John Fitch was an American inventor, clockmaker, and silversmith who, in 1787, built the first recorded steam-powered boat in the United States. Two decades later, Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...

 was able to make steamboats profitable.
Fitch was born in Windsor, Connecticut

Windsor, Connecticut

Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....

 on January 21, 1743, on a farm that is part of present-day South Windsor, Connecticut

South Windsor, Connecticut

-History:In 1659, Thomas Burnham purchased the tract of land now covered by the towns of South Windsor and East Hartford from Tantinomo, chief sachem of the Podunk Indians. Burnham lived on the land and later willed it to his nine children...

. He received little formal schooling and eventually apprenticed himself to a clockmaker, during which time Fitch was not allowed to learn or even observe watchmaking (he later taught himself how to repair clocks and watches).