FITCHETT, James: 1766 - 1859
Tile ordered and paid for by John Fitchett,* South Fredericksburgh, Ontario, October 1888
James Fitchett, the son of Joseph F. Fitchett (born in 1736) and Sarah Dilea (born in 1725), was born November 4, 1766 in Poughkeepsie, New York. James was a descendant of five generations of North American settlers, who, originally of Huguenot descent, had fled from Belgium to America by way of England. According to family legend, the original Fitchett who immigrated to the American colonies, landed in New Amsterdam in 1623 on the third ship to arrive with settlers.(1)
James was eleven when the Revolutionary War broke out in 1776. His older brothers had joined the army and although he was only four feet, eight inches tall and just fifteen years old when he enlisted as a drummer in the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, he followed their example. James joined Sir John Johnson’s battalion in 1780 during Sir Johnston’s expedition to Johnstown, New York to bring out distressed Loyalist families. James entered the province of Upper Canada in 1780 and continued to serve with Roger’s Rangers until 1783.(2)
After his discharge in 1784, James received designation as a United Empire Loyalist by Order in Council and settled on a land grant in Fredericksburgh, Upper Canada.
James married Elizabeth Young (1776-1854) the daughter of Loyalist Johannes Young and Elisha Berzie. The marriage was performed in Bath, Upper Canada in August 1796 by the Reverend John Langhorn, Anglican Missionary. Between 1797 and 1825, James and Elizabeth had fourteen children: Sarah, Joseph, Mary Ann, Margaret, Elizabeth, Catherine, Hannah, James, Elsey Eleanor, Simon Peter, David, Aaron, Moses and John.*
On May 12, 1797, Elizabeth petitioned for land as the daughter of a Loyalist. She was granted 200 acres on July 8, 1797. An assessment roll of 1808, by which time James and Elizabeth had five children, shows James in possession of 100 acres (fifty cultivated and fifty uncultivated), a home of round log construction, three horses and seven cattle. They had accomplished a great deal since they had been forced to leave their respective homes in New York—all this in spite of the fact that James appears to have been illiterate, being able only to render his mark on his marriage certificate. After James' death, the family farm continued to be worked by the youngest son John,* the sponsor of this tile, and records indicate he purchased the shares of his siblings over a period of several years.
Elizabeth died in 1854 and James died on February 2, 1859 aged ninety-two. A shared headstone marks their graves in St. Paul’s Cemetery, Sandhurst.
1. J. Paul Denter, Loyalist Vignettes & Sketches (U.E.L. Association of Canada, Simcoe Branch, 1984), p. 4.
2. Ernest A. Cruikshank, King’s Royal Regiment of New York, rev. ed. (Global Heritage Press, 1984).