Horace B. Fitch

​Horace B. Fitch, 1842-1900
Union Veteran and Grocer

Buried in the Masons Cemetery, exact location unknown

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Horace B. Fitch was a Union veteran of the Civil War and a grocer in early Phoenix.

Born on September 21, 1842, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, he was the son of Dr. Benjamin C. Fitch and Minerva Higbee. Horace never knew his father, who died barely a month after his birth. Thereafter, his mother married at least twice more.

On April 27, 1861, shortly after war was declared, Horace Fitch enlisted in the Union army for a term of 3 months. He was assigned to Company I, 9th Indiana Infantry. When he reenlisted on October 19, he was assigned to Company F, 48th Indiana Infantry. It was present at the siege of Vicksburg in 1863.

After doctors discovered that Private Fitch had diabetes, he was transferred to Company I, 17th Veteran Reserve Corps on November 4, 1863. The Veteran Reserve Corps were composed of invalid or partially disabled soldiers who worked in hospitals or did guard duty to free able-bodied men for service at the front. During the final year of his enlistment, Fitch apparently worked as a hospital steward.

In 1866, Fitch married to Mrs. Mary (Porter) Relyea. At the time of their marriage, she had a baby daughter, Minnie, by her first husband.  

In 1870, Horace was working in a furniture shop in Mishawaka, Indiana. A year later, he and Mary had a daughter of their own whom they named Hattie. Unfortunately, the Fitch marriage ended in divorce in 1880.

The 1880 federal census found Fitch living alone and working as an itinerant peddler of notions. Eventually, he saved enough money to open a small grocery store. Though inclined to be parsimonious, he was scrupulously honest in his dealings.

In May 11, 1891, he married Mrs. Sarah (Thompson) Sult in South Bend, Indiana. Like himself, she too was a divorcee, with four children from her first marriage. Horace and Sarah had a daughter, Orla Mae, in 1893. The Fitches continued to live in Mishawaka until about 1893, when they moved to Arizona.

Horace Fitch died on March 24, 1900, after being ill for eight days with typhoid pneumonia. He was buried in the Masons Cemetery; however, no grave marker has survived, so the exact location of his grave has been lost. He has is a memorial brick in the PMMP memorial garden.

© 2026 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 13 May 2026.

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