USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > The romance of Norwalk > Part 10
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YANKEE DOODLE HOUSE IN NORWALK, CONNECTICUT
YANKEE DOODLE HOUSE IN RENSSELAER, NEW YORK
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a storm and it was found necessary to tear down the re- maining supports. The cellar is still standing and may be seen quite plainly. Part of the old well may also be dis- cerned. It was filled in some time ago and flowers grew above its rim. Lately, however, due possibly to water action below, the filling has sunk some seven feet. The property is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Hendrick of 166 East ave., and has been in the Hendrick family for generations, having been originally bought by the family from Colonel Thomas Fitch. Mr. Hendrick's grandfather was born in the house and his great grandfather owned it. Mrs. Hend- rick says she had many times been through the old building which was a two story frame structure, clapboarded. On the ground floor was a huge kitchen with great fireplace, a bedroom leading off the kitchen and a "parlor" in front. Upstairs were two more bedrooms. The Hendrick family members intend to retain the property, but will not build on it. Rather they will keep it as it is, overgrown with flowers, a tribute to the memory of the brave Colonel Fitch.
YANKEE DOODLE HOUSE IN NEW YORK
Rensselaer, near Albany, New York, is loud in its claim of being the home of the original and authentic Yankee Doodle House. The story of Fort Cralo goes back a good deal farther than does the story of Norwalk's Yankee Doo- dle house. In 1642, one Stephen Van Rensselaer had a fort and manor house, named Fort Cralo, after his estate on the Zyder Zee, erected on his farm just outside the precincts of the village of Greenbush, now Rensselaer, near Albany. Of this fort, Kenneth MacFarland, student and historian of Rensselaer, says :
"Fort Cralo is without doubt, there being no evidence to the contrary, the oldest house in the United States.
"In the year 1758, during the French and Indian War, General Abercrombie, 'Aunt Abbie,' as the soldiers called him behind his back, was in command of the British forces
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in New York. On the march to Ticonderoga, which he was ordered to capture, he encamped at Greenbush (Rensselaer) making Fort Cralo his headquarters. While he was en- camped there, many men from the manor enlisted in his army. They were exceedingly rude and awkward, nonde- script in dress, but expert marksmen.
"On General Abercrombie's staff was a young surgeon, Shuckburg by name, whose derision was aroused at the sight of these raw recruits in their scarecrow-like garb. Tradition has it that he, while sitting on the curb of the well at the rear of Fort Cralo, composed in ridicule of the colonial troops, the lines which have since become famous." Note that the above article gives the impression that the soldiers in derision of whom the song "Yankee Doodle" was written, came from just around Rensselaer itself, "from the manor." Had no mention been made of the home of these soldiers, we might have taken it for granted that they were the Colonial sol- diers lead by Colonel Thomas Fitch, of Norwalk, into Albany, past the very doors of Fort Cralo.
Rensselaer, it should be remembered, is separated from Albany only by bridges and so when mention is made of troops entering either Albany or Rensselaer, practically the same territory is meant. The Rensselaer Business Men's association, certain of the city's claim to the origin of the famous song, has published a circular in which Rensselaer is referred to as "The Birthplace of Yankee Doodle." On the wall of Fort Cralo, sometimes spelled Crailo, has been erected a tablet which bears the following inscription : "Sup- posed to be the oldest building in the United States and to have been erected in 1642, as a Manor House and place of defense known as Fort Cralo. Gen'l Abercrombie's head- quarters while marching to attack Fort Ticonderoga in 1758, where it is said that at the cantonment east of this house, near the old well, the army surgeon R. Shuckburg, composed the popular song of 'Yankee Doodle.'"
Further substantiation of Norwalk's claim to Yankee Doo- dle fame is contained in a communication from Roscoe Conk-
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ling Fitch of Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Fitch, historian, who is related to many of the Norwalk Fitches and who recently compiled a pamphlet on the Fitch Families in America, ob- jects to the claims made by Rensselaer, first, because that city would take all the Yankee Doodle credit and second, because it claims to have the oldest building in the United States. Concerning the latter, Mr. Fitch says that one ex- ample of an older house is the Henry Whitfield State His- torical Museum at Guilford, Conn., constructed of stone by the Rev. M. Henry Whitfield in 1639 as a home and a fortified defense against the Indians.
Most of the records, including Selleck's "Norwalk," claim that Yankee Doodle was written in 1758. Mr. Fitch be- lieves that he has discovered additional information to set the date down as 1755.
Mr. Fitch bases his claim in part on information obtained from Harper's Encyclopedia of United States history and in part on information contained in volume one of "The Fitch Papers, Correspondence and Documents During Thomas Fitch's Governorship of the Colony of Connecticut, 1754-1766," published by the Connecticut Historical Society. In Mr. Fitch's explanation he says that :
"The main army composed of the regular provincial regi- ments under Major-General Johnson were encamped at the head of Lake George in 1755 and from there sent out an urgent call for reinforcements. It can readily be understood that as the regularly uniformed troops were already at the front, the reinforcements were composed of raw recruits, who fitted themselves out as to clothes and equipment as best they could.
"The reinforcements included several independent compa- nies of volunteers who went into the service at their own expense. Naturally these troops did not wear the gold braided uniforms to which the pompous British officers were accustomed. These reinforcements marched by way of Al- bany and Rensselaer, N. Y. One of these volunteers was Colonel Thomas Fitch V, eldest son of Gov. Thomas Fitch
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and fifth of the name in direct descent in Connecticut who became a distinguished officer in the French and Indian War and in the Revolution."
Harper's Encyclopedia adds : "A surgeon in the British Army (this was Dr. Shuckburg) who was with the provin- cial troops under Johnson at the head of Lake George, be- ing impressed with the uncouth appearance of the provincial soldiers, composed a song to the air, which he called 'Yan- key', instead of 'Nankey Doodle,' and commended it to the motley soldiers as 'very elegant.' "
Quite recently, February 11, 1929, to be exact, the ques- tion of the origin of Yankee Doodle came up again for discussion, this time in the New York Times. The matter was brought to the front following the efforts of Senator Williams of Rensselaer county, N. Y., to introduce a bill into the New York State legislature appropriating $15,000 to restore Fort Cralo in Rensselaer county, because of its alleged historic connection with the composition of Yankee Doodle.
Now that all is said and done, which has the right to lay claim to a Yankee Doodle house, Rensselaer or Norwalk? Perhaps both have. At least let us allow sleeping dogs to lie and permit Norwalk to enjoy what satisfaction and honor it may from the tradition which gives to Colonel Thomas Fitch, bravest of fighters, the credit for at least being the cause of the composition of the famous song, "Yankee Doo- dle."
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GOVERNOR FITCH OF NORWALK
CHAPTER XII
His Background-Spanish Ship Figures In His Election- Attitude On Stamp Act Brings Him Unpopularity-Pa- triots Refuse to Reelect Him-Returns to Norwalk-At- tends Wedding of Grand Niece.
THROUGHOUT the French and Indian war, Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, capably filled the governor's seat in Hartford, presiding over the colony from 1754 until 1766. During his first years in office, Fitch gained the confidence, respect and sympathy of the entire colony. Well educated, intelli- gent, just, quiet in manner, firm in convictions, wise in the ways of men, as a ruler, he was a credit to the town from which he sprang and to the state which he so carefully gov- erned during his twelve years' control. Even during his last few years in office when pre-Revolutionary troubles broke out and he lost the sympathy of the majority of his people, Fitch still retained the respect of the keener, cooler minds in the colony.
The Norwalker's subsequent loss of public support was due to the fact that he was a conservative and never openly allied himself with the colonists' cause, being cruelly torn be- tween loyalty to King and sense of justice to the colonists. When he left office in 1766, at the time that his people were red hot with indignation against the mother country's effront- eries in the Stamp Act controversy, he found almost the entire population of Connecticut turned against him.
The governor was the descendant of a long line of Fitches. The name itself is German and is sometimes found spelled Ffytch or Ffitch. Bocking, a village in Braintree, Essex
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county, England, was the home of Thomas Fitch, progenitor of the American family.
John Fitch of Fitch Castle, parish of Widdington, Essex county, is mentioned in history as early as 1294. There is good reason to believe that the Fitches were of excellent family. Thomas of Bocking had five sons. Three of these came with the mother, after the father's death, to this coun- try about 1637. They were Thomas, Joseph and James. James went to Norwich; Joseph stayed in Norwalk but a few years. Thomas alone remained here.
The following is a "cutting" from the family tree: Thomas Fitch, Sr., of Norwalk, who was son of Thomas of Bocking. Thomas Fitch, Jr., son of Thomas, Sr., of Nor- walk. "Mr." or Captain Thomas Fitch, son of Thomas Fitch, Jr. Governor Thomas Fitch, son of "Mr." Thomas Fitch.
The governor was thus the great, great grandson of Thomas of Bocking. The first Thomas was in Norwalk in 1652, being one of the early settlers. He lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1704. The second Thomas, it is believed, died about 1690, although Selleck says 1684. His wife was Ruth Fitch. The third Thomas was born in 1671. He was called "Mr." Thomas Fitch in Norwalk, but Captain Fitch at Hartford. He was King's Commissioner in Norwalk from 1691 to 1694. His first wife was Sarah Fitch. This third Thomas Fitch in Norwalk, "Mr." or "Captain" which- ever you chose to call him, had four children: Samuel, who was the Crown's Justice ; James, who was deputy to the gen- eral assembly; Elizabeth, and then Thomas, who was the governor. The above is correct as far as the writer has been able to discover.
Hall gives the impression that the Governor was of the second generation. Some even set him as far down as the fifth. It would seem, however, that he was rather of the fourth, that is the fourth of that name in America, the fifth in generation, counting Thomas of Bocking.
The National Cyclopedia of American Biography insists
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that Governor Thomas Fitch was the fifth of the name. This would mean that Thomas of Bocking was first, Thomas, Sr., of Norwalk, second; Thomas, jr., third; "Mr." or Cap- tain Thomas, fourth; and Gov. Fitch, fifth. With this, His- torian Selleck agrees.
Thomas, the governor, was born in 1699. His father was "Mr." or Captain Thomas Fitch who married three times, his wives being Sarah, Phoebe and Rachael. The children, including the governor, were all by his first wife, Sarah. The boy, Thomas, graduated from Yale University in 1721 in a class of 14 members, at Yale's 20th commence- ment. At that time Yale college was a low wooden building painted sky color. Thomas studied theology, was licensed to preach and did preach several times in the Norwalk church. Not long after, however, he turned his attention to state matters.
September 4, 1724, Thomas married Hannah Hall of New Haven. Ten children were born of this union. The best known of the sons was Colonel Thomas Fitch of Yankee Doodle fame. He was born August 12, 1725. He was justice 1761 to 1772. In May, 1768 he was made Lieuten- ant Colonel of the ninth regiment. He married Sarah St. John Hill of Fairfield.
The second son of the Governor was Jonathan, born April 12, 1727, who married a daughter of Samuel Mix in New Haven and lived elsewhere than in Norwalk. Inci- dentally, he held the office of high sheriff longer than any one else in his time. The third son was Ebenezer, born February 25, 1729, who married Lydia, daughter of Samuel Mills, Jr., of Greenwich. He left home early and died at the age of 33.
The fourth child was Hannah, born April 10, 1731. Of her it is said "like the delicate sea pinks which edged her father's spray besprinkled meadows down in the fields, she bloomed beautifully and quickly blanched. She died at the age of fourteen." The fifth child was Mary, born Septem-
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ber 20, 1733. She married at the age of 18 and was mother of Thomas Fitch Thatcher who dwelt on "Drye Hill." The sixth child was Timothy, born in 1735. He lived, married and died in Norwalk.
The seventh child was Hezekiah, who married September 21, 1767, Jerusha Burr of Fairfield and resided in that town. He and his relatives entertained such colonial gentry as General Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin and Timothy Dwight. It was a family which Trumbull visited, according to story, and the members of which saluted John Hancock when he was wedded within their residence. The eighth child was Elizabeth who was born in 1739 and who married Andrew Rowland of Fairfield. She was the brave woman who in 1779 when the shot was flying thick and Fairfield was on fire, remained alone in her dwelling, facing the foe. The ninth child was Esther who died at the age of 29 sum- mers. The tenth was Giles who passed away when only two years old.
It was said of the Fitches that they always selected their farms beside rivers. The older Norwalk Fitches purchased largely of water bordered lands. They owned parts of Oyster Shell Point, Fort Point, Fitch's Point, Gregory's Point and around Cow Pasture Point. The Fitch home stood on lower East ave. on the east side of Earle's East ave. hill, according to the old locations. As a matter of fact, the home of Miss Sarah Fitch at 173 East ave. is the site of the original Governor Fitch residence.
Thomas Fitch early took an interest in state and political affairs. He successively filled the offices of chancellor, judge of the superior court and chief justice of the state. From 1750 to 1754 he was chief justice; from 1751 to 1753 he held the office of deputy governor of Connecticut. In 1754 he became governor, remaining in office until 1766.
RISE AND FALL OF FITCH
The story of Governor Fitch's rise and fall is a curious one. Fate decreed that a strong wave of public opinion
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should thrust the Norwalker into the high chair of gover- norship, and that a still stronger wave of public opinion, suddenly turned against him, should thrust him out of office and into retirement.
A Spanish ship figured prominently in the events which preceded Fitch's election. It so happened that in the winter of 1753, the early part of the year, during a terrible snow storm, there limped into the port of New London, a Spanish ship on its way from Havana, Cuba, to Cadiz, Spain. The ship, in trying to make port, dashed onto a reef of rocks and sustained such damages that it was found necessary to unload her and to store the cargo with Joseph Hill, Esquire, collec- tor of the port of New London.
Don Joseph Miguel de St. Juan was master of the cargo and he made all preparations to set sail again in the spring- time, 1753. A new ship of 200 tons was purchased and all was ready early in April. Miguel commenced to load his cargo on board but when half way through, discovered that a large part of it was missing, whether mislaid, withheld from him or stolen, he couldn't find out. The collector of the port giving the Spaniard no satisfaction the latter applied to the Connecticut General Assembly for damages. The Assembly decided after much consideration that the petition was unreasonable and could not be granted.
Before the meeting of the freemen in April, 1754, it was generally understood that the Spanish gentleman had been robbed or at least that part of his very valuable and rich cargo had been kept from him, lost, or stolen. The colonists were in an uproar. Some saw themselves the victims of great difficulties, heavy debts, and unpleasant relations with Spain. Others felt a sympathy toward the Spaniard and claimed that Connecticut had outrageously treated a for- eigner in distress.
Governor Wolcott and associates were blamed for not tak- ing proper care or caution in safeguarding the stranger's property and for not according him justice, and suspicious fingers were pointed at several gentlemen "high in politics."
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ROMANCE OF NORWALK
Whether or not Wolcott deserved the criticism we do not know. At any rate, the whole affair greatly affected the freemen. So deeply was the public stirred by the matter that in spite of Wolcott's popularity he lost much support and in the election of May, 1754, he was defeated. In Roger Wolcott's chair in 1754, was placed Thomas Fitch of Norwalk.
The Norwalker was a Conservative, which fact was not exactly conducive to brotherly relations between himself and the majority of the colonists, in those hot-headed times. However, Fitch was a man of extreme level-headedness and manly bearing and he conducted himself while in office, with dignity and with credit to all concerned. In 1755, he was a member of the Council of War in New York City, with his Excellency General Shirley, Commander in Chief of His Majesty's forces in North America, Sir Charles Hardy, the governor of New York and others. In 1756, he took it upon himself to write letters to the Board of Trade in England, complaining of the heavy debt incurred by the colony in keep- ing up military undertakings during the French and Indian War. When first rumblings of trouble with the mother country over the proposed Stamp Act were heard, Governor Fitch did all in his power to prevent the Act's passage. And this, in spite of the fact that he looked with disfavor on the growing opposition of the colonists to par- liamentary measures.
The General Assembly sitting in session in 1764 voted that the Governor should draw up a paper of protestation against the Stamp Act. Fitch and his committee forthwith penned a document on "The Reasons Why the British Col- onies in America Should Not Be Charged with Internal Taxes, by Authority of Parliament, Humbly Offered for Consideration, in Behalf of the Colony of Connecticut."
Historian Hollister writes of this document by Fitch, that it "shows an intimate acquaintance with the principles of the British Constitution and the rights of the subject under it, that is unsurpassed by any paper originating in any other
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colony during that exciting period." Jared Ingersoll of Milford who helped draft it, took it to England. There it was duly read and Lord Grenville even went so far as to praise its tone. Notwithstanding all efforts on the part of the colonists however, the act passed, receiving the royal signature March 27, 1765.
Meanwhile, Governor Fitch was remaining quiet and say- ing nothing. He felt very badly over the fact that the act had passed, inasmuch as he considered it unjust to the colo- nists, but at the same time he reasoned that as long as it had passed it was proper for the colonists to submit until repeal might be secured by lawful means. The majority of the governor's council thought him wise and sided with him in his decision to do nothing further for the present. There were others, however, who felt that the governor, in justice to the colonists, should rebel or revolt. Among them were Pitkin, the lieutenant governor, and Trumbull, who was des- tined to sit in the governor's chair in later years. Both of these gentlemen left the council chambers in indignation when they saw that the governor fully intended taking the oath required by the act.
The political future of Governor Thomas Fitch was poi- soned right then and there and he earned for himself two strong enemies, Pitkin and Trumbull. Fitch was regularly nominated at the next election, but Pitkin was elected gover- nor, polling so many votes that no one even bothered to count them. Fitch had carefully prepared a pamphlet, which he issued in due season before the election giving the reasons for his recent course, but he failed to return to office. His popularity, founded to a great extent on his engaging per- sonality, his sterling character and sound judgment, had dwindled to a pin point upon his refusal to take, in an active and forceful manner, the side of the colonists in the Stamp Act trouble. It was in 1769 that Thomas Fitch made his last try for a recapture of the governor's seat, but he was unsuccessful. Fitch, who went into office in '54 and out of
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it in '66 now remained in retirement. He died at the age of 75, July 18, 1774, in Norwalk, before the calamities of the Revolutionary War descended on the colonists.
On the tombstone placed at the head of the Honorable Thomas Fitch's grave in the East Norwalk cemetery, the Norwalker is extolled as follows :
"Eminent and distinguished among mortals for great abilities, large acquirements, and a virtuous character; a clear, strong sedate mind, and an accurate, extensive acquain- tance with law and civil government; a happy talent of pre- siding, close application and strict fidelity, in the discharge of important trusts, no less than for his employments by the voice of the people in the chief offices of the state and at the head of the colony."
GOVERNOR COMES HOME
When Governor Thomas Fitch came home to Norwalk, at the close of his last term of office, he may have brought with him, little of the good will or thanks of the Connecticut colony, but he still found his home town ready to welcome him with open arms. The majority of the people in Nor- walk at that time were conservative, even as their honored son, and they looked with disapproval on the uprising of the colonists against their respected King. Instead of taking part in the fight for freedom against taxation and striking a blow for the independence of the American colonies, Nor- walk chose rather to side with the King to do all possible to suppress any revolutionary spirit within its bounds.
But was that not a perfectly natural reaction for a little settlement like Norwalk, more or less removed from the "thick of things ?" The burning heat of assembly debates did not reach the people here; the fiery tongues of inspired orators for independence did not echo very loudly down in this little corner of the colony. The people of Norwalk were content to stay as they were. Is not that human na-
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ture? Do not the majority of people prefer to remain in their status quo, rather than to jump headlong and blindly into a vague, uncertain state, about which they know nothing, alluring though it may be? No, Norwalk was not ready to shout for freedom and independence; she was still content with her lot in life. In emphasis of her position, her elders passed at town meeting under date of November 12, 1765, when the Stamp Act was being enforced in this country, to the tune of riot, fire and murder-an act entitled "Against Riotous Proceedings."
In this act the inhabitants "do declare their utter ab- horrence and detestation of all such routs, tumults, and riot- ous assemblies, and such alarming threatenings of mischiefs ; and as they think themselves bound in loyalty to the King, and for the security of the privileges of the colony, and of the lives and properties of ye subjects, do hereby further declare, they will use their utmost endeavor, in all proper and legal ways, to prevent and suppress all such disorders, so far as appertains to them to be aiding and assisting there- in." And so, having announced its extreme disapproval of the actions of the rest of the colony, pledged its loyalty to the King, and promised to do everything in its power to sup- press any uprisings against the mother country, Norwalk settled back once more and turned its attention to its own private affairs.
Among other matters which now occupied the attention of the little town was the engagement of a colleague for the Rev. Moses Dickinson of the Congregational church, who was growing feeble. Rev. William Tennent was the new pastor, and his salary was to be paid by subscription. No doubt when the minister arrived, the women of the parish gave an ordination ball in his honor, as was customary. Dancing was the most popular form of recreation for the young folks in those days, even as it is in these, and they seized upon every opportunity imaginable to trip the light fantastic.
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