Clarke C. Fitts

Clarke Cushing Fitts (October 17, 1870 – December 20, 1916) was a Vermont attorney and businessman who served as the state’s first Attorney General following the reestablishment of the office in 1904.

Clarke C. Fitts
3rd Vermont Attorney General
In office
1904–1908
GovernorCharles J. Bell (1904-1906)
Fletcher D. Proctor (1906-1908)
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byJohn G. Sargent
Personal details
Born(1870-10-17)October 17, 1870
Wardsboro, Vermont
DiedDecember 20, 1916(1916-12-20) (aged 46)
Watertown, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican

Early life

Clarke Cushing Fitts was born in Wardsboro, Vermont on October 17, 1870.[1] He attended Leland and Gray Seminary and graduated from Brattleboro High School in 1886.[2] He studied law at the Brattleboro firm of Waterman, Martin and Hitt, and was admitted to the bar in 1891, a few days after his twenty-first birthday.[3]

Career

A Republican, Fitts served as State's Attorney of Windham County from 1894 to 1896.[4] In 1901 he was offered appointment to a federal judgeship in Nome, Alaska, but he declined.[5]

In the early 1900s Fitts served on the Vermont Library Commission, including service as the commission’s Chairman.[6]

In 1904 the Vermont General Assembly passed a bill to reestablish the office of Attorney General, which had been abolished in 1797.[7] Fitts, then a member of the Vermont House of Representatives and chairman of its Judiciary Committee, won the legislative election to the office. He was reelected by popular vote in 1906, and served From October, 1904 to October, 1908.[8][9]

Fitts was President of the Vermont Bar Association in 1912 and 1913, and also served as a Vice President of the American Bar Association.[10]

In addition to his legal practice, Fitts was involved in several businesses, and was a director of the National Life Insurance Company, Connecticut River Power Company, People’s National Bank, Brattleboro Savings Bank, New England Power Company, and Hooker, Corser and Mitchell, a manufacturer of heavy duty work clothing and children’s play clothes.[11]

Death and burial

Fitts died at the home of relatives in Watertown, Massachusetts on December 20, 1916, following an illness and unsuccessful surgery.[12][13] He was entombed in a mausoleum at Brattleboro’s Morningside Cemetery.[14]

Family

Fitts was married twice. In 1893 he married Harriet Lyon of Londonderry, Vermont, who died in 1897. In 1903 he married Maud Emerson of Brattleboro. With his first wife, Fitts had twin sons, Robert and Stanley. His children with his second wife included son Osmer and daughter Miriam.[15]

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References
  1. Manual of the Legislature of Vermont. Montpelier, VT: Vermont Secretary of State. 1905. p. 142. clarke c. fitts 1870 wardsboro.
  2. Campbell, Edward R. (February 1, 1917). "In Memoriam, Clarke C. Fitts". The Vermonter. White River Junction, VT: Chas. R. Cummings: 46.
  3. "Vermont Men of Today: Clarke C. Fitts". The Vermonter. White River Junction, VT: Chas. R. Cummings: 162. December 1, 1904.
  4. "Fletcher D. Proctor Papers". University of Vermont Libraries Special Collections. University of Vermont. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  5. Forbes, Charles S. (June 1, 1906). "History of the Republican Party: Clarke C. Fitts; Republican Nominee for Attorney General". The Vermonter. White River Junction, VT: Chas. R. Cummings: 182.
  6. Biennial Report of the Board of Library Commissioners of Vermont, Volumes 5-9. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Caledonian Company. 1904. pp. 2, 5, 110.
  7. Biennial Report of the Attorney General of the State of Vermont. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle Publishing. 1970. p. 6.
  8. Acts and Laws Passed by the Legislature of the State of Vermont. Burlington, VT: Burlington Free Press. 1904. p. 593.
  9. Forbes, Charles S. (1918). "Hon. Elmer Johnson of Saint Albans, Vt., Candidate for Attorney General". The Vermonter: 110.
  10. "Past Presidents of the Vermont Bar Association" (PDF). www.vtbar.org. Vermont Bar Association. 2013.
  11. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 19. New York, NY: J. T. White & Company. 1924. p. 333.
  12. "C. C. Fitts Operated Upon". Vermont Phoenix. Brattleboro, VT. November 10, 1916. p. 4.
  13. "Attorney Clarke C. Fitts Succumbs to Complications Following Serious Operation". Vermont Phoenix. Brattleboro, VT. December 22, 1916. p. 2.
  14. "Funeral of Clarke C. Fitts". Vermont Phoenix. Brattleboro, VT. December 29, 1916. p. 7.
  15. Campbell, Edward R. (February 1, 1917). "In Memoriam, Clarke C. Fitts". The Vermonter. White River Junction, VT: Chas. R. Cummings: 46.
Legal offices
Preceded by
None		 Vermont Attorney General
1904-1908		 Succeeded by
John G. Sargent
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