Fitch, John (1743-1798), was an American inventor and metal craftsman. He built and operated a mechanically successful steamboat 20 years before Robert Fulton's "Clermont" made its first trip on the Hudson River. Fitch had constant trouble with his financial affairs, and did not succeed in attracting enough public support to make his boats profitable. Although he was energetic and had many ideas, the steamboat age did not arrive until after his death.

He launched and operated his first boat on the Delaware River in 1787. It was propelled by six paddles on a side like an Indian canoe, but was driven by a steam engine. Fitch launched a 60-foot boat in 1788. It operated in regular passenger service from Philadelphia t Burlington, NJ, but there was not enough demand for passage to make it pay. After other disastrous attempts in this field, Fitch moved west and died at Bardstown, KY.

Fitch was born on a farm in Windsor Township, Connecticut. After six years of schooling and trying out a number of trades, he became a successful brassworker and silversmith at Trenton, N.J. The business was wiped out by the Revolutionary War, in which Fitch served as a lieutenant. He became interested in western lands in 1780. Then in 1785, he turned his attention to the construction of a steamboat.
-- John H Kimble.