Philip Vickers Fithian House
Philip Vickers Fithian House
Teaburner Rd.
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***This house is a private residence.***
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Philip Vickers Fithian was born in this house in 1747. He died in 1776 before reaching his twenty-ninth birthday. Philip experienced and accomplished much in his short life, some of which involved the Revolutionary War. [5]
Philip attended Princeton University, which was then called the College of New Jersey, in 1771-1772 to study for the clergy. He studied under the college president John Witherspoon, who would later sign the Declaration of Independence. Philip also met other future Revolutionary War figures such as James Madison, Aaron Burr, and Philip Freneau, who were attending the college as students.
After graduating, he spent some time in Virginia as a tutor and then returned to Greenwich where he became a Presbyterian minister. He preached at a number of locations, including the Greenwich Presbyterian church.
Philip was a supporter of the American cause of Independence and is believed to have been one of the Greenwich Tea Burners. There is a local tradition that the tea burners met at this house before burning the tea, but that tradition is unsubstantiated.
In 1776, he became a chaplain in the Cumberland County Militia. He traveled to New York to be with the troops there during the defense of New York. In September, he was with troops at Fort Washington in upper Manhattan. Due to crowded, unsanitary conditions, there was a great deal of disease in camp. Philip became very ill in late September, suffering with a high fever and with boils broken out over his body. He died on October 8.
