This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| The following is from Nancy Isabel Fitch Harms, Seymour, Missouri
He is my grandfather. I know of eight paintings held by the family. There are landscapes in watercolor, a charcoal self-portrait and portrait of Spanish woman.
Walter Allen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 27, 1861, the second son of William Grant Fitch I, a descendant of Thomas Fitch who was one of the founders in 1650 of Norwalk Connecticut.
Walter Fitch frequently accompanied his mother, Martha Eliza Curtis, and invalid father on trips to Europe, where he studied art in Paris. Following his father's death in Milwaukee in 1891, his mother moved to Hollywood, California where she resided until her death 25 October 1927.
Walter Fitch married the daughter of Methodist minister, Asahel Coe Eggleston: Isabella Dare Eggleston, 24 January 1906 in Matawan, Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Walter Allen Fitch was a student of Twachtmann; he painted at the Bush-Holley House, Cos Cob, Connecticut. He is not to be confused with Walter Fitch, an artist resident of San Francisco in 1921.
My father, William Grant Fitch II, was born at Cos Cob, Connecticut 5 July 1907.
And my aunt, Jane Dare Fitch (Roland) was born 5 September 1909.
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Also from Nancy Isabel Fitch Harms:
Walter Allen Fitch died 6 June 1910, at Greenport, Suffolk County, New York, by self inflicted gun shot wound. His body was first buried in New Britain, Connecticut. My father was only 3 years old, and Aunt Jane (his sister) was a baby of one year.
Walter's life is shrouded in secrecy. Aunt Jane, Jane Dare Fitch Roland, moved Walter's body to New London. I have searched for facts, visited the Bush-Holley House in Cos Cob, and have only found the following references in a 1930's privately published book by Roscoe Conkling Fitch (of Detroit) called: "History of the Fitch Family 1400-1930 A.D." (Vol. 1, pages 162-163) and this was published 20 years after Walter's death--and the family seemed to erase all details because of the "suicide."
Walter's father, William Grant Fitch, served as a teller at the Bank of Milwaukee until 1859 when he was elected cashier which position he held until elected vice-president in 1888 of the National Exchange Bank of Milwaukee, the successor to the Bank of Milwaukee. He held that position until his death February 3, 1891. (Vol. 1, page 162).
His older brother, Grant Fitch, was born at Milwaukee, 22 September, 1859. Being the eldest son, Grant, graduated from Yale in 1881, and eventually became director of the Northwestern National Insurance Company, the Wisconsin Securities Company, and The National Exchange Bank, all of Milwaukee. Because Walter's birth year, 1861, and the start of the Civil War--I suppose Milwaukee, Wisconsin might have been in a condition of upset. (Walter A. is mentioned at the top of page 163 of Vol.1)
His mother, Martha Eliza Curtis Fitch, lived in Hollywood, California for over 30 years, but Walter was really a resident of Cos Cob, CONNECTICUT.
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