Pawlet (VT) One Hundred Years
Hiel Hollister
1867
J. Munsell, Albany
FITCH, Col. WILLIAM, from Lebanon, Conn., was one of the earliest settlers and most prominent citizens of the town. He was employed by the council of safety to furnish supplies to the troops raised to repel the invasion of Burgoyne in 1777. When the settlers north of this town fled, panic struck before Burgoyne, his wife with three small daughters, all mounted on one horse, started south for a place of refuge, but being reassured they soon returned. He owned the first saw and grist mill built at the village, by William Bradford, and kept the first store in town. The village was known on our early maps as Fitch’s Mills. He died in 1798, aged 48. His children were: John,
Sina, Anna, Rachel, Sibel, Abial and Margaret.
FITCH, JOHN, settled on the homestead of C. S. Bardwell and died in 1799, aged 34.
FITCH, DANIEL, Sen., from Norwich, Conn., 1784, settled in the east part of the town. He raised a family of nine children: Daniel, Isaac, Benjamin, Return, Jared, Prosper, Lucy, Salina and Philene.
All of these, except Daniel, settled abroad. He died in 1801, aged 58; his widow in 1814, aged 65.
FITCH, DANIEL, Jr., m. Candace, da. of Judge Armstrong, of Dorset, and settled on the present homestead of Lucius M. Carpenter.
They raised a family of five children: Hiram, Cyrus, Daniel H., Cynthia and Jane.
Hiram entered college, but did not graduate, becoming partially insane; Cyrus m. Camilla Garrett and moved west; Daniel H. was a classmate of Hon. John K. Porter in Union College in
1837, who furnishes the following account of him: “He was a young man of brilliant talents and high promise.
He removed to Texas and became the editor of the Houston Star, which he conducted with marked
ability. He is said to have fallen soon after in a duel which he did not feel at liberty to decline, though he refused to fire at the party by whom he was challenged and slain.” Cynthia m. Adolphus F. Hitchcock, of Kingsbury, .N. Y., who is now member of the assembly for Washington county; Jane m. Alpheus Baldwin, of Westfield, N. Y., who recently died.
Mr. Fitch removed hence to Westfield, N. Y., some thirty years ago, where he and his wife have recently died at a very advanced age.
FITCH, JOSEPH, from Norwich, Conn., 1776, settled on the present homestead of Fayette Bromley.
He was among the foremost and most substantial men of the town and contributed largely to the general
welfare, His large family of children mostly settled in town, though now there is but one representative of the family, Mrs. Adams L. Bromley, left in town.
His children’s names were as follows: Ephraim, Benjamin, Asahel, Stephen, Silas, Mary and Sally.
His wife died in 1822, aged 76, when he married widow Hannah Wood, who survived him. He died in
1830, aged 84.
FITCH, EPHRAIM, m. Sally, da. of Deacon Moses Porter, who died in 1790, aged 21, leaving one son, Dorastus; next he married Rhoda Sears.
He was one of our most enterprising and public spirited citizens. He was in the legislature three years.
He built the brick tavern at the village, which he kept and conducted the mercantile and milling business.
He was instantly killed, while cutting ice from the waterwheel, in 1813, aged 45.
His other children were: Nancy, who married Dr. James H. Willard, and recently died; Ferris, and Moses P., who married Chloe, daughter of Titus A. Cook.
FITCH, Capt. BENJAMIN, lived on the farm with his father. He was an influential leader of the democratic party during the early years of this century, and probably no more popular man ever lived in town.
He was kind and charitable to a fault, and in his private relations greatly beloved.
He was in the legislature eight years. He had three sons: Braman, John and Appleton. Braman m. Dorcas, da. of Capt. James Pratt, and moved west;
John is noticed below; Appleton m. Mary, da. of Gen. Thomas Davis, of Montpelier, where he resides.
She died in 1839, aged 35. Capt. Fitch died in 1823, aged 58; his widow in 1846, aged 83.
FITCH, Rev. JOHN, m. Sophia, da. of Maj. Sylvanus Gregory, and succeeded to the homestead of his father, which he held but a few years.
He was one of the pioneers of the temperance reform. He was a preacher of the Methodist church, mostly local.
He died in Middletown in 1859, aged 59, after a protracted and most painful illness.
FITCH, ASAHEL, settled at the village in the tanning business. He raised a large family, who, with him, moved to the west in 1824.
FITCH, SILAS, was long a merchant at the village and an accomplished salesman.
He m. Martha Barnes, who died in 1821, aged 25; next he married Sarah, da. of Lemuel Barden, who died in 1832, aged 43.
He removed to Detroit, Mich., about 1840, where he soon after died.
FITCH, DORASTUS, m. Julia Bright, who died in 1823, aged 36, leaving five children, Ann, Betsey, Julia, Delia and Sarah. Ann is the only one living.
Next, he married Anna Hubbard, and raised a family of four children, Mary, Fayette S., Helen and Lucy.
He was long an active business man at the village, and was mainly instrumental in erecting the Pawlet Academy.
He was post master 19 years, and deacon of the Congregational church several years.
He died in 1860, aged 78.
FITCH, Rev. FERRIS, was a graduate of Middlebury in 1826. He married Sally, youngest daughter of Rev. John Griswold, and was first settled over a Congregational church in Elliott, Me.
Thence, in 1830, he removed to Ohio, where he died.
