Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 753 - 755

MRS. CYNTHIA A. FITZGERALD, one of the first settlers of this county, came to Wichita June 20, 1869, and settled on the banks of the Arkansas River, where her husband had preempted 160 acres of land. In the fall of that year he built a log house, 16x24, into which he and his family moved before it was completed, there being neither windows, door, floor or chinking. The first night of their occupancy there arose a mild blizzard and the snow blew in, forming drifts as high as the table. Mr. Fitzgerald then built a dugout, in which they lived until the next spring, when, having completed their log house, they again moved into it and lived there for some years. Times then were very hard, there being little or no money here, but Mrs. Fitzgerald was fertile of resources. She went to the lumberyard and bought the lumber, and with her husband and Mr. Burns, added roof, floor, doors, windows, and all necessary to make the log house habitable. It was now that Mrs. Fitzgerald's wit came to her rescue. She concluded that the settlers would be pleased and gratified if she would give a large dance or public ball. This she arranged, charging $1.50 for each ticket, she furnishing music, supper and ice cream. This was the first dance in the Arkansas Valley. The enterprise was very profitable, yielding $52, which paid the lumber bill and put them out of debt.

            Mr. Fitzgerald was an industrious, hard-working man, and immediately after settling here commenced to cultivate his land. The first year he broke up a garden spot in order to raise vegetables for family use. The next year he improved fifteen acres. In the meantime he fenced in forty acres of his land, splitting the rails on Tow Head Island, sliding them across on the ice. In all of his undertakings he had the able co-operation of our subject, whose sound common sense and capability were valuable aids to him. They engaged extensively in raising stock of all kinds in addition to the raising of cereals, and met with a reasonable amount of success in their enterprises. At the time of Mr. Fitzgerald's death in 1882, they had 120 acres of land under a good state of cultivation, and forty acres in pasture. He was an intelligent man, taking an active interest in public affairs, and served eight years as Justice of the Peace.

            Cynthia A. Fitzgerald, the subject of this notice, was born in Harrison County, Ind., March 10, 1820, being a daughter of Jacob and Polly (Ewens) Kesner, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Mr. Kesner was a farmer and blacksmith, who was reared in his native State. From there he moved to Indiana when it was a Territory, where he pursued his occupation, and where, at the advanced age of eighty-four years, he died, honored and respected by his fellow-townsmen. Our subject was married when quite young to Mr. Beard, by whom she had five children, two now deceased: Margery married Charles Wright; she left one son at her death. Jacob died at the age of eighteen months. Those now living are: Polly, Alice and Matilda J. Polly is the wife of Peter Butler, and their home is in Sumner County; Alice married Arthur Larkin, a merchant in Ellsworth, Kan.; Matilda J. married James McKinney, a farmer in Sedgwick County.

            After some years of widowhood Mrs. Fitzgerald was again married, this time to Francis Myers. He lived for seven years thereafter, and died in Iowa. She took for her third husband Samuel W. Fitzgerald, a native of Linn County, Iowa, where he was bred to a farmer's life. The marriage took place at Central City, Col., in 1861. He remained in his native State until 1860, when, being seized with the mining fever so prevalent at that time, he went to Central City, Col. In 1862 he engaged in his country's service, and remained in the army three years, being then honorably discharged. During one of the battles in which he was engaged he was wounded by a spent ball, which eventually hastened his death. After the war Mr. Fitzgerald roamed about for awhile, looking for a favorable place to locate, and finally settled in Leavenworth, Kan., where he engaged in farming and managed a ferry-boat on the Missouri River, remaining in that town three years. But he thought he could better his condition by a removal to a newly settled part of the State, consequently in 1869 he moved to this city, as before stated.

            Mrs. Fitzgerald is an energetic and accomplished business woman, and since coming here has devoted her time and energies to the management and improvement of her farm, having had entire charge of it since her husband's death. She labors assiduously, and has demonstrated by her quiet but persistent efforts, that a woman can be as successful a manager in the dairy and on the farm as one of the opposite sex. She was the pioneer dairy woman of Wichita, being the first one who ever sold a pint of milk from a cart in this city, and also the first one who ever sold a pound of meat from a wagon in this municipality. After establishing the latter business, she was engaged for three years in driving a meat cart over a regular route, when her husband took charge of it for the following two years, and then she again ran it for one year. Her fine farm is beautifully located one mile south of Douglas avenue, and since residing on it she has spared neither time nor expense in beautifying or increasing its productive qualities. She has set out walnut, maple, box elder and cottonwood trees for ornament and protection, and her orchard contains peach, pear, plum and mulberry trees; and her garden is well supplied with grape and blackberry vines. She is now enabled to eat literally of the fruit produced by the labor of her own hands.

            Mrs. Fitzgerald has laid out two additions to the city of Wichita, reserving forty acres for her own grounds. All of this she has accomplished without ever having to raise $1 by mortgaging any of her property. The house she now occupies was built in 1884, and, is very conveniently arranged and tastily furnished. During the past year (1887) she has built two houses, one on Lawrence street and the other on the west side of the river, so that now she rents eleven houses, ten of which she built herself. Her judicious investments and rapid increase of material wealth are suggestive evidences that she makes excellent use of her active brain in carrying on her work. She gives liberally toward the various educational and charitable organizations of the city, and is much respected throughout the community for her fair business dealings and upright personal character.

            We are not only pleased to present the portrait of this excellent and enterprising lady, but also that of her late husband. Both are given in connection with this sketch.

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