About the Author
John Townsend Fitch is 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.
Now retired, he devotes 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 has turned his attention to his immigrant ancestor, the Reverend
James Fitch and his descendants. These books are part of an ongoing series, which will result 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 is the author of several papers on continuing education and the producer of
numerous science education films. He and his wife, a retired school teacher, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They have six grown children
and eight grandchildren.