Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2830 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSone time solicitor general of the Cherokee Judicial Circuit, Judge Fite liasfor nearly twenty years been judge of the Cherokee Circuit, and is now theoldest circuit judge in commission in Georgia in point of service. In positionsinvolving many responsible and delicate duties, Judge Fite has administeredthe law as he saw it, without fear, favor or any swerving from right andtruth, and has endeavored to enforce all the laws impartially, even the prohibition law. This has been no ordinary achievement, but in fact has been atask requiring all the fortitude and unbending integri|^r of a man. He hascarried into the office of judge his experience and able record as a lawyer,and of his service as solicitor general two of the chief justices of the SupremeCourt once said that he was one of the ablest prosecuting officers in the state.Augustus Warren Fite was born on his father's farm in Gordon County,Georgia, June 15, 3852. On both his father's and mother's sides he is relatedto old and prominent families in America, long identified with the South.His great-great-grandfather, Johannes Vogt, or Fegt, subsequently anglicizedas Fite, with his two brothers, Heinrich and Hans Jacob Fogt, landed inAmerica at Philadelphia September 28, 1749. Johannes Fogt came fromthe province of Hessen-Kassel, which adjoined Vogtland in Saxony. Comingfrom this province he and his sons were entitled to the use of the ancientcoat of arms of the Vogts of Hessen-Kassel, but not to the estates, since thedirect male line, inheritors of the estate, had become extinct in the sixteenthcentury, according to the authority Hilmer. Johannes Fogt was a millwright and mill owner, and during the Revolutionary war furnished GeneralGreene's army with some supplies. Whether or not he was a soldier therecords fail to disclose, but his two brothers were in the ranks fighting withthe soldiers under General Greene.The great-grandfather of Judge Fite, Peter Fite, was born in Pennsylvania in 1750, and removed with his parents to Sussex County, New Jersey.He was a member of the St. James Lutheran Church, and signed the "Articlesof Faith'and Order" in 1772. With other German colonists he removed toNorth Carolina with his family in 1787. Judge Fite's grandfather, alsonamed Peter, was born in Rowan County, North Carolina, January 5, 1793,and moved with his father to Knox County, Tennessee, in 1805. He was aman of note and influence. Grandfather Peter Fite married Miss Nancy Carlock,daughter of Hon. James Carlock of McMinn County, Tennessee, February 24, 1824.Dr. Henderson Wesley Fite, father of Judge Fite, was born in MeMinnCounty, Tennessee, November 27, 1824, and settled in Gordon County, Georgia, in 1844. He was graduate in medicine from the Nashville Medical College, with honors, and served as a surgeon in the Fortieth Georgia Regimentof the Confederate army. He was with Pemberton at Vicksburg, and afterwards was with the forces under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and surrenderedat Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. After the war he practicedmedicine and surgery in Bartow County until his death, which occurredOctober 30, 1911, when eighty-seven years of age. He was one of the leadingphysicians of Bartow County, a highly cultured and educated gentleman,served many years as a member of the county board, was a member of theMasonic fraternity, and belonged to the Presbyterian Church.Doctor Fite married Sarah Denman, who was born in Franklin Count}-,Georgia, the eldest daughter of Felix Gilbert and Nancy (Hutcherson) Denman. The Denmans were among the earliest settlers of Georgia, and JudgeFite's great-great-grandfather, John Denman, was an Englishman who cameto America about 1760, and served as a soldier in the Revolution. After thewar he removed to Franklin County, Georgia. The great-grandfather.Christopher Denman, was born about 1770, and came to Georgia with hisfather. Grandfather Felix G. Denman was born in 1798, in Franklin County,and was old enough to serve as a soldier in the War of 1812. and was