Fitch, Frederick J.
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MILITARY SERVICE Age: 21, credited to Chester, VT Unit(s): 16th VT INF Service: enl 10/21/62, m/i 10/23/62, Hosp. Stwrd., 16th VT INF, m/o 8/10/63 See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALSBirth: 09/17/1842, Chester, VT Death: 04/25/1881 Burial: Brookside Cemetery, Chester, VT Marker/Plot: Not recorded Gravestone photographer: Joie Finley Morris + Findagrave Memorial #: 111713982 MORE INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, widow Mary A., 7/19/1890, VT Portrait?: Unknown College?: Not Found Veterans Home?: Not Found (If there are state digraphs above, this soldier spent some time in a state or national soldiers' home in that state after the war) Remarks: None DESCENDANTS (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today) |
BURIAL: Copyright notice   Brookside Cemetery, Chester, VT Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Frederick J. Fitch
Fitch, Frederick J., Dr.. b. Chester, Vt., 17 Sept., 1842, son of Addison and Susan (Stoughton) Fitch., he died of Bright's disease of the kidney at his home in Meriden, Connecticut, 25 April, 1881 (age 38 years, 7 months and 8 days). His wife is the former Mary A. Gilson. "THE LATE DR FITCH: In the proceedings of the Conn. Medical society, just issued, we find the following extended obituary written by Dr. N. Nickerson of this city, and read before the society. Dr. Frederick J. Fitch was a son of Addison Fitch of Chester; and a nephew of Hon. E. W. Stoughton, late minister to Russia, and a cousin of Brig. Gen. E. H. Stoughton of the Union Army. He studied medicine with Loren G. Whiting, M.D. of his native place, and graduated at the Bellevue Hosp. Medical college in 1865. While pursuing his studies with Dr. Whiting, the war of the Rebellion broke out, and following the martial instincts of his family, on the 22nd of Oct. 1862, he entered the army as Hospital Steward of the 16th Vermont Regiment, commanded by his cousin, Col. Stoughton. On July 2, 1864, he rec'd an appointment as Medical Cadet, a provisionary corps attached to the regular army and served in various general hospitals until 3 May, 1865 when he was commissioned as Acting Assistant Surgeon, and ordered to Mobile, Ala. In the Fall of 1865 he came to Meriden, Conn. to survey the field and settled permanently here in Jan. of 1866. After 2 years of severe and faithful work, gaining for himself a remunerative practice an an increasing circle of friends, he began to suffer from the effects of malarial poisoning, in the form of spinal congestion, attended by a decided tendency to paralysis, which compelled him to suspend his professional work early in 1878. Following advice of physicians of eminence, he went to Colorado in the Spring of that year, returning after a few months with no benefit. The following year and a half he spent by the seashore in Maine and Massachusetts, and in Brooklyn, L.I., but with gradually increasing debility, during the last year of his life developing the symptoms of Bright's disease of the kidney, which finally terminated in uremic convulsions, 25 April, 1881. Dr. Fitch was a man of sterling worth and of unimpeachable professional honor. During the time he passed in Meriden, he served as Alderman in the Common Council, physician to the almshouse, surgeon to the Consolidated road, etc., all of which positions he filled with more than usual ability. As a practitioner, he was judicious; as a counselor, clear and decided; as an associate, honorable. Believing that the true mission of the profession is the saving of human life, he scorned to resort to questionable means to gain eclat or pecuniary success. Faithful to his patients, devoted to his friends; honest and consistent in his convictions, calm in emergencies, brave in adversity, cheerful in sickness, unflinching in the face of approaching death, - all this and more, I, who knew him well and loved him much, can fully attest."
Source: The Vermont Tribune, Ludlow, Vermont. Contributed by Linda M. Welch, Windsor County researcher.
Obituary
The Hartford Times says that, "Dr. F. J. Fitch, who four years ago was one of the most popular physicians in Meriden, Ct., and a leading Democrat, died at Chester, his native place, Monday, of tubercular meningitis. " He was a nephew of ex-Minister Stoughton and hospital steward of the 16th Vt. Regiment.
Source: St. Albans Daily Messenger, April 29, 1881
Courtesy of Tom Boudreau.