CHAPTER XXIV.
PERSONAL MATTERSóCONCLUSION.
FROM the revelations made in these pages, it can be deduced that John Fitch possessed sterling qualities. He was perfectly honest, and in all that he did he governed his actions by a high code of integrity. His perseverance was astonishing, his faith in the utility of his discovery unwavering. History can scarcely furnish a parallel to his career, and show an instance in which any one kept on in spite of insults such as he met with, notwithstanding discouragements calculated to subdue all hope, and in the midst of poverty the most distressing, and misery aggravated by the sufferings of a sensitive mind. He had his weaknesses, but they were rather those of a spirit which felt its superiority to those who condemned him; and if occasionally there appears in his actions evidence of conceit, it may be pardoned when we reflect how much he was the superior of those who despised him. His temper was quick and passionate. "His general character in Bucks County," says Longstreth, "among his immediate friends, was that he 'bore anger as the Dint bears fire; which, being much enforced, gives forth a hasty spark, and straight is cold again.' " He was proud when he thought he was wronged, and even overbearing in his intercourse with others who thwarted him; but his haughtiness was caused by a belief that he was entirely right. The melancholy history of his struggles and disappointments cannot be read without pity that one so deserving, and who was so correct in his views of the practicability of his great invention, should have been neglected, reviled, and persecuted.
In regard to the personal appearance of John Fitch, we confess some difficulty in comparing what little he has said of himself in that particular and the descriptions given of him by others. Thus he speaks of his diminutive size long after the period at which boys usually have attained considerable stature. When taken prisoner by the Indians, although he had not previously been sick, his captors, upon account of his appearance, gave him a less weight to carry than any of his companions. In his journal, when recording in a burst of admiration the final and most successful experiment, he calls himself " little Johnny Fitch." And in another place, alluding to the trifling attention paid to his claims, he partly ascribes it to the "insignificance " of his appearance.
On the contrary, those who speak of him from memory represent him to have been of more than ordinary size. " He was," says Longstreth, " tall, being over six feet in height, and rather stoopshouldered, with a short neck and spare person, and as straight as an Indian when he walked. He had a dark complexion, and dark hair, which he wore loose over his shoulders, and was a great walker, always going on foot in his Western excursions."
Mr. Whittlesey says, describing his
appearance at Bardstown, " He was six feet two, erect and
full. His head was slightly bald, not gray. His manner was dignified,
distant, and imposing. He wore a black coat, beaver hat, black
vest, lightcolored short breeches, stockings, large shoebuckles,
and coarse shoes." l
" He stood six foot two in his
stockingfeet," says Watson, quoting the statement of
Mary McDowell, " was what was called thin and spare, face
slim, complexion tawny, hair very black, and a dark eye, peculiarly
piercing. * * * * His countenance was pleasing, and somewhat smiling.
In point of morals and conduct, he was perfectly upright, sincere,
and honorable in his dealings, and was never known to tell a willful
falsehood, or, indeed, to use any guile."
The only way to reconcile these accounts with what little had been said by Fitch about himself, is to believe that it was his habit to speak of himself depreciatingly.
The descendants of this unfortunate
man have been numerous, as the following statement, derived from
letters in possession of the Longstreth family, will show:
Shaler Fitch, son of John Fitch, the inventor, born 2d Nov., 1767, died 1842.
Louisa Borden, his wife, born 10th Dec., 1778.
Marriage, 12th Oct., 1794.
Children:ó
Jeremiah Fitch, born Oct. 11,1799. John B. Fitch, born May 31, 1797.
ó, born June 6,1799, died soon after birth. Phebe B. Fitch, born July 19, 1800, married Aval Tracy. Oscar Fitch, born June 28,1803.
Shaler Fitch, born May 6, 1806.
James K. Fitch, born Jan. 25,1808. Lucy Fitch, born Feb. 20, 1810.
Irwenia Fitch,ó, married Chester
Fraincher.
Lucy Fitch, daughter of the inventor, born-----, 1769, died
in 1807. Married James Kilbourn,---- ----.,
Children:ó
Elector died young.
Lucy married Matthew Matthews.
Harriet married Dr. Calvin H. Case.
" " Avery Battles.
Laura married Renselaer N. Cowles.
Byron married Mary H. Cowles.
Orrel.
Colonel James Kilbourn, who married Lucy, removed with his wife and family to Washington, Franklin bounty, Ohio, in 1803. Mrs. Fitch, the wife of John Fitch, emigrated there with her son Shaler, who settled at Hartford, Trumbull County. She died there, and is buried at Hartford.
The facts heretofore given are, it is thought, sufficient to show the merits of this neglected and unfortunate man. The subsequent success of Fulton, and the manner in which his biographers have passed over the history of Fitch, have long obscured the merits and labors of the patient projector, who demonstrated the success of his plans years before the period at which the uninformed world has supposed that steamboats were invented.
How mournfully prophetic, in view of
these facts, the expressions of the poor, derided, despised enthusiast,
which we find in his journal, and which we have previously quoted
!ó
"The day will come when some
more powerful man will get fame and riches from my invention;
but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do any
thing worthy of attention."
His bones still rest near the Ohio,
unhonored by any fitting memorial. Is it not time that the State
of Kentucky should do something to testify its respect for the
memory of one who, while its lands were yet wild and savage, foresaw
the mighty improvement which the giant force of steam would insure
to its smiling fields, and who labored to convince mankind of
the benefit ? The movement once proposed by Governor Wickliffe
should be again commenced and consummated. On some fair promontory
near the Ohio, a monument to the inventor of the steamboat
should be raised, having inscribed upon it the beautiful paraphrase
of the expression of his hopes, written by John F. Watson:
His darling wish (he said) was to be buried
On the margin of the Ohio;
Where the song of the boatman might penetrate
The stillness of his restingplace,
And where the sound of the steamengine
Might send its echoes abroad.
THE END.