Comments after the jump.
Birth: 4 Feb 1760 in Bozrah, New London, Connecticut
Marriage: 10 Mar 1782 to Freelove Smith in Lyme, New London, Connecticut
Marriage: 1784 to Elizabeth Ellis in New London, Connecticut
Marriage: 1784 to Mary Fitch
Marriage: 1826 to Hannah Newton
Residence: 1850 (U.S. Census) in Montville, New London, Connecticut
Death: 2 Sep 1855 in Chesterfield, New London, Connecticut
All children born in New London, Connecticut except * which don't have a birth place listed.
SPOUSE & CHILD
Freelove Smith (1763-1783)
✿ William Fitch, B: 1783
SPOUSE & CHILDREN
Elizabeth Ellis (1763-1824)
✿ Clarissa Fitch, B: 1786
✿ Asa Fitch, B: 1790
✿ Margaret Fitch, B: 1793
✿ Margaret Fitch Harvey, B: 1793
✿ Russell Fitch, B: 1798
✿ Sophia Fitch, B: 1800
✿ George Fitch, B: 1805
SPOUSE & CHILDREN
Mary Fitch (1759-1851)
✿ Nancy Fitch, B: 1785
✿ Lizzie Loulval Fitch, B: 1786 (female)
✿ Loulval Fitch, B: 1786 (male)
✿ John Fitch, B: 1789
✿ Freelove Fitch, B: 1789
✿ James Fitch, B: 1790
✿ Mercy Fitch, B: 1795 (female)*
✿ Mercy Mary Fitch, B: 1795 (male)*
✿ Thomas Fitch, B: 1797
✿ Edwin Rufus Fitch, B: 1797
SPOUSE
Hannah Newton (1763-1850)
The clearest sign of a clickophile here is having an event, arrival in America, that occurs before the person is born. Here are a couple more:
Marrying two women in the same year and having children with both women over the next 20 years is highly unlikely. Not all men named Thomas Fitch in Connecticut are the same person.
If Thomas' paternal line on this tree is correct...I know, I know, it's not likely but go with me on this. If Thomas' line on this tree is correct his great-great-great-grandfather is also named Thomas Fitch. So how many of Thomas' sons named one of their sons Thomas and how many of them named a son Thomas? You get the idea. Then think of the era. Families tended to stay in the same area for generations. Even if half of the Fitches left New London, Connecticut there could still be plenty of men named Thomas Fitch to drive their descendants crazy trying to sort them all out. That's what we do though, sort them out. We compare the details, research each family, and determine, to the best of our ability, which one is most likely our ancestor. Unfortunately that's not what clickophiles do.
Thanks to Karen for the link to this profile ;-)
If you have a profile to suggest please send a link to buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com.
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Thomas Fitch
Arrival: 1635 London to Boston, MassBirth: 4 Feb 1760 in Bozrah, New London, Connecticut
Marriage: 10 Mar 1782 to Freelove Smith in Lyme, New London, Connecticut
Marriage: 1784 to Elizabeth Ellis in New London, Connecticut
Marriage: 1784 to Mary Fitch
Marriage: 1826 to Hannah Newton
Residence: 1850 (U.S. Census) in Montville, New London, Connecticut
Death: 2 Sep 1855 in Chesterfield, New London, Connecticut
All children born in New London, Connecticut except * which don't have a birth place listed.
SPOUSE & CHILD
Freelove Smith (1763-1783)
✿ William Fitch, B: 1783
SPOUSE & CHILDREN
Elizabeth Ellis (1763-1824)
✿ Clarissa Fitch, B: 1786
✿ Asa Fitch, B: 1790
✿ Margaret Fitch, B: 1793
✿ Margaret Fitch Harvey, B: 1793
✿ Russell Fitch, B: 1798
✿ Sophia Fitch, B: 1800
✿ George Fitch, B: 1805
SPOUSE & CHILDREN
Mary Fitch (1759-1851)
✿ Nancy Fitch, B: 1785
✿ Lizzie Loulval Fitch, B: 1786 (female)
✿ Loulval Fitch, B: 1786 (male)
✿ John Fitch, B: 1789
✿ Freelove Fitch, B: 1789
✿ James Fitch, B: 1790
✿ Mercy Fitch, B: 1795 (female)*
✿ Mercy Mary Fitch, B: 1795 (male)*
✿ Thomas Fitch, B: 1797
✿ Edwin Rufus Fitch, B: 1797
SPOUSE
Hannah Newton (1763-1850)
ⓑⓐⓡⓚⓘⓝⓖ ⓤⓟ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓡⓞⓝⓖ ⓣⓡⓔⓔ
The clearest sign of a clickophile here is having an event, arrival in America, that occurs before the person is born. Here are a couple more:
Duplicate Children
The differences in each pair are key (i.e. different surnames, male vs. female) so the computer would show them as separate people and someone not paying attention would just click away without noticing. It's possible that Lizzie and Loulval are twins but I'm fairly certain the Margarets are not.Margaret Fitch & Margaret Fitch Harvey both born in 1793.
Lizzie Loulval Fitch (female) & Loulval Fitch (male) both born in 1786.
Mercy Fitch (male) & Mercy Mary Fitch (female) both born 1795.
Bigamy
Marrying two women in the same year and having children with both women over the next 20 years is highly unlikely. Not all men named Thomas Fitch in Connecticut are the same person.
If Thomas' paternal line on this tree is correct...I know, I know, it's not likely but go with me on this. If Thomas' line on this tree is correct his great-great-great-grandfather is also named Thomas Fitch. So how many of Thomas' sons named one of their sons Thomas and how many of them named a son Thomas? You get the idea. Then think of the era. Families tended to stay in the same area for generations. Even if half of the Fitches left New London, Connecticut there could still be plenty of men named Thomas Fitch to drive their descendants crazy trying to sort them all out. That's what we do though, sort them out. We compare the details, research each family, and determine, to the best of our ability, which one is most likely our ancestor. Unfortunately that's not what clickophiles do.
Thanks to Karen for the link to this profile ;-)
If you have a profile to suggest please send a link to buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com.
PREVIOUS POST: Photo Friday: Fruit Salad
NEXT POST: Doctor? No.
Yesterday, I visited Freelove and Thomas's grave in CHesterfield Cemetery, Monteville, CT. Thomas married poor Freelove Smith, who died in childbirth less than a year after her marriage. Thomas subsequently married Mary Allen Fitch, who lived a long time and produced many children. He had only one child, William, by Freelove (he survived the childbirth), who moved to Ohio, was residing there in 1850. I have pictures of the gravestone of his parents, with one wife on each side of the family marker.
ReplyDeleteFor Thomas Fitch of Montville,from Norwich Vital Records:
ReplyDeleteBenjah's birth: https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsofno01norwi/page/52
Thomas's birth: https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsofno01norwi/page/356
This Thomas has a clear birth date of 1761 and a record of his parentage. He married first Freelove Smith, who died within the year giving birth, but the son, William, survived. A year later, he married Marry Allen. Thomas died in 1855.
For Thomas Fitch of Preston (of which we find little) Preston Vital Records:
https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1063/VBMDUSACT1634_0035-0097?pid=572519&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1063%26h%3D572519%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DqNV100%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qNV100&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true
This Preston Fitch was age 87 when in died in 1850. Therefore, he was born in 1763, not 1761. This Preston Fitch married twice, first Elizabeth, then Hannah. So far, I have been unable to trace his parents, unlike the Montville Fitch, who has vital statistics linking him to his father Benajah.
In addition to this, my family has a letter written by Maria Starr Fitch (1842-1932) who lived still in Norwich and attested to Thomas Fitch of Montville being Benajah's son. Note that she would have been a child while Thomas was still alive.
@ Unknown: Thanks for that extremely timely post. Just this week -- because of the m. of Thomas of Preston to Hannah (Newton) Williams, whose family I'm researching -- I have been trying to separate the two Thomas Fitches, and that letter from Maria Starr Fitch would seem to be the key piece of evidence: the 4 Feb. 1761 birth record, by itself, would seem possibly to tie either of the Thomases to Benajah & Sarah (or have I missed something?). Any clue at all as to the parents of the Preston fellow??? ... If you would possibly be willing to email me a scan of the letter, I am at worldgarden (at) igc (dot) org.
ReplyDelete... and, following up: I see that Baker's report, in his History of Montville, of the two marriages of Thomas -- to Freelove Smith and then Mary Allen -- also connect him specifically to Benajah. That comes close to cinching it, _if_ one can assume that H.A. Baker was working from actual vital records. The problem is that the marriage _doesn't_ appear among the Norwich VRs, and I cannot find it via FamilySearch, Ancestry, or NEHGS. This may seem picky... but the fact is that the old histories are no less subject to error -- in the absence of primary sources such as VRs or family records -- than are modern online trees. Thus the letter would be strong closing evidence, if, Unknown, you're willing to make a digitized version available; or if you can point me to an actual VR or other original source for the marriage. Anything you can do will be much appreciated: I would like the genealogy on which I'm working to meet professional standards and be airtight.
ReplyDelete... and just to (hopefully) wrap this up: the 1996 work, Descendants of the Reverend James Fitch, by John T. Fitch and Patricia M. Geisler [available online via archive (dot) org in limited preview], p. 332, contains what looks very much like an ironclad argument that Thomas _of Preston_ was actually the son of Jerabah and Sarah (Palmer) Fitch of that town. Land transactions and a receipt tie this Thomas a) to Preston, and b) to a son named Asa; Thomas of Montville had no recorded son of that name. This supports an 1899 DAR lineage book -- essentially contemporaneous with the Baker History of Montville -- which controverts Baker and clearly shows the line down from Jerabah of Preston to Thomas of Preston. I frankly cannot see a way around this evidence; it has reversed my view.
ReplyDeleteI do so appreciate someone working on my gr-gr-gr-great Grandfather's parents. I am the descendant of Thomas of Montville son James Fitch, Sr.
ReplyDelete1. My sister Flo wrote the Town Clerk or Cemetery person in Chesterfield and was sent the death records and some pictures with the description of his age of 95 plus so many months
and days.
2 My sister and I (Helen Hubbard Martin found a marriage record for Mary Allen and Thomas Fitch on a film. This was a microfilm at the FHL and was church records and I found it in Salt Lake City.
3. Benajah had a brother named Abajah/Habbijah and I wonder if Baker might have mixed the two brothers up. John Fitch's book page 49. This brother's 2nd wife had a baby died in 1758. This was her only child listd in John FItch's book p 117. A 2nd baby would fit in time.
4. Rev. James came to Hartford to study to become a minister. His mother and 3 or 4 brothers came to Hartford at a later date. Samuel, Thomas and Joseph are brothers that I remember. Thomas had a grandson or great grandson who was Governor of CT and I think these two other Thomas's were named after their cousin. The Governor is the person you get when you try to look them up.
5. Thomas Fitch of Montville had lots of transactions with land deeds. He did some quick claim transactions with a Hannah Fitch. Abijah had a dau. Hannah Fitch b. 1744/5.
6. My mother Hazel Fitch was born in 1903 in New London, Ct and was the dau. of James Latham Fitch, granddau. of Latham Fitch, gr-granddaughter of James Fitch, Jr., gr-great granddaughter of James Fitch, Sr who was the son of Thomas Fitch of Montville.
7. We think Montville Thomas did militia work along the coast of Ct where he met Freelove and Mary Allen's father. For DAR, the Preston Thomas took both his military record and our Thomas's coastal record.
Sharon Bowman is my 6th half cousin and we have been hunting about 25 years for our Thomas's parents.
I am at helen12856@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI just needed to give you any clue that I might have.