George Albert Fitzgerald was the son of Henry Milton Fitzgerald and Indiana "Indy" Alabama Dyess or Dyass Fitzgerald.
Albert married Kate Elizabeth Lovett and had five children:
Louis Fitzgerald, born 13 Dec 1922, and married Doris Hudson.
Pauline Evelyn Fitzgerald, born 17 Apr 1921, and married Daniel Yerke.
Henry Duval Fitzgerald "Rute", born 9 May 1925, never married, but had a common law wife, Betty. Betty had a house full of children, but none belonged to "Rute."
Elsie Mae Fitzgerald, born 31 Oct 1926, and married Daniel Dell Wilson.
Carolyn Leta Fitzgerald, born 6 Oct 1932, and married James William Butler.
Albert and Kate lived in Hudson, Florida most of their lives, and raised their family there until their deaths. They lived at 116 Oak Lane, Hudson, Florida.
They did live in Coleman, Florida when Elsie was a baby, and then they moved to Hudson. Albert and Kate were caretakers of the home they later owned. A family only spent winters there from the north, and Albert and Kate took care of the house and property year round for them.
Albert was an alcoholic and this caused many hardships for his family. His family received assistance from the state, i.e., food and clothing. Kate took in laundry and washed and ironed clothes every day for other people.
Elsie remembers getting dresses from the state, because the dresses were always the same design and fabric, so everyone at school knew that they were getting them from the state. Other children made fun of their clothes.
Times were very hard for the Fitzgerald Family, but as a child, when we would visit my Grandparents at Christmas time, they were always loving and caring grandparents. My Grandma, Kate, would iron from morning to night. She only stopped to prepare meals, wash more clothes, or other house/children tasks. Every year for Christmas until I was about 13 years old, she always gave all of her grandchildren a pair of pajamas for Christmas, and I really looked forward to getting new pajamas from them. She would order them from the Spiegel Catalog, and pay on them all year.
We didn't always go to Florida at Christmas, because we lived in Warren, Michigan, and it was a two day drive for us to get there. So, depending on how much money my parents had would be the deciding factor on whether we went to Florida or not. We went to Crossville, Tennessee every year at Christmas to see my other Grandparents (Roe and Martha Wilson). It only took us one day to get to Tennessee, so we only went to Florida every other year or so.
When Grandpa Albert died, Grandma Kate could no longer afford to buy any gifts, she was lucky to have what she needed most of the time. Her son, "Rute" lived with her his whole life, but he was also an alcoholic, and made life very difficult for Grandma Kate. "Rute" got a common law wife and about seven or eight children and they all lived at my Grandma's house. My Grandma stayed with her daughters, Pauline and Leta often, and even traveled to Michigan to visit with us.
She was always fun to be with and very loving.
One thing I remember about my Grandma Kate, was her love of fishing. She loved to fish, and every chance she got she would grab her pole and head for the canal right across the street from where she lived. The canal was connected to the Gulf Ocean, and she caught really big fish. Her favorite was Mullet. The mullet would have a gizard in it, and she would save the gizards until she had enough for a meal and fry them up. The mullet had no bones in the tail portion, so that is what us kids always got to eat. Grandma would fry them or smoke them in an old refrigerator. I liked the fried ones better than the smoked.
After I was married I went to see my Grandma Kate, in 1971. I went with my husband and little girl, Melissa, who was about 11 months old at the time. We spent two days with Grandma. We were going to go to do some sight seeing, but when we saw how many things that Grandma needed we spend our money on her. She needed new glasses for months and had the prescription, but no money to buy the glasses so we gave her the money to buy them. Then we went to the grocery store and stocked up on canned foods/meats for her. We did go fishing and really enjoyed being with her again. I never saw her alive again. She did go to Michigan and visit with my Mother, but I was living in Delaware at the time, and she brought some antique dolls she had when I was little. The old porcelain dolls and furniture were in good condition when I could talk her into letting me play with them, but apparently some of my other cousins found them, because most of the dolls were beheaded and the furniture broken. Grandma brought me what things she had left because she knew how much I loved them as a little girl. I couldn't believe that she remembered that about me, but it made me feel very good. I still have the dolls, repaired them as much as I could. I wouldn't take anything for them. They were German dolls from Germany. They belonged to the people that originally owned Grandma Kate's house at 116 Oak Lane in Hudson, Florida. As I said earlier, Grandma and Grandpa were caretakers of the house. When the owners died my Grandparents got the house because they had paid the back taxes on it. So, the dolls are actually from Germany in the later end of the 18th century.
Pioneers and Settlers of the North Western Central Coast, by Karl Eaton Parks, stated the following:
Aripeka and Hudson Florida - were one of the earliest areas to be settled along the west coast above Tarpon Springs, by the southern migrants drifiting down from the Pan Handle section of Florida. Also pioneer spongers and fishermen from the Caribbean Sea utilized the offshores and coastal strands for their harvesting, salting, cleaning, and drying their catches. Here are also the natives of the Florida Keys mingled with the early inhabitants, amrried and set down their roots. Lying near Hernando County Line, it was after the logging and turpentine industry faded out, the area was the slowest growth. Early families and settlers were: Anshaw, Bailey, Baker, Bellano, Billings, Blanch, Bliss, Booth, Brady, Brown, Bush, Carter, Coner, ....... FITZGERALD ........... Kate Elizabeth Lovett and George Albert Fitzgerald had the following children:
+46 i.
Pauline Evelyn Fitzgerald.
+47 ii.
Louis W. Fitzgerald.
48 iii.
Henry Duval "Rute" Fitzgerald(1)
was born on 9 May 1925 in Inverness, Florida, Citrus County.
(3) He died on 24 Mar 1993 in 116 Oak Lane, Hudson, Florida, Pasco
County.(3) He was buried on 27 Mar 1993
in Hudson Memorial, Cemetery, Hudson, Fl, pasco County.
(3) [Fitz.ged]
Henry Duval "Rute" Fitzgerald was the son of George Albert Fitzgerald and Kate Elizabeth Lovett Fitzgerald. Rute was an alcoholic most of his life. He made a living doing various odd jobs, going out on fishing and sponging boats out of Tarpon Springs and Hudson, Florida. Rute never married and lived almost his entire life at 116 Oak Lane, Hudson, Florida. He died of lung failure (emphysemia). He was a heavy smoker, and continued to smoke even though he was on oxygen the last ten years of his life. I visited him in 1987, and he was so out of breath he couldn't even talk. He looked awful. He would try to say a word or two and get out of breath entirely. It was hard seeing him that way, and it was even harder to watch him smoke another cigarette when he was so breathless.
Rute had a common law wife, Betty and she had 7 or 8 chidlren by her first husband. Betty stayed with him until the end and cared for him at his home. He died at home, and was buried in Hudson Memorial Cemetery, Hudson Florida, next to his parents, George and Kate Lovett Fitzgerald.
Rute was born in Inverness, Florida, Citrus County, and grew up in Hudson, Florida. He loved to fish, and play his accordian. Rute was always very good to me and my sisters and brother. He would play his accordian for us and sing. We use to go roller skating in New Port Richey and he loved to roller skate. He was really good at it. We lived in Florida next door to him for over a year when I was nine years old. So I saw him drunk many times, but he was never mean or anything, he would just come home and go to bed and sleep it off. He always walked barefoot, and his feet were so hardened. Walking home drunk he would step in all kinds of picker bushes, and when he would be asleep, I would pick the splinters and pickers out of his feet.
When Rute worked on sponge and fishing boats he would always bring lots of seafood home to eat. He loved eating raw clams, and it made me sick one morning watching him eat so many that way. He laughed at me for getting sick. I would help him clean shrimp, clams, scallops, oysters, and fish. It was sure smelly work, but I really loved my Uncle Rute, even though he had many short comings.
Rute was also blind in one eye, from a childhood accident, so he was unable to join the military during World War II, and it kept him from getting a good job at the time. So he worked when he wanted and drank when he wanted, and boy could he play his accordian!
+49 iv.
Elsie Mae FitzGerald.
+50 v.
Carolyn "Leta" Fitzgerald.
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