Joseph Fitch
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, the only child of businessman Joseph Fitch and Avis Leggett. Fitch attended the Flushing Institute. He then went to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, graduating from there in 1879. He then studied law in the office of Charles W. Pleasants in New York City from 1881 to 1882. He also attended classes in Columbia Law School. 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. He later became the senior member of the law firm Fitch, Moore & Swan. In 1885, Fitch was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Democrat, representing the Queens County 1st District. He served in the Assembly in 1886 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