Chatham-Brooks-Laurens County GaArchives Biographies.....Hitch, Robert Mark 1872 - living in 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 1, 2004, 7:08 pm Author: William Harden p. 1049-1052 ROBERT MARK HITCH, of the Savannah bar, was born at Morven, Brooks county, Georgia, on February 14, 1872, the fourth son and sixth child of Dr. Robert Marcus Hitch and his wife Martha Serena (Fall) Hitch. He was educated at the Morven Academy and at Mercer University, graduating at the latter institution with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1892; studied law under private instructors at Quitman, Georgia, was admitted to practice in the Superior courts of this state by Judge A. H. Hansell, at Thomasville, Georgia, November 3, 1892, practiced law at Quitman for the next several months, and in June, 1893, moved to Savannah, where he has since resided and practiced his profession. At the present time (1913) Morven is the junction point to two local lines of railroad. In 1872, however, and for a number of years thereafter, it was the country place of Dr. Hitch, at which was located the local postoffice, voting place and general store, a cotton gin, lumber plant and other establishments of minor importance. Near at hand was the public school and in the immediate neighborhood were Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches and a Masonic lodge. From this point radiated several of the most important public roads of the county and the surrounding territory was inhabited by an unusually thrifty and intelligent class of farmers. Dr. Hitch was prominent in the community as a physician, merchant, farmer and business man, was active in church and educational matters and in all movements of public interest. He was born in Laurens county, South Carolina, on June 6th, 1832, graduated at the Augusta Medical College, was married to Martha Serena Fall, daughter of Dr. Calvin J. Fall, in Fayette county, Georgia, April 27th, 1859, at which time he was a practicing physician of that section. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was active in the organization of a military company in Henry, Fayette and adjoining counties; which afterwards became Company B of the Thirtieth Georgia Regiment. A history of that command has been recently written and published by one of its members, Mr. A. P. Adamson. Dr. Hitch served as captain of that company during a large part of the war and participated in numerous battles, including the battle of Chickamaugua and the battles around Atlanta. His services as a surgeon were necessarily required very frequently following engagements in which his command took part and during the latter part of the war he was detailed as regimental surgeon for a considerable part of the time and at the close of the war was mustered out with the rank of major. In commemoration of his services as a Confederate soldier, his son and namesake, the subject of this sketch, was awarded a Confederate Cross of Honor by the Savannah Daughters of the Confederacy on April 26th, 1912. He died at his home at Morven, Georgia, on April 15th, 1888, as the result of constitutional infirmities growing out of exposures to which he was subjected during the war. The parents of Dr. Hitch were William Winder Hitch and his wife Nancy (Hunter) Hitch, both of Laurens county, South Carolina. William Winder Hitch was the son and oldest child of John Hitch, who was born February 4, 1773, in Somerset county, Maryland, lived there until he was of age, then moved to Laurens county, South Carolina, where he married Katharine Hanna, who became the mother of William Winder Hitch and a number of other children. John Hitch was county treasurer of Laurens county, South Carolina, for twenty years and over, and was well known in that section. He was a son of Louther Hitch, of Somerset county, Maryland, who moved to Laurens county, South Carolina, in his latter years and died there at the age of eighty-eight. The Revolutionary annals of Maryland disclose the names of nine members of the Hitch family on the muster rolls of that commonwealth, including Louther Hitch and Captain Robert Hitch. Several members of the Hanna family in South Carolina were likewise enrolled in the Revolutionary commands of that state. The Christian name of Robert has been handed down through many generations of the Hitch family and recurs with great regularity in the family records in England, particularly in the public records of Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Berkshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire, where various branches of the family have resided for several centuries. On the maternal side the grandparents of Robert M. Hitch were Dr. Calvin Jones Fall, born in Jasper county, Georgia, March 18, 1815, died at Senoia, Georgia, April 10, 1879, and his wife Sarah Battle (Stroud) Fall, born in Clarke county, Georgia, September 21, 1818, died at Senoia, Georgia, January 10, 1891. Dr. Fall and his wife were married in Clarke county, Georgia, November 21, 1839, by Dr. Alonzo Church, at that time president of the State University. Dr. Calvin J. Fall was a son of Dr. John Strader Fall, born in Guilford county, North Carolina, July 22, 1777, and his wife, Martha (Barnett) Fall, born in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, July 19, 1780. Their marriage took place on October 27, 1812. Dr. John Strader Fall lived for a great many years at Decatur, Georgia, died May 3, 1863, and is buried at Fayetteville, Georgia. Martha Barnett Fall died February 19, 1851. and is buried at Decatur, Georgia. Apparently the Fall family were of Scottish origin, Dunbar. Scotland, according to the best information, being the central point of the family in the old country. The Stroud line appears to be purely English, the family records indicating that the earliest settlers in America of that name came to this country shortly after the great civil conflict which grew out of the struggle between Charles I and the Parliament, and were either descended from or closely related to William Stroud, of the English House of Commons, who with Hampden, Pym, Holles and Heselrig constituted the celebrated "Five Members" who led the anti-royalist forces in resisting the encroachments of the Crown. Sarah Battle Stroud, who became the wife of Dr. Calvin J. Pall, was a daughter of William Stroud, who was born in North Carolina and reared in Hancock county, Georgia, and of his wife Serena Ragan Battle, who was a daughter of William Sunnier Battle, of Hancock county, Georgia, but who was originally from North Carolina. William Stroud was a son of Mark Stroud and Martha (Strother) Stroud, of Orange county, North Carolina, and Mark Stroud was a son of John Stroud and Sarah (Connelly) Stroud. The Strouds, Strothers and Battles came to North Carolina from Virginia and were all of Revolutionary stock. William Sumner Battle was a member of the noted family of that name, which appears to have been originally of Norman-French origin, and which in both England and America claims among its numbers a numerous and distinguished array of scholars, ministers, lawyers and statesmen. At the present lime the family is most numerous in Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, but various branches of it have achieved distinction in numerous other states North, as well as South. Eight generations of that family are buried in Hancock county, Georgia. During the year or two immediately prior to his matriculation at Mercer University, Robert M. Hitch was fortunate in having as his instructor Professor Howe, a graduate of Brown University, Rhode Island, and a pure and noble type of Christian gentleman. Being a man of genial, gentle and kindly manners, superior mental endowments, wide reading and profound scholarship, the impression which he made upon his pupils was naturally of a most lasting and elevating nature. Entering the freshman class at Mercer University in January, 1889, and being compelled to leave college in March, 1890, on account of illness, the record made by Mr. Hitch in the first two years of his college career was somewhat irregular. He secured a sophomore speaker's place, but was unable to take part in the speakers' contest at commencement because of illness. In his junior and senior years, however, he improved his record by making the highest average standing in his class. In his junior year he also won the medal for oratory and was one of the champion debaters of the Phi Delta Literary Society at commencement. In his senior year he was elected anniversary speaker for his society. The first two years of his professional life in Savannah he spent in the offices of Garrard, Meldrim and Newman, where he received splendid instruction under capable lawyers who enjoyed a large and varied practice. In the fall of 1896 he opened law offices on his own account and practiced alone until January, 1898. At that time he formed a copartnership with the late A. L. Alexander, under the firm name of Alexander & Hitch. That co-partnership was continued until March. 1904, and at that time he entered into his present co-partnership with Dr. Reiner L. Denmark, under the firm name of Hitch & Denmark. Mr. Hitch was admitted to the Supreme Court of Georgia on December 15, 1897; to the United States Circuit and District Courts on Febru-. ary 11, 1895; to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals on August 8, 1901; and to the Supreme Court of the United States on January 31, 1908. He is a member of the American Bar Association and of the Georgia Bar Association. Mr. Hitch is a hard worker, a constant student, and a wide reader. He is general counsel and a director of a number of railroad and banking institutions and commercial corporations, some of state and some of national importance, besides representing a large miscellaneous clientage. For several years Mr. Hitch was prominent in local military organizations. He first enlisted as a private in June, 1892, in the Quitman Grays, of Quitman, Georgia, remaining as such until his removal in the following year to Savannah. In January, 1894, he enlisted as a private in Company A of the Savannah Volunteer Guards and was promoted to the rank of corporal on November 7, 1894. Later he was appointed sergeant. Upon the outbreak of the Spanish-American war he promptly volunteered and was largely instrumental in persuading the majority of his company to enlist in a body. The Savannah Volunteer Guards became merged with the Second Georgia Regiment, and Mr. Hitch served in the same as a member of Company M, first as a private and later as sergeant. He was stationed with the Second Georgia Regiment at Tampa, Florida, and at Huntsville, Alabama, and was honorably discharged from service at the latter named station after the signing of the peace protocol by the two countries. On December 28, 1898, he was elected second lieutenant of Company A, Savannah Volunteer Guards, and served as such until June 8, 1900. During this term of service he was for several months recorder of the military examining board and from April 24, 1903, until October 24, 1904, he was captain of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry. Mr. Hitch was a member of the state legislature from Chatham county in the years 1900 and 1901, and as such gave excellent representation to his constituents. He was a presidential elector from Georgia on the national Democratic ticket in 1908, and he is and has been a prominent and active figure in politics and public life. Mr. Hitch is widely known as an orator and speaker, and is frequently sought for alumni addresses, club and social banquets and anniversaries, college and high school commencements, etc. Some of his addresses have been of a serious and thoughtful nature, discussing vital questions, and have been printed for general distribution by the several organizations before whom they were delivered. Among these may be mentioned his address on "The Power of Thought," the alumni address at Mercer University, in Macon, on June 1, 1909; the address on "Georgia Secession Convention of 1861 and its Causes," delivered before Francis S. Bartow Camp, United Sons of Confederate Veterans, Savannah, January 21, 1903; and the address delivered at Midway, Liberty county, Georgia, Api'il 29th, 1904, upon the occasion of the marking of certain graves of Confederate soldiers by Liberty Chapter, Daughters of the Confederacy. Mr. Hitch is a member of a number of clubs and societies. He is past chancellor commander and a charter member of Chivalry lodge, Knights of Pythias, and a member of Live Oak lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a past master of Ancient Landmark lodge, A. F. & A. M. He was twice master of this lodge and at the end of his second terra Avas presented by the lodge with a beautiful past-master's jewel. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. Mr. Hitch was married at Cedar Spring, Spartanburg county, South Carolina, November 20, 1900, to Miss Virginia Eppes Walker, the youngest child and only daughter of Dr. Newton F. Walker, L. L. D., and his wife Virginia (Eppes) Walker, of Cedar Spring. On both paternal arid maternal sides Mrs. Hitch is related to a number of the leading families of South Carolina and Virginia. They have two children: Virginia Eppes and Robert M., Jr. In 1911 Mr. Hitch completed a handsome home on the southwest corner of Estill and Atlantic avenues, in Savannah, where he has since resided. Additional Comments: From: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chatham/bios/gbs513hitch.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 13.9 Kb