Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/500

472 upon a small stream near Bardstown, a three-foot model of a steamboat; but some time between 25 June and 18 July of the same year he committed suicide by poison, died in a tavern, unattended by relative or friend, and was buried in Bardstown, where no stone marks his resting-place. How mournfully prophetic are the following words from his journal: &ldquo;The day will come when some more powerful man will get fame and riches from MY invention; but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of attention.&rdquo; There have been several later claimants to the invention of steamboats, noticeably Robert Fulton; but when, in 1817, the original patents, drafts, specifications, and models, both of Fitch's and of Fulton's boats, were exhibited before a committee of the New York legislature, raised upon the petition of Gov. Ogden, of New Jersey, in which both parties were represented by the ablest legal talent of the day, and witnesses of the highest character and personal knowledge of the facts were examined, the committee finally reported that &ldquo;the steamboats built by Livingston and Fulton were in substance the invention patented to John Fitch in 1791, and Fitch during the term of his patent had the exclusive right to use the same in the United Slates.&rdquo; Fitch's life has been written by Thompson Westcott (Philadelphia, 1857), and by Charles Whittlesey in Sparks's &ldquo;American Biography.&rdquo; See also an article in O'Callaghan's &ldquo;Documentary History of New York&rdquo; (vol. 2, 1849).

FITCH, John Loe, artist, b. in Hartford, Conn., 25 June, 1836. He studied four years in Munich and Milan under Prof. Albert Zimmermann and his two brothers. Max and Richard. His profes- sional life has been spent in Hartford and in New York city. He is an associate of the National academy of design, and treasui'er of the Artists' fund society of New York. He was for twelve years chairman of the art committee of the Cen- tury club, but declined re-election. He has achieved reputation as a painter of forest scenes, and is a close student of nature. His largest picture, " In the Woods," was exhibited at Philadelphia in 1876. Among his other works : are " On Gill Brook " (1866); "A Mountain Brook" (1870); "The Out- let " (1871) ; " In the Canon, Granville, Mass." (1873) ; " Waiting for a Bite " (1874) ; " A Stray Sunbeam" (1875); "Twilight on John's Brook" (1878) ; " ClifE Side " (1880) ; " Willows on the Cro- ton" (1884); and "Near Carmel, N. Y." (1886).

FITCH, Leroy, naval officer, b. in Indiana in October, 1835 ; d. in Logansport, Ind., 13 April, 1875. He was graduated at the naval academy in 1856, promoted to be master, 5 Sept., 1859, lieu- tenant, 21 Sept., 1862, and commander, 28 Aug., 1870. He served in the Mississippi squadron during the civil war, taking part in the capture of Forts Donelson and Pillow, the reduction of Island No. 10, and the victory over the Confed- erate fleet at Mempliis, Tenn. On the morning of 19 July, 1863, being then in command of the steamer " Moose," lie succeeded in intercepting Morgan, and frustrated his attempts to cross the Oliio at Buffington Island, having followed him for more than five hundred miles up the river. He seized Morgan's train and a portion of his guns, crippling his sti-ength, leading to his capture. For these signal services he received compliment- ary letters from Gens. Burnside, Cox, and Sec. Welles. He also defended Johnson ville, Tenn., from the attack of Gen. Forrest, was present at the engagement before Nashville during the opera- tions of Hood, and participated in many minor skirmishes with guerillas on the Mississippi, Cum- berland, and Tennessee rivers. He also accompa- nied several land expeditions in the same section.

FITCH, Samuel, loyalist, b. in Boston, Mass., in 1720; d. in Halifax, Nova Scotia, probably in 1786. He received his education in Boston, and practised law in that city with success. In 1774, at the height of Hutchinson's unpopularity, Mr, Fitch was one of the signers of the address approv- ing his course, and warmly espoused the royalist cause. In 1776 he removed to Halifax, Nova Sco- tia, where he held, under the king, the office of so- licitor, or counselor at law, to the board of com- missioners. He was proscribed and banished from the United Colonies in 1778, and was included in the conspiracy act of 1779. The same year (1779) he went to England, visited Hutchinson in his re- tirement and decline, and was appointed to deliver the loyalist address to the king. In 1783 he paid another official visit to England, remained two years, returning to Halifax in 1785, where he died.

FITCH, Simon, surgeon, b. in Horton, Nova Scotia, 2 Jan., 1820. He received his professional education in London, Paris, and the University of Edinburgh, where he was graduated in August, 1841. He settled in the same year in St. John's, New Brunswick, removed to iPortland, Me., in 1855, to the city of New York in 1874, and in 1877 to Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1871 he introduced an improvement in the double tubular trocar, by removing the projecting canula from the outside to the inside of the puncturing tube. In 1875 he in- vented the " Dome Trocar," with application to ova- riotomy, aspiration, and transfusion, and the same year devisedacoupling for instantaneous attachment and detachment of the aspirator needle. He is also the inventor of the " Handy Aspirator " (1877), the " Trocar Catheter " (1882), the " Clamp Forceps," and the " Wire Suture Twister." In 1840-'l he was resident surgeon of, the Edinburgh maternity hos- pital, and in 1851-'2 surgeon to the St. John's hos- pital. New Brunswick. He was surgeon in 1864 to the 5th corps military hospital at Fredericksburg, Va., held the same office at Fort Preble, Me., in 1867, and is at present (1887) consulting surgeon of the Provincial and city hospital, Halifax, Nova Scotia ; is member of many medical societies, and has contributed to the literature of his profession works entitled " Peculiarities of the Operations of Three Great Ovariotomists : Wells, Atlee, Keith" (Philadelphia, 1872), and " Paracentesis, Aspira- tion, and Transfusion " (1877).

FITCH, Thomas, governor of Connecticut, b. in Norwalk, Conn., in June, 1699 ; d. there in July, 1774. He was graduated at Yale in 1721, studied law, and after middle life filled successively the offices of chancellor, judge of the superior court, and chief justice of his state. His principles were loyal, and, notwithstanding the growing unpopu- larity of his opinions, he was elected governor in 1754, and held office till 1766. In 1765, Ingersoll, the royal stamp-master of Connecticut, put himself under the protection of Gov. Fitch, and in the same year, at the general assembly held in Hart- ford, the governor took the oath of office pre- scribed in the stamp-act. Col. Putnam afterward waited on him to express the sentiments of the people as to this matter, and told him that if he refused to admit the " Sons of Liberty," who were coming to destroy the stamped paper, his house would be levelled to the dust in five minutes. In consequence of persisting in the protection of In- gersoll and holding to his loyalist sentiments, the genera] assembly of 1766 forced him from public life by electing William Pitkin governor of the state in his stead. Gov. Fitch at once retired to