About the Author
John Townsend Fitch (1926 - 2020) was a sixteenth generation descendant of William Fytche of Wicken Bonhunt, County Essex, England. He spent most of his professional career in the continuing education of practicing engineers through the media of television and videotape. After retiring, he devoted his time to Fitch family history and genealogy. He began his research on the first book, burdened by the same misinformation that has clouded the work of earlier family historians. It was not until he made the first of several trips to England that he began to disentangle the true story of the family from the myths that have grown up around it. The research resulted in a book, devoted entirely to the English ancestors of the family. More recently, he turned his attention to his immigrant ancestor, the Reverend James Fitch and his descendants. These books are part of an ongoing series, which resulted in several more books on his own line in America and China.
John Fitch was born in Shanghai, China, son of missionary parents. He was educated at Northwood School in Lake Placid and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he majored in electrical engineering. He served on the staff of M.I.T. for thirteen years before becoming Executive Director of the Association for Media based Continuing Education for Engineers, a post he held until retirement in 1987. He was the author of several papers on continuing education and the producer of numerous science education films. He and his wife, a retired school teacher, lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They have six grown children and eight grandchildren.