View source for Ashbel P. Fitch

{{Short description|American politician (1848–1904)}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
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| name               =  Ashbel Parmelee Fitch<!-- include middle initial, if not specified in birth_name -->
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|state= [[New York (state)|New York]]
|constituency= {{ushr|NY|13|13th district}} (1887–1893)<br>{{ushr|NY|15|15th district}} (1893)
|party= [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|term_start= March 4, 1887
|term_end= December 26, 1893
|preceded= [[Egbert L. Viele]]
|succeeded= [[Isidor Straus]]
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| birth_name         =  <!-- only use if different from name above -->
| birth_date         =    {{Birth date|1848|10|08}}
| birth_place        =  [[Mooers, New York]]
| death_date         =   {{Death date and age|1904|05|04|1848|10|08}}
| death_place        =  [[New York City]]
| resting_place      = Woodlawn Cemetery
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| nationality        = [[United States|American]]
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'''Ashbel Parmelee Fitch''' (October 8, 1848 &ndash; May 4, 1904) was an American lawyer, financier, and politician.<ref name=fitch-dies/> He was a four-term Congressman, and a one-term [[Comptroller of New York City]].<ref name=champion/>
From March 4, 1887, until January 30, 1894, he served as [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref name=bioguide/> In Congress, he worked to have New York City selected for the 1892 World Exposition. He also defended immigrant rights and supported tariff reform,<ref name=champion/> urging the passage of the [[Roger Q. Mills|Mills Tariff Reform Bill]].<ref name=fitch-dies/>  He served as chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Private Land Claims|Committee on Private Land Claims]] and the [[United States House Committee on the Election of the President, Vice President and Representatives in Congress|Committee on Election of President, Vice President, and Representatives]].<ref name=bioguide/>
Founding president of the [[Trust Company of America]] in 1899,<ref name=bioguide/> he remained president upon his death in May 1904.<ref name=fitch-dies/> He was also a director of companies such as the [[American Light and Traction Company]] and the [[Lion Brewery New York|Lion Brewery]].<ref name=fitch-dies/>
==Early life and education==
Ashbel Parmelee Fitch was born in [[Mooers, New York]].<ref name=bioguide>{{CongBio|F000157}}</ref><ref name=fitch-dies/> On both his father's and mother's side, he was descended from Revolutionary ancestors<ref name=fitch-dies/> and was also a descendant of [[William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor)|William Bradford]].<ref name=bradford/> He moved to New York City with his parents while young.<ref name=fitch-dies/> He attended the public schools of New York,<ref name=fitch-dies/><ref name=bioguide/> including [[Grammar School No. 35]], a public school in Lower Manhattan.<ref name="Fitch">{{cite book|last=Remington|first=David F.|title=Ashbel P. Fitch: Champion of Old New York|publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]]|location=[[Syracuse, New York]]|pages=16–7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=12ch83Y7N6cC|date=2011|isbn=9780815651642|accessdate=December 25, 2017}}</ref> He prepared for college at [[Williston Northampton School|Williston Seminary]] in [[Easthampton, Massachusetts]], before spending several years at the [[University of Jena|Universities of Jena]] and [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]] in [[Germany]]. At the University of Jena, he joined the prestigious student society [[Corps]] Franconia Jena. Afterwards he took a course at [[Columbia Law School]] in New York City.<ref name=fitch-dies/>
==Career==
===1869-1880s: Early litigation===
At the age of 21,<ref name=fitch-dies/> he was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted to the bar]] in November 1869, initially practicing law in New York City.<ref name=bioguide/>
===1884-1893: Public life and Congress===
He entered public life in 1884, when the Republicans offered him the nomination for Congress for his home district. However, he declined, as he was not in agreement with the high-[[tariff]] doctrines of his party.<ref name=fitch-dies/> After accepting the Republican nomination in 1887,<ref name=fitch-dies/> Fitch was elected as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to the [[50th United States Congress|Fiftieth]] Congress and served from March 4, 1887.<ref name=bioguide/> In the House, he supported New York City and tariff reform, and worked to have New York City selected for the 1892 World Exposition. He also defended immigrant rights.<ref name=champion/>  In May 1888, he gave a speech "which attracted national attention" when he urged for the passage of the [[Roger Q. Mills|Mills Tariff Reform Bill]]. He afterwards received the joint nomination of Tamany Hall and the County Democracy.<ref name=fitch-dies/>
He was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the [[51st United States Congress|Fifty-first]], [[52nd United States Congress|Fifty-second]], and [[53rd United States Congress|Fifty-third]] Congresses. He served as chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Private Land Claims|Committee on Private Land Claims]] (Fifty-second Congress) and the [[United States House Committee on the Election of the President, Vice President and Representatives in Congress|Committee on Election of President, Vice President, and Representatives]] (Fifty-third Congress).<ref name=bioguide/> After four terms in Congress,<ref name=fitch-dies/> he resigned on December 26, 1893.<ref name=bioguide/>
===1893-1897: Comptroller of New York===
Fitch resigned from Congress to accept [[Tammany Hall]]'s nomination for [[Comptroller of New York City]] in 1893.  He was elected on the Tammany Ticket<ref name=fitch-dies/> and served in that office from 1893 until 1897.<ref name=fitch-dies/><ref name=bioguide/> Writes historian David Remington, as comptroller Fitch "oversaw the city's finances during a time of terrible economic distress, withstanding threats from Tammany Hall on one side and from Mayor [[William L. Strong]]'s misguided reform administration on the other."<ref name=champion/>
In 1897, Tammany refused to renominate him. [[Chauncey Depew]] placed his name in nomination at the Republican convention to become the first Comptroller of the Consolidated New York. He was defeated.<ref name=champion>David F. Remington: ''Ashbel P. Fitch - Champion of old New York'', Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York, 2011 [https://books.google.com/books?id=12ch83Y7N6cC (online)]</ref> Wrote ''[[The New York Times]]'', "at the first election for [[City of Greater New York|Greater New York]] the Republicans placed him in nomination [for Controller of the city] and he was swept out of power by the Tammany tidal wave."<ref name=fitch-dies/>
===Business career and memberships===
He served as the founding president of the [[Trust Company of America]] in 1899.<ref name=bioguide/> He remained president upon his death in May 1904.<ref name=fitch-dies/> He was also a director of the [[American Light and Traction Company]], the Bowling Green Trust Company, the [[Germania Bank Building (New York City)|Germania Bank]], the [[Lion Brewery New York|Lion Brewery]], and the Title Insurance Company of America.<ref name=fitch-dies/>
He was a member of various social clubs, including the [[Metropolitan Club (New York City)|Metropolitan Club]] of Manhattan, the Lawyers' Club, the [[New York Yacht Club]], the St. Nicholas Club, the [[Ardsley Country Club]], the [[Germania Club]], the [[Press Club]], the [[Liederkranz Club]], the [[Arion Society of New York|Arion Society]], and the [[Metropolitan Club (Washington, D.C.)|Metropolitan Club of Washington]]. He was also president of the [[Franklin County, New York|Franklin County]] Society.<ref name=fitch-dies/> Further memberships included the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[Sons of the Revolution]], [[Military Order of Foreign Wars]], [[New England Society of New York|New England Society]], [[Municipal Art Society]], [[New York Genealogical and Biographical Society]], the Dunlap Society, and the [[New York Chamber of Commerce]].<ref name=fitch-dies/>
==Personal life==
Fitch married Elizabeth Cross Fitch<ref name=nyt-may/> of [[Morrisville, New York]] in 1874.<ref name=fitch-dies/> The couple had six children - three sons and three daughters.<ref name=fitch-dies/> Ashbel Fitch died in New York City on May 4, 1904<ref name=bioguide/> in his home at 16 East [[List of numbered streets in Manhattan#80th Street|80th Street]] in [[Manhattan]]. The papers reported that he died by a stroke of apoplexy, and that he had been in poor health for some time.<ref name=fitch-dies>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Ashbel P. Fitch Dies Suddenly of Apoplexy; Had Been in Poor Health, However, for Some Time. Four Terms in Congress - Was Elected Controller of New York on Tammany Ticket and Defeated on Republican Nomination -- Business Affiliations. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/05/05/archives/ashbel-p-fitch-dies-suddenly-of-apoplexy-had-been-in-poor-health.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York, United States |date=May 5, 1904 |access-date=May 12, 2017}}</ref> The service was held on May 6 at his home,<ref name=fitch-dies/> and he was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery.<ref name=bioguide/><ref name=fitch-dies/> His widow died suddenly in May 1913 at her home at 759 [[West End Avenue]].<ref name=nyt-may>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Obituary 1 -- No Title |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/05/06/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York, United States |date=May 6, 1913 |access-date=May 12, 2017}}</ref>
His son Ashbel P. Fitch<ref name=bradford>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Obituary 2 -- No Title |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/23/archives/obituary-2-no-title.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City, New York, United States |date=May 23, 1926 |access-date=May 12, 2017}}</ref> also became a lawyer, at Fitch & Grant in New York at 67 Wall Street. A prominent member of the [[Manhattan Club (social club)|Manhattan Club]], he was involved in several major cases, including a 1923 judgement to [[Richard Croker]] concerning loans to his father. He died on May 21, 1926, at the age of 49.<ref name=son-died>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Ashbel P. Fitch dies in Theatre |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/22/archives/ashbel-p-fitgh-dies-in-theatre-lawyer-is-stricken-between-the-acts.html | work= [[The New York Times]] |date=May 22, 1926 |access-date=May 12, 2017}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[[Tariffs in United States history]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{Find a Grave|7643305}}
{{Bioguide}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{US House succession box
| state= New York
| district= 13
| before= [[Egbert L. Viele]]
| after= [[John De Witt Warner]]
| years= 1887–1893}}
{{US House succession box |
state=New York |
district=15 |
before=[[Henry Bacon (New York politician)|Henry Bacon]] |
after=[[Isidor Straus]] |
years=1893
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitch, Ashbel Parmelee}}
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1904 deaths]]
[[Category:Williston Northampton School alumni]]
[[Category:University of Jena alumni]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia Law School alumni]]
[[Category:New York (state) lawyers]]
[[Category:New York City Comptrollers]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)]]
[[Category:People from Mooers, New York]]
[[Category:19th-century American legislators]]
[[Category:Trust Company of America people]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century New York (state) politicians]]