Source:Fitch, Roscoe Conkling. History of the Fitch Family A.D. 1400-1930

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Description

From FHLC:
Thomas Fitch (1590-1632/1633) married Anne Reeve in 1611, and lived in Bocking, County Essex, England. They had four sons who immigrated to Connecticut, and at least one son who remained in England. The eldest son and heir was Thomas Fitch (1612-1704), who immigrated in 1648/1650 to Norwalk, Connecticut with his widowed mother and three brothers. Descendants and relatives lived in New England, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Washington, California and elsewhere. Includes some family history and heraldry to 1066 A.D., as well as genealogical data about ancestry and other Fitch families in various parts of England.

Book Review

Donald Lines Jacobus, in Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol. VIII, (1932), pages 1875-6, reviewed the History of the Fitch Family and though noting that it was "beautifully illustrated and rich in tabular pedigrees," it was an overall disappointment. The Fitch book is heavy on English research into the family, but Jacobus writes that "from a genealogical point of view, the value of the book stops there." It touts the achievements of the few prominent branches, leaving little space for those less prominent branches thus presenting a very incomplete genealogical work of the Fitch family. Jacobus also criticizes the "startling misinformation" and "inexcusably inaccurate" data he found in the book. He concludes that "it is quite apparent that only the most superficial work was done on the early American generations, and that the account given in this 'History' was based largely on unreliable printed 'authorities' and not on contemporary records."

The book is not without value however. The English origins of the family were apparently well done and those researchers interested in the more prominent branches on the American side will find the subjects handled in great detail, such as John Fitch, claimed inventor of the steamboat, who has been presented in a chapter titled, "Documentary Proof of Lieutenant John Fitch's Invention in 1785 of the World's First Successful Steamboat."

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