Joseph Fitch1

#13172, (say 1635 - )

Family

Mary Stone b. s 1638
Children 1.Capt. Joseph Fitch Jr.4
 2.Capt. Nathaniel Fitch4
Birth*say 1635He was born say 1635.1 
Marriage*circa 1657He married Mary Stone, daughter of Rev. Samuel Stone and ____ _____, circa 1657.1 
say July 1663He was named overseer in the Rev. Samuel Stone's will dated say July 1663, "my sonne Joseph Fitch"; (undated.)2 
Joseph Fitcn I, the youngest of the four emigrant brothers, was born in Bocking, County Essex, England, and came to America with his widowed mother, Anne (Reeve) Fitch. The exact date of his arrival is not known but he came from the vicinity of Hartford, Conn., with his elder brother, Thomas Fitch I, to found Norwalk, Conn., in 1650-51....
Joseph Fitch I stayed at Norwalk only a short time, while his elder brother, Thomas Fitch I, lived and died there and perpetuated his name in a distinguished line of Norwalk descendants.
The name of Joseph Fitch I appears on the map of the first home-lots of Norwalk, as owner of Lot 5. He possessed Norwalk meadow property, (south of East Norwalk School building) embracing the site bought in I896 by St. Paul’s parish for an East Norwalk Chapel. He remained in Norwalk only three years.
Joseph Fitch I sold out everything, “home-lot, housings and all other parcels of land of any kind” to Mark St. John, and went from Norwalk to Northampton, Mass., (I655), and thence back to Hartford (1660).
He married Mary Stone, the youngest daughter of the “acute and accurate” Rev. Mr. Samuel Stone and Elizabeth (Allen) Stone. Rev. Mr. Stone was the Hartford successor of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Hooker, the founder of the Connecticut state capital. Sarah Stone, sister of Mrs. Joseph Fitch I, married Thomas Butler of Hartford, Conn. Another sister was Mrs. Wm. Sedgewick.
Joseph Fitch I was of Hartford, Conn., I660, where he was a freeman in I662, and before I663 he was married to Mary Stone. In 1669 Joseph Fitch I made Samuel Wyllys, who was about to set out for England, his attorney to sell his lands at Great Birch, County Essex. This land in England represented property bequeathed to him in the will of his brother, Nathaniel, in 1648-49.
Joseph Fitch I, and his mother, Anne (Reeve) Fitch, were living at Hartford, Conn., on October 21, 1669. This is proved by the records of the College of Arms, London, as stated in the certified “Pedigree of Fitch.”
Before 1672 Joseph Fitch I removed to Windsor, Conn., on the east side of the Connecticut River, where he purchased a twentieth part of the township. He was alive in 1713. (See Hartford Co. Mem. Hist. p. 273—Stiles’ Ancient Windsor, p. 261). He was Representative 1662-’68. His farm was situated near the boundary line of the present towns of East Hartford and East Windsor, Conn.3
 

Citations

  1. [S292] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), online AmericanAncestors.org, 1771, "estimated b. of first child November-December 1657 TAG 68:21)."
  2. [S753] Charles William Manwaring, compiler, A Digest of Early Connecticut Probate Records (Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., Printers, 1904), I:242-243:
    Stone, Rev. Samuel. He died 20 July, 1663. Invt. £563-01-00. Taken November, 1663, by John Allyn, William Wadsworth. Will not dated.
    Impr. It is my will that Mrs. Elizabeth Stone, my loving wife, shall be my Agent & Sole Executrix, and that wthout any intanglemt or feare ; the legacyes given to her selfe being firstly possessed all & every of them as they follow, & the after legacyes to be made good out of the remayning estate if sufficient ; otherwise, a distribution according to that proportion. Yet if there happen any overplus, to be wholy & solely at the dispose to my sd. wife.
    Also, I give unto my sd. wife, during the term of her life, halfe my howsing & land within the libertyes of Hartford, & to have the free dispose of the valew of the sd. halfe of my land at the time of her death, by
    legacy or otherwise ; & also farther it is my will & I doe freely give unto my wife all the household stuff that I had with her when I married her, to be at her full and free dispose as shee shall see cause.
    I give to my sonne Samuel Stone, at the time of my decease, the other halfe of my houseing & Lands within the liberties of Hartford aforesd., the other halfe of the houseing at the time of the death of my sd. wife, as also the other halfe of the land, but upon a valuable consideration as before specified. Also, I give unto my son all my books except such as are otherwise disposed of. Provided (that if) my sonne Samuell depart this life before he is married, that then the whole of this my prsent legacy shall return to & be wholly at the dispose of my wife.
    Also, unto my daughter Elizabeth I doe give & order to be payd the full sum of iioo in household goods, Chattells & other country pay what my wife can best parte wthall, or in Two or three acres of Land at price currant before the sd. Land be divided betwixt my wife & sonne as aforesayd, & this sayd Legacy to be performed & made good wth in Two yeares after the marriage of my sayd daughter Elizabeth. Provided, that if my sayd daughter shall match or dispose of her selfe in marriage either wth out or Crosse to the minds of her mother & the minde & Consent of my Overseers, then this my Last will concerneing her to stand voyd & she gladly to accept of such summe & quantity or portion as her sayd mother shall freely dispose to her. Or And in case my sayd daughter shall dye & depart this world Before she receive her sayd portion, the whole thereof shall fully returne & belong unto my sayd wife at her dispose.
    Also, as a token of my Fatherly Love & respect, I doe give unto my three daughters, Rebecca, Mary & Sarah, forty shillings each of them, to be payd them by my wife in houshold stuffe as it shall be prized in Inventorie.
    I desire Mr. Matthew Allyn, my Brother William Wadsworth, Mr. John Allyn & my sonne Joseph Fitch, overseers.
    Witness : Bray Rosseter.
    Samuel Stone,
    Court Record, Page 12 — 3 March, 1663-4: Will proven.
  3. [S1268] Roscoe Conkling Fitch, compiler, History of the Fitch Family, A. D. 1400–1930, Two Volumes (Haverhill, Mass.: privately printed, 1930), II:207-208.
  4. [S1268] Roscoe Conkling Fitch, History of the Fitch Family, II:208.