03/26/2026
I’m sure many of us in the area know the name John Fitch, but it’s good to know who he was and why he was important.
I am in awe... and so very grateful to our neighbors at the Ashby Historical Society for making this ode to history happen!! ❤️
John Fitch, for whom Fitchburg is named (of course!), lived a remarkable and difficult life, and his story is tied closely to both Fitchburg and Ashby. He first settled in what was then Lunenburg in the 1730s... Later, when a new town was created in 1764, his homestead became part of Fitchburg. Just a few years after that, when Ashby was incorporated in 1767, that same homestead became part of Ashby. So John Fitch was not only the founder of Fitchburg, he was also one of the founders of Ashby!
In 1748, John Fitch's home was attacked and burned, and he and his family were taken captive to Canada. After about a year, they were ransomed and made their way back to Massachusetts, but his wife Susannah died on the return journey. John Fitch rebuilt, remarried, and went on to play an important role in the early development of this region. But by the end of his life, his fortunes had changed. He died in 1795, penniless, and was buried in Ashby in the pauper’s section of the Old Burial Ground with no marker.
That is what makes this so amazing. More than 230 years later, the Ashby Historical Society raised the funds to finally place a gravestone near the spot where he was buried, making sure the man whose name lives on in Fitchburg is no longer left in an unmarked grave
