Four Hundred First in the Famous People (FP) Series - Ambrose Fitzgerald
When Ambrose was 19, he married Mary Ann O’Kelley. He bought a wagon and a yoke of oxen and set out for the adventurous and exciting "promise land" of Texas with his girl bride, his parents, sister, Elizabeth and brothers. They followed the Upper Trail from Missouri through Hope, Arkansas, to the northeast part of Texas.
Shortly after he settled in Nacogdoches County, Henderson County was organized in 1846 and Ambrose found his home in the newly organized county. Van Zandt County was created from Henderson County in 1848, seven days before Ambrose reached his 21st birthday. Four months later, he was elected the first County Clerk of Van Zandt County.
During Ambrose’s initial County Clerk’s tenure, a unique event occurred when he issued a marriage license to Thomas Cunningham and Mahala Brown. He recorded that they were the first couple to enter into a marriage contract in Van Zandt County. Ambrose, feeling it was a solemn affair, drew up a bond and had the bridegroom furnish good and sufficient securities that he would perform all the duties incumbent upon him as a dutiful husband. There is no record that Mr. Cunningham ever forfeited his bond.
At the organization of Wood County in 1850, Ambrose was again elected County Clerk. The first term of District Court ever held in Wood County in 1850 was under the shade of the massive forest oaks that at one time grew on the courthouse square in Quitman.
Rains County was created in 1870 from parts of Wood, Hunt, Hopkins, and Van Zandt Counties and the town of Springville was renamed "Emory". Ambrose became the Tax Assessor and Collector and later elected County and District Clerk of Rains County.
In 1846 Ambrose Fitzgerald received a grant of 640 acres from Mercer’s Colony; the 1846 Land Grant of Ambrose Fitzgerald was recorded in four different counties during his lifetime. As each new county was created, his 640 acres was in that new county. These counties are Nacogdoches, Henderson, Van Zandt, and Wood. He served as the first County Clerk of three of these counties.
Reverend Ambrose Fitzgerald made a profession of religion in his hometown of Quitman, Wood County, in September 1854. His most famous convert was James Stephen Hogg, the first native-born Governor of Texas. This event probably occurred near Quitman when Hogg was in his teens. Rev. Fitzgerald was a Baptist minister for over 50 years and conducted revival meetings all over East Texas.
Reverend Fitzgerald was an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Honor. He became a Free and Accepted Mason in early life and was numbered among those high up in that order. He was a very good friend of Dr. Robert Cooke Buckner, founder of Buckner Orphans’ Home in Dallas, Texas.
Ambrose was married three times and had families by each wife. A total of 17 children were born, but only 9 lived to adults.
Ambrose died Thursday, June 15, 1893 in Emory, Rains County, Texas, and is buried in a private cemetery behind the Hopewell and Emory City Cemeteries. In his later years, Ambrose would take his Bible, sit under a huge Post Oak tree near his home to read and meditate. Beneath that same tree is where he is buried. Another large tree nearby has since fallen, but a good sized portion of the stump remains. That is where this custom camo hide rests. It's not often the subject of the FP Series is the actual person laid to rest there. This is one of those rare occasions.