BIOGRAPHY
John Fitch was an American inventor born on January 21st, 1743 in Windsor, Connecticut. In Windsor he lived a rough childhood because, his father was abusive.
To get out of his fathers house hold he decided, to start apprenticing as a clock maker. He learned brass working which gave him the confidence to make his own brass foundry. That business failed so he tried making a silversmith shop which also failed. The only business that worked for him was the gun shop he opened during “The American Revolution.
Post-War Fitch moved to Pennsylvania where he worked on his inventing. Fitch “was granted a fourteen-year monopoly from five state governments to operate his craft on their waters and secured the backing of a group of Philadelphia investors.”( madehow) He created the first steam-powered boat on August 22, 1787.
Fitch than took his inventing to Europe, securing a French patent in 1795. Unfortunately, The French Revolution halted his inventing in France. Fitch’s health began to weaken and he died in 1798 by committing suicide.
