Joseph Fitch (August 27, 1857 – April 7, 1917) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge from New York.

Life

Fitch was born on August 27, 1857, in

Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...

, the only child of businessman Joseph Fitch and Avis Leggett. Fitch attended the Flushing Institute. He then went to

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, graduating from there in 1879. He then studied law in the office of Charles W. Pleasants in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1881 to 1882. He also attended classes in

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1882 and began practicing law in New York City. From 1880 to 1887, he was Second Lieutenant of the Seventeenth Separate Company,

New York National Guard The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs (NYS DMNA) is responsible for the state's New York Army National Guard, New York Air National Guard, New York Guard and the New York Naval Militia. It is headed by Adjutant General of New Y ...

. He later became the senior member of the law firm Fitch, Moore & Swan. In 1885, Fitch was elected to the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

as a Democrat, representing the Queens County 1st District. He served in the Assembly in

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

and 1887. While in the Assembly, he originated and passed a bill that established the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery. He was a member of the Flushing Board of Education from 1893 until the consolidation of Greater New York. He was also counsel to the Flushing Village Board of Health from its organization in 1891 until the Greater New York consolidation. In the 1894 United States House of Representatives election, he unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat in

New York's 1st congressional district The 1st congressional district of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in eastern Long Island. It includes the eastern two-thirds of Suffolk County, including most of Smithtown, as well as the ent ...

. In 1898, he was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Water Supply, Borough of Queens. In 1905, he was assistant District Attorney of Queens County. In 1908, he was appointed City Magistrate. Fitch was a member of the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, the Queens County Bar Association, the

New York Law Institute The New York Law Institute is the oldest circulating law library in New York City and is open to Institute members and to scholars of history and the law. Today The New York Law Institute library is located in the Equitable Building and has a ...

, the League of American Wheelman,

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

, and the

New York State Bar Association The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice ...

. He was

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

, and a vestryman in St. George's Church in Flushing. In 1886, he married Annie Loraine Rose. They had two children, Avis Loraine and Dorothea. Fitch died of acute indigestion at his friend Desmond Nelson's home in Brookhaven, where he was staying while repairs were being made at his summer home in the town, on April 7, 1917. He was buried in

Flushing Cemetery Flushing Cemetery is a cemetery in Flushing in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. History Flushing Cemetery has several predecessors. In the year 1789 (64 years before the cemetery was founded), George Washington had crossed th ...

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
'
Joseph Fitch
at ''

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'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitch, Joseph 1857 births 1917 deaths Lawyers from Flushing, Queens Politicians from Flushing, Queens Politicians from Queens, New York Swarthmore College alumni 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) state court judges 20th-century American judges American Freemasons 20th-century American Episcopalians Burials at Flushing Cemetery