When did Thomas Fitch [Jr] immigrate? Was he in New England prior to the end of the Puritan Great Migration?

Question

Collaborator Kathleen Johnson writes, "According to your source "A History of the Fitch Family" volume 1. Thomas Fitch Jr. came to America with two of his brothers, his mother and probably his wife and children sometime between 1648 and 1650 and would not qualify as a GMB immigrant. Neither would his daughter, Mary Fitch Sherwood, since she was born in 1643 and would have presumably arrived with her parents, uncles and grandmother no earlier than 1648. His brother James arrived in the Americas earlier (1635)."

See Roscoe Conkling Fitch, A History of the Fitch Family ..., 2 vols. (Haverhill, Mass.: Record Pub. Co., 1930), 1:105-121 (Thomas Fitch, 1612-1704), at 105, 106; digital images, HathiTrust.

At p. 105, "... and the first record we have of him in America is in 1650." 

At p. 106, "Thomas Fitch I sealed a deed dated 16 October 21 Charles I ..." 

The noted deed seems otherwise dated 16 October 1646--do we have a reference for that deed? 

Did Anderson include an entry for Thomas Fitch in the Directory? Reference--Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640: A Concise Compendium (Boston, Massachusetts : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015). 

Assuming Thomas Fitch is not included in the Directory, and unless someone has documentation placing Thomas in the colonies prior to say the spring of 1641, shall we remove the project box from his profile? 

Thank you for any assistance you are able to provide.--Gene 

Answer 1

An historical discourse in commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Norwalk, Ct., in 1651

Here Thomas is listed as arriving in 1638 with his mother from Bocking, Essex, England.  Other records have him born in 1612 and not 1622 as noted in this source (i.e., Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars Pedigrees > Orange Merwin, No. 166 Gen. No. 2328, pedigree 2.)

He married Ann Stacie in Bocking, County Essex, England in Nov. 1632 at St. Mary's Church.

There is a Thomas Fitch recorded as arriving in 1638 in Boston from England, traveling with James, Joseph, and their mother. (U.S. and Canada Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500-1900s, database online, Ancestry.com ( https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 31 Aug 2023), New England, 1638, Thomas Fitch, Page 200)

Answer 2

There is no entry for Thomas Fitch in The Directory... I do not find any sources showing he arrived in New England by 1640. He also has 2 brothers, James and Joseph that are PGM. So is their mother. (Neither James, Joseph or their mother Anne are in The Directory either.) I see on Joseph's profile that their brother James testified about the year of the three brothers' arrival with their mother being about 1638. Looks like more research is needed for all four of them.

Edited to add: Published in 1996, Descendants of James Fitch 1622-1702, Vol 1, by John T. Fitch and Patricia M. Geisler, shows on page 7 without sources noted that James arrived in 1638. The book is no longer available on InternetArchive except to patrons with print disabilities. NEHGR 15(1861):117 says (again, without sources) that James Fitch arrived in 1638. 

2nd edit: This reference says that James Fitch did come to New England in 1638 (per his tombstone), and that his brothers Thomas, Samuel and Joseph came with their widowed mother, Anne, between 1648 and 1650. This reference says "There has much uncertainty about the exact date of arrival in America by brothers Thomas, Samuel and Joseph Fitch." Source: History of the Fitch family, A.D. 1400-1930 : a record of the Fitches in England and America, including "pedigree of Fitch" certified by the college of arms, London, England, vol. 1, by Roscoe Conkling Fitch  [https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/162309/?offset=#page=77&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q= Page 36] 

Answer 3

Thomas Fitch (my ancestor) appears in five entries in the Norwalk land records in 1652, and many more in later years, per an index in the Norwalk Library History Room, (where my wife works, as it happens.)

Looking through the early Norwalk land records, I find no indication that Thomas Fitch was there before 1652.  On 15 February 1651/2, Thomas and his brother Joseph are listed as settlers in the deed between the settlers and several Indians led by Runcleinheage.   They are not listed amount the settlers in an agreements with Roger Ludlowe signed 19 June 1650, strongly suggesting that they arrived in Norwalk between those dates. I found nothing to indicate where they had come from.

Based on a review of the evidence cited by Kathleen, GeneJ X, and SWillson, Roscoe Conkling Fitch (who clearly had looked at the same Norwalk land records I looked at) got it right back in 1930:  while James Fitch came to New England in 1638, his mother and his brothers Thomas, Samuel, and Joseph did not come until about 1650, notwithstanding the (undocumented) claim that James testified that they came earlier.  Therefore, Thomas Fitch should be removed from PGM, and so should Anne (Reeve) Fitch, and Joseph Fitch.

Comments

Thank you. That is just wonderful, Halsey.