John Cantrell Fite (Part 1)

   This biographical sketch continues my task of writing about my ancestors who fought in the U. S. Civil War. John Cantrell Fite, my second greatgrandfather, could be characterized as the grandfather of my grandfather, a southerner who fought for the Union, and one of the older soldiers in his regiment. The Fite family had grown rapidly in a few generations after the arrival of the first Fite couple in North America, and the branch which produced John Cantrell Fite had an impact on the development of the nation.

   The founding father was Johannes Vogt who was born in 1714 in Fronhausen, Hessen-Kassel, Saxony which is in the middle of today’s Germany. (Note: There are other sources which say that Johannes was born in Louwil, Switzerland, and there are several other differences in details between sources. I have chosen the details which to me seem most reasonable). It is likely that his parents were devout Lutherans; not wealthy but reasonably comfortable. Some sources say that Johannes was a portrait painter, but if so none of his work has survived. At some time in his late twenties or early thirties he fell in love with a much younger girl, Catharine Elizabeth Cunningham born in 1728. I have seen no reliable information regarding Catharine’s background other than that her father William Cunningham was minor Scottish royalty, and it is reasonable that he may have left Scotland because of the turmoil between Scotland and England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In any case Johannes’s parents and probably also Catharine’s parents were opposed to their marriage. Perhaps their age difference was the problem, or perhaps Catharine wasn’t a Lutheran, but in any case the parents would not bless their marriage.

   So, they eloped. They sailed in 1749 from Rotterdam to Philadelphia on the ship Ann which carried 242 passengers from Basel, Wurtemberg, Zweibrucken, and Darmstadt. The passenger list contains the names of 92 male passengers only, no names of women or children; my assumption is that many of the men were married and were accompanied by their wives and children. There were names of three Vogt men on board: the brothers Johannes, Heinrich, and Hans Jacob. Evidently this was no ordinary elopement. Records show that Heinrich had married in 1740 so it is most likely that his wife and perhaps children were on board; Hans Jacob was born about 1716 and was also married but the date of his marriage is unknown. Catharine most likely was traveling with her future sisters-in-law. In any case the Ann arrived in Philadelphia on 28 Sept 1749, and Johannes and Catharine were promptly married. And he was no longer Johannes Vogt; the letter combination  “V, O umlaut, G, T” is practically unwritable and unpronounceable for English speakers so the name FITE was created.

   Most sources also say that the three brothers and their families disembarked with the clothes on their backs and very little money. It was common practice to have their large items such as trunks and furniture shipped on a cargo vessel, and often these items were lost, broken or stolen. (It seems very much like traveling by air with only carry-on luggage, and the checked baggage may or may not get to the destination).  

   The three Fite brothers were eventually successful. John found work as an apprentice millwright and after a few years he moved up the Delaware river to Sussex County, New Jersey where he established his own mill and became a landowner. He and Catharine had 9 children; we will follow their son John Fite, born 1758 (evidently Johannes continued to use his birth name so there was never any use of “junior” for his son John). The Fites were supporters of the American Revolution and John Fite (the younger) joined the New Jersey militia at the age of 17. New Jersey was the site of the most battles and skirmishes of the Revolution and Private John Fite fought through to the end. He was wounded but recovered and was apparently not much hampered by the wound, and his father provided the products of his mill to the revolutionary army.

   John Fite was a devoutly religious man as well as a soldier. In about 1784 he married Martha Haslet and moved to North Carolina, where he had received a land grant as a result of his army service. He was a Lutheran but found hardly any other Lutherans in Lincoln County, North Carolina. The Presbyterians had a strong organization, and he had no problems with their theology, so he joined them. He was soon chosen as a “ruling elder” and was highly respected, but he was not able to become ordained as a minister because of his lack of a formal education.

  By 1796 John and Martha had a young family. They were “just getting by” by farming, but there was more fertile land for homesteading to the west, in Smith County (which later became DeKalb County), Tennessee.  The Fites headed west to the fertile ground. It was heavily wooded, roadless land which required at least a year of very hard work while living off the land before any crops could be harvested. John continued as a devout Presbyterian, but the nearest church was 18 miles away.

   Meanwhile Baptists were proliferating. John studied their publications, and was no doubt pleased with their flexible organizational structure compared to the Presbyterians. In 1813, at the age of 55 he officially became a Baptist. (Part 2 to follow)