Baxter Beverly Fite was born on Fite Bend Road in Resaca, Georgia on Friday, April 14, 1893, the son of Dr. Berry Wilson Fite and Hortense Theresa (Thibadeau) Fite. Baxter was named after his father's older brother, Beverly Alexander Fite, and his mother's younger brother, Richard Baxter Thibadeau. At an early age, Baxter was out in the fields learning to farm and grew up working the land that belonged to his father and grandfather. Baxter attended the grammar school located just below his father's farm on Fite Bend Road. He also attended Locust Grove School for one year. This was a boarding school just south of Atlanta, Georgia, where his mother took many of his brothers and sisters to school.
Baxter was a great outdoorsman and really loved hunting and farming. Okland E. Bowen, a neighbor of the Fite family, stated that pound for pound, Baxter was one of the toughest young men that he had ever known. Baxter was a hard worker and never afraid of a little hard work. His parents wanted him to be a dentist, and in fact, when Baxter was a young man, his father, when he was there to supervise, would let Baxter work on patient's teeth and even pull teeth when this needed to be done. But, Baxter preferred working on the farm and finally quit school to remain at home and work on his father's land.
On December 26, 1915, Baxter was married to Bertha Beatrice Walraven, who was born on January 18, 1894 in Gordon County, Georgia, the daughter of John W. Walraven and Mary (Hester) Walraven. John served in the Confederate Army during the War Between the States. John enlisted on July 9, 1861 in the Etowah Guards, Co. K of the 14th Regiment of Georgia Volunteer Infantry, which was in Thomas's Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was wounded in the shoulder in one battle during the war and was still with the Army of Northern Virginia when General Robert E. Lee surrendered it at Appomattox Courth House in April 9, 1865, at which time he was mustered out of the service.
When they were first married, Baxter and Bertha