Richard and Mary Ann McCloskey Fitzgerald family photo - 1910

This is a great photo of the Richard and Mary Ann McCloskey Fitzgerald family. Taken in 1910. Just shared by cousin Brigid.

Our William Fitzgerald is second from the left, front row. Individual names posted below the photo.

Front row - left to right.

Kate
Billy
Molly
Richard (father)
Mary Ann (mother)

Back row - left to right.

George
Jack
Frank
Pete
Jim
Leo

Edmund Fitzgerald and Bridget Devine

Edmund Fitzgerald and Bridget Devine

Edmund – also may be called Edward – Fitzgerald was born in Ireland in 1820.

Bridget Devine born in Ireland about 1830.

Edmund and Bridget were married in Ireland – all information says 1847.

Edmund and Bridget migrated to America in 1847 where their first child (John) was born, moving quickly to the west.

Their second child (Edwin) was born in 1849 in Michigan.

Their 3rd child (our ancestor - Richard Keefe Fitzgerald) was born in 1850 in central Wisconsin, near Fort Winnebago and the Indian Agency House. This is now the Portage, WI area.

Full family of Edmund (or Edward) Fitzgerald and Bridget Devine with birth year and location:

John. 1847. New York
Edwin. 1849. Michigan
William Keefe. 1850. Wisconsin
Catherine. 1852. Wisconsin. Died 10/18/1870. Buried at St. Bridget, Simpson, MN
Michael. 1854 – 1855. Wisconsin
James. 1857. Wisconsin

###- NOTES:

Richard Fitzgerald

Richard Fitzgerald was the son of Edmund Fitzgerald and Catherine Devine, both Irish immigrants. Richard was born on Christmas Day, 1850 Near Fort Winnebago and the Indian Agency House near what is now Portage, WI. Mary Ann McCloskey was born on 12/22/1857 in High Forest Township, MN. They were married in 1879.

Aunt Sheila Mary Fitzgerald’s timeline for her father, William Fitzgerald, says (page 6) that William’s father Richard Fitzgerald grew up playing with Indian friends near Fort Winnebago in Wisconsin – and was reunited with old Indian friends from that era many years later (1895) at an event in Rochester, MN.

This timeline says that Richard Fitzgerald had a damaged “withered” arm, likely do to a logging accident incurred while he was still a young boy in Wisconsin.

According to Aunt Kate (Catherine Fitzgerald) “Dad was a logger, that is, he worked in the woods chopping down mammoth trees and guiding them down the river by standing on them. I have seen pictures of the men manipulating and keeping the logs in place until they reached the sawmills. He was thrown off a log and one arm was broken in a number of places, making it quite a bit shorter."

Richard moved to Rochester, MN with his parents in 1861. Near the time of their marriage in 1879 Richard was delivering Milk in the Rochester area. Richard passed away a short time after his son William Fitzgerald and Kathleen Moonan were married on 9/11/1919 at Waseca, MN.

I love this note about Grandfather Richard from Sheila Mary Fitzgerald's timeline of her father. Written by Richard Fitzgerald's daughter Kate (Catherine)to Sheila Mary Fitzgerald:

"I think I was about seven when one night he (her father Richard) got so excited - he had read in the paper they were putting on some sort of celebration (in a place that had no) name then, named Mayo Park years later, and (they) were bringinging in a number of Indians (from central WI) in full dress. Dad said they were from the Indian tribe he used to play with and he wondered if any of them would remember him. He dropped what he was doing, took my hand, and away we went to the park. As we got inside the park, a great big Indian looked at us, jumped up, and came toward us. He had recognized Dad right away and was so glad to see and talk to him after all those years as Dad had left the Fort when he was very young."

Note - this was about 35 years apart. Richard left Fort Winnebago in 1861 as an 11 year old - and this reunion was about 1895.

William Fitzgerald timeline link. By Sheila Mary Fitzgerald

Richard Fitzgerald and Mary Ann McCloskey Fitzgerald

Richard Keefe Fitzgerald (who I was named for) was born on Christmas Day, 1851 Near Fort Winnebago and the Indian Agency House near what is now Portage, WI. He grew up playing with Native American Indian friends. Mary Ann McCloskey was born on 12/22/1857 in High Forest Township, MN. They were married in 1879.

Richard and Mary Ann had 9 children – 7 sons and 2 daughters.

Children of Richard Fitzgerald and Mary Ann McCloskey Fitzgerald. (from Sheila Mary Fitzgerald timeline for William Fitzgerald).

Peter (b) 1881
John (Jack) 1882
Frank 1884
James 1886 William (July 20, 1887) **
Catherine (1888)
George (1890)
Leo J (1894)
Mary Loretta (Molly) (1897)

John and Rosemary Moonan's Waseca home. Visiting as grandchildren.

John and Rosemary built their new home on State Street in 1916. John is quoted by his granddaughter as saying, "Imagine! Shanty Irish building a house like this!"

Kathleen Fitzgerald Terrien - my Mom - shares stories of visiting her grandparent's home in Waseca as kids.

Published in 'The Big Brick House' book.

Housekeeping

Comment moderation. I turned on comment moderation. For now, it's the best way for me to get notified when new comments come in across all posts. It will also protect the network from spam. There may be better solutions than this.

Heffron and Fitzgerald building photos. Do you have photos of buildings built by Heffron and Fitzgerald? We are going to create a library and presentation of Grandfather Billy's buildings here. Copies of any photos of Heffron and Fitzgerald buildings from recent times you can share will help this project. This is just a 'heads up'. More on the blog ahead.

Kathleen Moonan Fitzgerald - education

Kathleen Rosemary Moonan graduated with a degree in Latin and Greek at the age of 20. (1)

By the age of 22 she had completed her thesis for her Masters Degree from the University of Minnesota.

The title of her thesis was 'The Sceintific Terms of Lucretius'

"The purpose and intent of this thesis is to show with what degree of success Lucretius expressed Greek thought in Latin language. This can be most satisfactorily accomplished by a comparison of the Latin translations with Greek originals with regard to force, meaning, and purity of diction."

(1) Kathleen's undergraduate degree was from St. Clara Academy at Sinsinawa, WI. St. Clara evolved into Rosary College - and now Dominican University - where many luminary women in this family recevied their degrees.