Education
Born in Norwich, Connecticut, Fitch graduated as valedictorian from Yale College in 1777.
Born in Norwich, Connecticut, Fitch graduated as valedictorian from Yale College in 1777.
He was the first president of Williams College. The American Revolutionary War was ongoing at the time, but because Fitch was a student and then resident tutor (1780–1783) at Yale, he was exempted from the military draft then in effect. He later tried his hand at business, but was largely unsuccessful, and was invited in 1790 to move to Williamstown, Massachusetts and serve as preceptor of a new free academy for boys.
Fitch took the position and made many changes to the institution, converting it into a college in 1793.
As one of only two faculty members at the beginning, Fitch taught many classes himself. Highly religious, he gave the sermons on Sundays at the college and introduced the Westminster Catechism to Williams.
But the college foundered, and Fitch resigned in 1815. Mount Fitch in the town of Adams, near Williamstown, was named after Fitch.