JOHN HENDERSON FITZGERALD

 The following bio was taken from page 201 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission. 

Transcribed by Shirley Koym 

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator 

In 1913 a young couple with their infant daughter left their home and familiar surroundings near Temple, Texas for a new home and new way of life in the Rusk County community of Dirgin.  This ambitious and hard-working couple, John Henderson Fitzgerald and Irma Watson Fitzgerald, soon found their move to be a good one.  There was good land to be farmed and many new friends to be made in Dirgin and surrounding Rusk County.  The Fitzgerald’s were prompted in their move to Dirgin by her father, Millard Watson, who had recently moved to this community from Temple. 

The Fitzgerald family was engaged in farming and ranching, and John Fitzgerald was a machinery operator for Rusk County.  He died in January 1960.  Helping with the family farm were the four Fitzgerald children:  Beatrice, Elizabeth, John H., Jr. (Jack), and Harold Davis Fitzgerald. 

Jack and Harold both served in the Armed Forces during World War II.  Jack served in the Pacific Campaign from 1942 through 1946.  He married Sue Huffhines of Richardson, Texas, where they lived for twenty-one years.  Upon their retirement, Jack and Sue moved back to Dirgin to pursue their ranching interests.  They are the parents of two children, Dan David Fitzgerald and Susan Fitzgerald Hudspeth.  Dan, his wife, Pamela Price Fitzgerald, and their two children, Jean Marie and John David, now reside on the Fitzgerald home place in Dirgin.  Susan and her husband, Michael R. Hudspeth, and their son, Matthew Ryan, reside in Richardson, Texas. 

Harold served in the European Campaign  of World War II from 1943-1946.  He married Billie Huffhines, sister of Sue Huffhines Fitzgerald.  Harold and Billie have lived in the Port Arthur-Groves, Texas area for thirty-four years, where Harold has been employed with Gulf Oil Corporation.  They are the parents of three children – Jane Ellen Fitzgerald O’Bryant, Jim Harold Fitzgerald, and Karen Jo Fitzgerald Lough.  Jane is married to Jimmy O’Bryant.  They live in Mesquite, Texas with their daughter, Kathleen Elizabeth.  Jim and his wife, the former Myra Irby, and their two sons, Jeffrey Heath and Timothy Chad, reside in Groves, Texas.  Karen and her husband, Kurt Lough, are residents of Austin, Texas. 

Beatrice married Beauford Martin, great-grandson of Rusk-Panola County pioneer, Daniel Martin.  The Martins live just off Trammell Trace Road on part of the original Daniel Martin Survey.  They are engaged in ranching operations.  They are the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth Ann Martin Tuttle.  Ann and her husband, Robert C. Tuttle, and their two children, Robert Martin and Lacy Suzanne, also live on part of the original Daniel Martin land. 

Elizabeth Fitzgerald lives in Dallas, where she was a federal government employee for thirty-two years. 

Many changes have taken place in the Dirgin Community since the Fitzgerald’s moved there in 1913.  Where there were once fields of cotton, now stands a power plant.  A huge lake covers much of the land used for farming and ranching.  In spite of the many changes, home is where the heart is and Dirgin will always be thought of as home by the Fitzgerald’s.  

Submitted by Beatrice Fitzgerald Martin