Deming Fitch was Madison's first Cemetery Superintendent. He had the job of moving bodies from the
Sandhill Cemetery to the
Village Cemetery. When
Forest Hill Cemetery opened he moved bodies
from the Village Cemetery to that location, some for the second time.
He was also an undertaker and dealer in "coffins, shrouds, caps, plates, coffin linings and
silvered trimmings of every variety and style."
Fitch operated one of the first funeral homes in Madison, which he established in 1849, first at the corner of Pinckney and East Mifflin
streets, then on the corner of
Main and Fairchild, then at 117 West Doty,
and finally at
626 University Avenue.
Boasted that he laid away two governors, one chief justice, six supreme court justices and 14,000 other Madisonians.
"Not all tombstones tell the truth"
Both of his wives were sisters of
John Catlin, Madison's first postmaster.
