Thomas Fitch Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1127-1128 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	THOMAS FITCH, one of the esteemed citizens of Milbank, is a native 
of the old Buckeye state, having been born in Trumbull county, Ohio, on 
the 7th of July, 1840, being a son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Blackburn) 
Fitch, the former of whom was born in Connecticut and the latter in 
Ohio, the father being a scion of old colonial stock, while 
representatives of the name were valiant soldiers in the Continental 
army during the war of the Revolution. Andrew Fitch was a man of 
sterling character and commanded unqualified confidence and esteem. He 
served as auditor of Trumbull county, Ohio, and about 1849 he removed 
with his family to McHenry county, Illinois, where he remained until 
1856, when he took up his residence in Fillmore county, Minnesota, 
becoming a pioneer settler of that section, where he took up a homestead 
and improved a good farm. He died at Milbank at the age of seventy-four 
years, having passed the closing years of his life in Milbank, and his 
wife was summoned into eternal rest three years later, at the age of 
seventy-four years. They became the parents of ten children, of whom 
only two are now living, Thomas and Emmor A., who is a resident of Sioux 
Falls, South Dakota. 

	Thomas Fitch was about sixteen years of age at the time of the 
removal to Fillmore county, Minnesota, where he attended the common 
schools and an excellent academy at Chatfield. He was for many years 
successfully engaged in teaching, while he has ever continued a close 
student and wide reader, being distinctively a man of broad information 
and liberal ideas. He was teaching when the thundering of rebel guns 
against old Fort Sumter announced the initiation of the greatest civil 
war known in the annals of history. He responded to President Lincoln's 
first call for volunteers, and on the 26th of June, 1861, was enlisted 
for three months as a member of Company A, Second Minnesota Volunteer 
Infantry. His company was commanded by Captain Judson W. Bishop, who 
eventually rose to the rank of general and who is now a prominent 
resident of St. Paul. He continued in active service for three years and 
one month, being mustered out as corporal on the 21st of July, 1864. He 
retired from service by reason of severe injuries received in the battle 
of Chickamauga, on the 20th of the preceding September. He was wounded 
in the right arm and the face, by the same ball, and in the ensuing 
surgical operation fifteen pieces of shattered bone were taken from his 
arm, in which the ball had remained for eighty-one days. His brothers, 
William A. and James H.. also served in the Union army, the former 
having been a member of the Chicago Light Artillery and died in the 
service, after having been a prisoner in Libby prison for seven mouths. 
The latter was a member of Company E, Seventh Minnesota Volunteer 
Infantry. 

	After the war Mr. Fitch resumed teaching in the same school in 
which he had been retained at the time of his enlistment, and thereafter 
devoted fourteen years to pedagogic work in Minnesota, though he was 
also identified with agricultural pursuits and was incumbent of various 
local offices. In 1880 he took up a soldier's homestead in Kilborn 
township, Grant county, becoming thus one of the early settlers. He 
improved his farm and placed it under cultivation, and still owns the 
property, as well as forty acres adjoining Milbank. In 1883 he took up 
his residence in Milbank, where he is now successfully-engaged in the 
wood and coal business, while he commands the unequivocal esteem of all 
who know him, being popular in business, social and public life. He has 
been called upon to serve in various offices of trust and 
responsibility, including those of justice of the peace, school trustee 
and member of the village council. He has a nice residence and the 
pleasant home is a center of gracious hospitality. Mr. Fitch is a member 
of the company operating and owning the co-operative creamery in 
Milbank, which represents one of the important industrial enterprises of 
the county. In politics he has ever accorded a stanch allegiance to the 
Republican party and has been an active worker in its cause, while for 
the past two years he has served as chairman of the Republican central 
committee of Grant county. In January, Ig02, he received through the 
legislature the appointment as one of the five members of the board of 
control of the soldiers' home at Hot Springs. He has ever retained a 
deep interest in his old comrades in arms and is one of the valued 
members of General A. A. Humphrey Post, No. 42, Grand Army of the 
Republic. In 1900 Mr. Fitch was elected one of the presidential electors 
on the Republican ticket, and had the distinction of receiving the 
largest number of votes ever cast for a candidate in the state. 

	At Preston, Minnesota, on the 7th of December, 1865, Mr. Fitch was 
united in marriage to Miss Sarah P. Shaw, who was born in New York, 
being- a daughter of Ebenezer and Lydia P. Shaw, who were numbered among 
the early settlers in Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch have one son, 
Frederick, who is nOW a resident of the city of Spokane, Washington, 
where he is a conductor on the Great Northern Railroad. He married Miss 
Mary Hause, and they have one child, Gene.