; Jabez pursued his ministerial calling at Ipswich and Portsmouth, and the four others took up farms in Lebanon. The five daughters of Rev. Mr. Fitch were connected in marriage as follows : Abigail with Capt. John Mason (2) ; Elizabeth with Rev. Edward Taylor, of Westfield, Mass .; Hannah with Thomas Meeks, or Mix; Dorothy with Na- thaniel Bissell; and Anna, the only daughter of the second marriage, with Joseph Bradford.


From the foregoing source came the Fitches of whom we write, and through Stephen Fitch of the Lebanon branch of the family. From this Stephen, William H. Fitch, of Norwich, descended through Col. Asa and Stephen Fitch, sketches of whom with others of the family follow.


Col. Asa Fitch, son of Stephen of the Lebanon branch, born Feb. 14, 1755, in Bozrah, married (first) Feb. 8, 1781, Susanna Fitch, born June 4, 1757, in Bozrah, and after her death, which occurred April 22, 1814, he married (second) Mary House. The children born to the first marriage were: Ne- hemiah H .; Lois F .; Clarissa; Asa, born May 6, 1787 ; Susan ; Stephen, born Aug. 21, 1790; Fannie ; Douglass W., born Feb. 18, 1796; William, born October 27, 1800; Clarissa (2), born June 5, 1802 (married Oct. 14, 1824, Major John W. Haughton, and died in Bozrah Oct. 8, 1886).


Mr. Fitch, familiarly called "Col. Fitch," was a farmer and manufacturer of iron at Fitchville. He lived to advanced years, and his career was one of usefulness. He was industrious and energetic in business affairs, and active in matters pertaining to the welfare of the town, having held various town offices, the duties of which he performed with effi- ciency. He and his wife were members of the Con- gregational Church. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party. His upright character and purity of purpose were known and admired by all. Col. Fitch died Aug. 19, 1844. Miss Caulkins in her History of Norwich (1866) thus refers to Col. Fitch : "Col. Asa Fitch, the proprietor of the old iron works at this place ( Fitchville), was a man of marked character, full of energy and decision. In the Revolutionary war, whenever an alarm was sounded that the enemy were threatening the Con- necticut coast, he was almost invariably the first of his company to shoulder the musket and start for the scene of action. He was a son of Stephen Fitch, of the Lebanon line of descent from Rev. James. His first wife, Susanna, was a daughter of Benajah Fitch, of East Norwich, or Long Society."


Stephen Fitch, son of Col. Asa, born Aug. 21, 1790, in Bozrah, Conn., married March 23, 1817, Mary I. Rogers, born Jan. 4, 1794, in Norwich.


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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.


Mr. Fitch was reared on the farm in Bozrah, and to the iron business with his father, and he con- tinued thus occupied until his marriage. He then removed to New Hartford, N. Y., and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1832, when he returned to his native State, settling in Norwich. Here he remained until after the death of his wife, Sept. 22, 1837. After this event he removed to Bozrah, and for many years was actively engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods, associated in busi- ness with his brother Asa, at Fitchville. Mr. Fitch held a number of town offices, and was a representa- tive in the General Assembly of Connecticut. He was an energetic and active business man of good ability and judgment and he held the esteem and respect of his fellow townsmen. His political affilia- tions were with the Democratic party-the party of his forefathers. He died in Bozrah, Oct. 6, I868.


The children of Mr. Fitch and his wife were:


(I) Sophia Ingraham Fitch, born Dec. 10, 1817, married William S. Cruft, of Boston, and died in Paris, July 1, 1873.


(2) Asa Douglass Fitch was born March 27, 1820, at New Hartford, N. Y. In early boyhood he attended common and select schools, and later en- tered Washington Institute in New York State. (where he was a schoolmate of William H. Vander- bilt), from which he was graduated in 1837. After his graduation young Fitch began a business career as a clerk in the New York house of his uncles, Asa and William Fitch, who were then engaged in the wholesale commission business. In 1842 the nephew left New York, and took charge of the stores of his uncle and father, located at Fitchville, New Lon- don Co., Conn. He remained so occupied until 1849, when he went to Stockton, Cal., via Cape Horn. After a year's residence in Stockton, he went to Portland, Oregon, where for ten years he was as- sociated with his brother, William Huntington Fitch, in mercantile pursuits. True to the family and education, he was a Democrat of the old school. While in the West he held a number of public trusts, and was a prominent citizen of Portland, being a member of the common council of the city and for several terms served as treasurer of the county in which Portland is located. He was also commis- sioner of the penitentiary during the building of that institution, and while Oregon was yet a territory. He died Nov. 27, 1891, at the home of his brother, William H., in Norwich Town.


(3) Mary Elizabeth Fitch, born July 27, 1827, married (first) Hon. R. H. Winslow, of Westport, Conn., and (second) Dr. R. C. M. Page, of Vir- ginia. Mrs. Page is a woman of superior accom- plishments, and has been a liberal contributor to the Episcopal Church of Westport.


Mr. Winslow in his lifetime began the erection of a new church, but he died before he had it fairly started. His widow as a memorial to him built the


church (Holy Trinity), and is a most liberal ( tributor to its support.


(4) William Huntington Fitch is referred farther on.


Asa Fitch (2), son of Col. Asa, born May 1787, in Bozrah, never married. In youth he possessed of a delicate constitution and broke dc in an attempt to pursue an academic course of stu a clerkship in Norwich, and also to obtain a mech ical trade. At eighteen years of age, in the hope bettering his physical condition by a sea voyage, embarked as a passenger in the brig "Walto bound on a fishing and trading voyage to Gr Island, Newfoundland and Europe. He left vessel at Lisbon in October, 1805, just prior to ceipt of the news there of the battle of Trafalgar a the death of Lord Nelson. Finding the clim invigorating and beneficial he went to Alicante, a for a time was employed in the office of the Ame can consul. Later he engaged in mercantile affa and remained some ten years, during which per he made the reputation of a substantial man a merchant. In 1814 he removed to Marseilles, wh he established a commission and banking house tl soon became recognized as a link in the chain commerce between France and the United Stat At Alicante Mr. Fitch had favored in moneta matters certain royal exiles, who, when later turned to power, showed their appreciation of 1 accommodations, and through them he was w comed to the best society in France, and he afterwa entertained at his table nobles, statesmen and 1. erary men of the first reputation in the country.


Mr. Fitch was there joined by his broth Douglass Woodworth Fitch, under the firm name Fitch Brothers & Co. Vessels from many of t large ports of the United States were consigned this house. These men were also agents of t United States navy, furnishing supplies and maki: payments to the government vessels in the Me iterranean. They executed orders from Ameri for the purchase of French goods, and had cort spondents in the United States to receive consig ments of French produce from the merchants al manufacturers in France.


In 1828 Asa Fitch returned to America to ta charge of the affairs of the house in this countr The office of the New York house was on Exchang place. In that city Mr. Fitch purchased a number lots on Broadway, New street and Exchange plac upon which subsequently he built a number of stor which proved most profitable investments. Gra ually Mr. Fitch retired from the details of busines and returned to his native place, where he lived and for more than twenty-five years was fair occupied in the improvement of a naturally roug country district. He built a mansion house besi( the old iron works, where his father and eld brother had labored. Here, too, he built a cotto mill, a grist mill and a church-and even a villag


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i lf. He here purchased farm after farm until his nain was measurable by miles, and his outlay of V 1 ney in these, and his operations, amounted to 1 re than a million of dollars.


In body and mind Asa Fitch was ever alert and ive. He was full of energy, one of his chief racteristics being ceaseless activity. He was emarkable man in many ways, especially in plan- g, laying out and constructing work, and few sons have had a more eventful life. His death urred Oct. 31, 1865. The following reference Fitchville and its founders is from the history of rwich (1866) by Miss Caulkins :


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"No part of the nine miles square has a stronger im to notice in our history than Fitchville. It is only a striking example of what may be done persevering enterprise in softening the sterile 1 homely features of nature into productiveness 1 beauty, but it furnishes a pleasing link to con- t our reminiscences with the founders of the vn1.


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The present proprietor, from whom the village cived its name, is a descendant through both rents from the Rev. Mr. Fitch, the first minister Norwich, of whose parish this was a part; the ells and Huntingtons, the first owners of the land, re members of the church and congregation of rwich town plot, etc.


"We can not close this sketch of Bozrah with- t adverting to the improvements that have been ected in a portion of the town since 1832, by alth, energy and perseverance, under the control Asa Fitch, Esq. The taste and efficiency that ve converted an ancient iron works and a rugged ming district into the village of Fitchville, with large agricultural area, its mansion house beauti- lly embowered and skirted with landscape beauty, symmetrical, well-built church, its cotton-mill, lines of heavy stone wall, and its two miles of aded road, prepared for a railway, command our qualified admiration."


Douglass W. Fitch, son of Col. Asa, born Feb. , 1796, in Bozrah, Conn., married in October, 34, Louisa Clemence Beck, of Marseilles. Mr. tch became associated with his brother at Mar- illes, France, and shared with him the development d successful operation of their extensive business. ith his wife and family Mr. Fitch visited America 1838. Of their children, Harold, born Oct. 10, 37, died in Marseilles ; and Charles D., born Oct. ), 1845, resides in Marseilles. The father died ine II, 1848.


William Fitch, son of Col. Asa, born Oct. 27, 300, in Bozrah, Conn., was reared on his father's rm, and there assisted in season in the farming erations, and in the winters attended the neigh- rhood schools. He had manifested at an early ¿e a desire for study, became deeply interested in oks, and at about fifteen years of age furthered his udies at Bacon Academy, Colchester, from which stitution he was graduated. He taught several


terms of school before he was twenty years of age, entering the New York branch of the Fitch estab- lishment in 1820. There he remained until 1848, and was in charge of the correspondence of the house. Owing to failing health he returned in 1848 to his native town, and for several years thereafter was engaged in the manufacturing business, asso- ciated with his brother, Asa. In the summer of 1858 Mr. Fitch settled in the town of Norwich, Conn., and there resided until his death, Dec. 23, 1880. He was for several years postmaster at Fitchville. Mr. Fitch "was a member of Trinity Church and was characterized for benevolence among that people. He was a man of generous impulses, and will be missed by many poor families. His was a long and useful life, peacefully closed with a full hope of im- mortality."


On Oct. 14, 1857, Mr. Fitch was married to Mary E. Williams, born June 23, 1825, in Bethle- hem, Conn., daughter of Dr. Elias and Mary Ann (Hillhouse) Williams. Six children were born to the marriage, namely: William Asa (who died in infancy), Marian H., Susan L., Elizabeth M., Fanny R., and Sarah G., all born in Norwich.


WILLIAM HUNTINGTON FITCH, son of Stephen, was born Nov. 4, 1830, in New Hartford, N. Y. Though a native of the Empire State, he was by in- heritance, education and residence a son of New England. When he was two years old his parents and family returned to Connecticut, residing in Norwich until the death of the mother, in 1837. In that year the family removed to Fitchville. William H. received good common-school advantages in Norwich and vicinity, and then furthered his studies in the Cheshire Academy, from which he was grad- uated. When about twenty years of age, in the spring of 1850, he turned his course westward, go- ing to California by way of the Isthmus. There he tarried for a time, and there he joined his brother, Asa D., and thence proceeded on to Portland, Ore- gon, in which place the brothers established a mer- cantile business. Young Fitch was associated in business with his brother until 1859, in which year he returned East, and became associated in a part- nership with his uncle, Asa Fitch, at Fitchville, under the firm title of W. H. Fitch & Co., manufac- turers of cotton goods. This partnership was con- tinued until the death of Asa Fitch, and then con- ducted by the nephew until 1867, in which year he retired to a farm of some 300 acres, beautifully situ- ated between Fitchville and Yantic. This extensive farm is one of the best in the locality, well-watered and improved, its buildings commodious and mod- ern. Mr. Fitch (as was his father) was fond of blooded and speed horses, and on his farm he had one of the best half-mile tracks in the State. He kept some very fine horses. A couple of years ago he dis- posed of the farm. His late residence is near the Green, in Norwich Town, and there he died Oct. 28, 1904 ; he was laid to rest in the family burial lot in Bozrah. Mr. Fitch for a number of years past was




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