Albert Cleveland Fitzgerald.

Albert Cleveland Fitzgerald. Photo taken about 1927.

Albert Cleveland Fitzgerald -- Taken about 1925.

This photo is of the ALBERT CLEVELAND FITZGERALD FAMILY. The Photo was taken in 1898.

BACK ROW (Left to Right): RUFUS PRYOR (b:1888 d:1976); MATTHEW WILSON (Witt) (b:1885 d:1969);NORA BELLE (b:1881 d:1964); JAMES CHARLES (b:1878 d:1946); MATTIE JANE (b:1875 d: 1957).

SECOND ROW (Left to Right): LUNAR[Luna](b:1868 d:1914); HARRIET LUCINDI TILLOTSON FITZGERALD (b:1846 d:1918); ALBERT CLEVELAND FITZGERALD (b:1845 d: 1928); JESSIE CLEVELAND (b:1872 d:1933)

FRONT ROW: CLYDE FALLS (b: 1894 d: 1966).

Not Shown: Daughter, EMMA CAROLINE (b:1870 d:1955) Emma Caroline remained in South Carolina when the family left in a covered wagon for Texas.
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ALBERT CLEVELAND FITZGERALD (1845-1928), son of Matthew Vannerson Fitzgerald(b: 11 Nov 1816 d: 18 Sept 1863) and Julie Mathis (b: ? d: 1847), served as a private in Captain Butler's South Carolina Infantry, 1st Regiment, during the Civil War. (Source: National Park Service: Civil War Soldiers and Sailors, Film Number M381 roll 11.) In 1862, he joined the Confederate army. He misrepresented his age in order to assist his native state in the Civil War. Nora Belle Fitzgerald Stillwell (1881-1964), daughter of Albert C. Fitzgerald, related that her father was captured by the Union Army three weeks before the War Between the States ended and survived on bread and water until the end of the war. She said that he was released and made his way home to Cowpens, South Carolina. Near the end of the war, soldiers on both sides, who were captured, were often reported as absent without leave or lost. On 17 July 1866, about one year after returning from fighting in the Civil War, Albert Cleveland Fitzgerald married Harriett Lucindi Tillotson, daughter of James Tillotson (1811-1887) and Elizabeth Betsy McAbee (1812-1897).

Albert Cleveland Fitzgerald and Harriett Lucindi Tillotson had the following children: (1) Lunar [Luna] [8 Feb 1868 – 23 June 1914], (2) Emma Caroline (8 June 1870 – 21 Feb 1955), (3) Jessie [10 Feb 1872 – 18 Feb 1933], (4) Mattie Jane [17 Aug 1875 – 5 Oct 1957], (5) James Charles (Charlie) [21 May 1878 – 25 Dec 1946], (6) Nora Belle [18 Feb 1881 – 22 Sept 1964], Matthew Wilson (Witt) [29 Apr 1885 – 10 Mar 1969], (7) Rufus Pryor [31 Mar 1888 – 27 Oct 1976], and (8) Clyde Falls [24 Aug 1894 – 9 May 1966].

Albert and Harriett Fitzgerald's daughter, Lunar, married Miles Winfield Mathis (b: 31 Jul 1851 d: 18 Jul 1936) and their daughter, Jessie married Abner Earlie Mathis (b: 1858 d: 4 Oct 1914). Miles and Earlie Mathis were born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, and were sons of Tilman Mathis and Mary Gossett. Miles and Earlie Mathis moved to Texas after marrying the two Fitzgerald sisters. Harriet Fitzgerald missed her two daughters (Lunar and Jessie Fitzgerald) so much that she persuaded her husband, Albert, to pack up and move to Texas. They came to Texas in 1895 in a covered wagon and eventually settled in Denison, Texas.

The only family member who did not come to Texas was Emma Caroline Fitzgerald. Emma Caroline had married William A. (Will) Wood and they decided to remain in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Like his father, Albert had been a farmer in South Carolina, and he had the same profession when he relocated to Texas. The countryside in North Texas probably reminded Albert of home with its gently rolling hills. Times were hard, but the family stuck it out despite numerous crop failures.
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Albert Fitzgerald's father's burial site can be found at:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Fitzgerald&GSiman=1&GScid=341559&GRid=45624164&

Memorial 45624164

He (Matthew Vannerson Fitzgerald[b: 11 Nov 1816 d: 18 Sept 1863]) is buried in the Cannons Camp Ground United Methodist Church Cemetery in Spartanburg County, South Carolina.