Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


AMASA E. FITTS
 
An interesting representative of the State of Delaware who has made good in 
California, is Amasa E. Fitts, who was born at Felton, in the Blue Hill country, 
on September 4, 1872, the son of Elmer and Cynthia (Hamilton) Fitts, the former 
a native of Vermont and the latter of Missouri.  Elmer Fitts first came out to 
California in 1856, and for a while mined.  He married here, but in 1863 both 
husband and wife returned to Vermont, where Mr. Fitts volunteered for service in 
the Civil War, on behalf of the Union, and joined the Vermont Volunteers.  He 
was wounded by a shell, in the right arm; and when the war was over, and he had 
pretty well recovered, he settled in Delaware, where he lived for about eight 
years.  He then moved to Vermont, and so it happened that our subject went to 
Vermont schools.  Cynthia Hamilton came to California in 1850, with her father 
and mother.  Grandfather Hamilton was the first man to settle on the �flat� 
later called �Cabbage Patch� of Yuba County; and he died at an advanced age on 
that ranch.  In 1888, Elmer Fitts came back to California from Vermont, with his 
wife and four children: Amasa, the subject of our review; Jennie, now deceased; 
Cora, Mrs. McRae, of Sacramento; and John, of Yolo County.  Elmer Fitts is 
residing in Sacramento.  When Amasa E. Fitts was sixteen years old he started to 
make his own way in the world; and he worked for seven years for wages, and then 
purchased twenty acres in the Erle district, and leased additional land, so that 
he farmed from 400 to 500 acres, raising grain and stock.
At the old Cantlin ranch, on January 8, 1896, Mr. Fitts was married to Miss 
Jessie M. Cantlin, who was born the daughter of Dennis L. and Lydia (Dam) 
Cantlin.  Dennis Cantlin was a native of Canada, and when a lad he came into the 
United States and settled in Illinois; in 1860 his folks moved on further 
Westward to California.  Miss Lydia Dam was a native of Massachusetts.  Her 
parents, Cyrus and Charlotte (Gould) Dam, came from Massachusetts to California 
and were very early settlers at Wheatland and became successful farmers.  Lydia 
Dam came to California before her husband, and here they were married.  They had 
six children: Lottie is a teacher at San Benito; Kate has become Mrs. Brown and 
lives at Hayward; Jessie is Mrs. Fitts; Lulu died in her third year; Edith is of 
Marysville; and Lilly is now at San Jose.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Cantlin died at the 
old ranch, in the Erle district, at the age of sixty-eight, Mr. Cantlin having a 
grain and stock ranch of 320 acres when he died, so that he left sixty-four 
acres to Mrs. Fitts.  Amasa Fitts then bought out one of the heirs, and since 
then he has also bought an additional eighty acres, making the combined holdings 
of himself and wife 328 acres.  He is president of the Elizabeth-Lone Tree Farm 
Center; has been a school director in the Elizabeth district for twelve years; 
and is a Republican.  Mr. and Mrs. Fitts have two daughters, Nadine is now Mrs. 
Clarence E. Boardman; and Ruth is Mrs. Carl Hamon of Marysville.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 1207