In the passing of E. A. Fitzgerald Oklahoma lost a pioneer citizen. A native of Ireland, he was born in that country in 1842, and came to the United States as a young man. He engaged in railroading after coming here and came to Indian Territory as construction contractor for the first railroad built through this part of the country. For many years he was road master for the Missouri Pacific Railroad and he followed that line of work until he took up farming. Subsequently, however, he removed to Tallala in order to give his children better educational advantages, and he established the Tallala Hotel, in the conduct of which he was active at the time of his demise on the 11th of August, 1920. He achieved substantial success in that connection, and his widow is still conducting the hotel.
In 1894 Mr. Fitzgerald was united in marriage to Cathrin Lacy, of Cherokee extraction, and a daughter of William and Della (Williams) Ensley. Her father came to Indian Territory with the “old settlers” and contributed much to the development and improvement of the community in which he resided. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald seven children were born: Mamie, who is the wife of Ed Wallace of Nowata; May, now Mrs. W. W. Wood of Nowata; Josie, who is the wife of Charles Heddy of that place; Nora, the wife of Arion Giddion, railroad agent and telegraph operator at Bristow; Katie, now Mrs. E. Pointer of Tallala; William Ross; and John H.
Mrs. Fitzgerald is a woman of good business ability and since the death of her husband has achieved success in the conduct of the hotel. She owns some forty acres of land in Rogers County and her children own two hundred and forty acres more, which they lease and from which they draw a good income.
Although Mr. Fitzgerald devoted the greater part of his time and attention to his business interests he was always alive to the duties and responsibilities as well as the privileges of citizenship and there was no movement for the development and improvement of the community that sought his aid in vain. He as a self-made man and well merited the success he achieved. His friends throughout northeastern Oklahoma were legion, and at his death a feeling of deep bereavement swept the communities in which he was so well known.
