Individual Details
Zachariah Fitch
(Abt 1600 - 9 Jun 1662)
Zachary was admitted as a freeman in 1638.
From the bicentennial celebration of Reading 1844
I farther look’d; and on the hill,
Where now the heirs of John Gould dwell
Upon the Western slope or pitch,
There liv’d old Zachariah Fitch;
His name he gave to hill and lane,
A name as yet they both retain;
‘Tis was said, “so narrow was that street,
That loaded teams could not there meet!”
This Goodman Fitch was deacon too,
And I have heard the story true,
That when his neighbors were attack’d,
As with first settlers is the fact,
With chills and heat, with cold and shiver,
Sure consequence of aguean fever,
And so desisted from their labors,
And crawled about among their neighbors,
Old Father Fitch would laugh to scorn
Their shiv’ring pains and looks forlorn,
Would call them lazy, ‘fraid of work,
And thus crack on the cruel joke;
But soon it happen’d, we are told,
The aguean fever, and the cold,
Seiz’d Mister Fitch, to his great grief,
And set him shiv’ring like a leaf.
His neighbors then, with roguish haste,
Came to console their friend’s distress:
“O, Deacon Fitch! You lazy, too!
Come, go to work, we’ll venture you!”
“Ah,” cried old Zachery, with a sigh,
“You were not half so sick as I.”
From the bicentennial celebration of Reading 1844
I farther look’d; and on the hill,
Where now the heirs of John Gould dwell
Upon the Western slope or pitch,
There liv’d old Zachariah Fitch;
His name he gave to hill and lane,
A name as yet they both retain;
‘Tis was said, “so narrow was that street,
That loaded teams could not there meet!”
This Goodman Fitch was deacon too,
And I have heard the story true,
That when his neighbors were attack’d,
As with first settlers is the fact,
With chills and heat, with cold and shiver,
Sure consequence of aguean fever,
And so desisted from their labors,
And crawled about among their neighbors,
Old Father Fitch would laugh to scorn
Their shiv’ring pains and looks forlorn,
Would call them lazy, ‘fraid of work,
And thus crack on the cruel joke;
But soon it happen’d, we are told,
The aguean fever, and the cold,
Seiz’d Mister Fitch, to his great grief,
And set him shiv’ring like a leaf.
His neighbors then, with roguish haste,
Came to console their friend’s distress:
“O, Deacon Fitch! You lazy, too!
Come, go to work, we’ll venture you!”
“Ah,” cried old Zachery, with a sigh,
“You were not half so sick as I.”
Events
| Birth | Abt 1600 | England | |||
| Marriage | Bef 1635 | Mary Wallace | |||
| Immigration | Abt 1635 | Lynn, Massachusetts Bay |  | ||
| Death | 9 Jun 1662 | Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts | |||
| Occupation | farmer and a deacon |
Families
| Spouse | Mary Wallace ( - ) |
| Child | John Fitch ( - ) |
| Child | Zachariah Fitch ( - ) |
| Child | Joseph Fitch ( - ) |
| Child | Thomas Fitch ( - ) |
| Child | Jeremiah Fitch ( - ) |
| Child | Sarah Fitch ( - ) |
| Child | Benjamin Fitch (1641 - 1713) |
| Child | Samuel Fitch (1644 - ) |