John Fitch (inventor) - Early Life

Early Life

Fitch was born to Joseph Fitch and Sarah Shaler in Windsor, Connecticut on January 21, 1743, on a farm that is part of present-day South Windsor, Connecticut. He received little formal schooling and eventually apprenticed himself to a clockmaker, during time Fitch was not allowed to learn or even observe watchmaking (he later taught himself how to repair clocks and watches). He married Lucy Roberts December 29, 1767. Following this apprenticeship in Hartford, he opened an unsuccessful brass foundry in East Windsor, Connecticut and then a brass and silversmith business in Trenton, New Jersey which succeeded for eight years but was destroyed by British troops during the American Revolution.

He served briefly during the Revolution, mostly as a gunsmith working for the New Jersey militia; he left his unit after a dispute over a promotion but continued his work repairing and refitting arms in Trenton. In the fall of 1777, Fitch provided beer and tobacco to the Continental Army in Philadelphia. During the following winter and spring, he provided beer, rum, and other supplies to troops at Valley Forge. In 1780, he began work as a surveyor in Kentucky where he recorded a land claim of 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) for himself. In the spring of 1782, surveying in the Northwest Territory he was captured by Indians and turned over to the British who eventually released him.