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Nathan Ward Fitzgerald

From Bahaipedia
Nathan Ward Fitzgerald
BornMarch 4, 1844
Ripley County, Indiana
DiedFebruary 6, 1924
 Media

Nathan Ward Fitzgerald (March 4, 1844 - February 6, 1924) was an early member of the American Bahá'í community and an active teacher of the religion for a period of his life. He encountered the Faith between 1901 and 1902 and began delivering public talks proclaiming the Faith in the Pacific Northwest, with success in Seattle and Portland, and went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land where he met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He also attempted to begin the first Bahá'í periodical in the United States.

Family[edit]

Nathan Ward Fitz-Gerald was born in Ripley County, Indiana, Indiana on March 4, 1844.[1] His father was Joab H. Fitzgerald, who was born 1810 and lived to 1863.[2] He had married Sarah Ward,[3] born 1816 and lived to 1890.[2][3] According to Nathan his mother was a devout adherent of Millerism, a religious movement which predicted the imminent "return of Jesus in the clouds" from interpretations of William Miller which initially pointed to March 1843 to March 1844. Adjusted predictions extended to October 1844 before the community faced the Great Disappointment.

By the time of Nathan's adulthood the Fitz-Gerald clan included grandparents, parents, various siblings, some of whom were already deceased.[4] His grandmother was Catherine Fitzgerald, who was born in February 1781 and would live to Sep 24, 1868.[3][5] She was also named "Kerturah" and was wife to Joseph Hawkins Fitzgerald and together they had four children - Eunice McRae; Jenkins Fitzgerald; Joab H. Fitzgerald and Abigail Edwards.

Nathan's older siblings seem to be:

  • Joseph H. Fitzgerald (1835 - 1876)[2]
  • Daniel F. Fitzgerald (1835 - 1856)[2]
  • Jenkins Augustus Fitzgerald (1839 - 1879)[2]
  • Charlie N. Fitzgerald (1843 - 1863)[2] died aged 16 years while a member of Company G of the 70th Indiana Infantry.[3]

So among Nathan's family when he joined the army his father and two of his elder brothers had died, one less than a year before.

Following those births it would be a more than a decade to more siblings:

  • There is some confusion of a brother or two both named David born 1856 - one served as an Assistant Surgeon and the other as a hospital steward.[2][3][6]
  • William Taylor Fitzgerald (1856 - 1931)[2]

This would make 2 or 3 children born in one year - perhaps the two Davids were twins. Either way only one of his younger brothers lived on. By the end of the Civil War his grandmother, mother, two elder brothers and one younger were alive and his grandmother was soon to die.

Adulthood[edit]

By the age of nineteen Fitz-Gerald was teaching in a school in Marion County, Indiana and had earned a ministerial ordination.[1]p194 There is mention of him marking the work of Rev. John Cumming. In 1864 he volunteered to serve in the Indiana 132d infantry which served for 100 days.[7] He served as a private in Company A[8][9] and the initial service was as a railroad guard in Tennessee. During the regiment's entire period of service they lost 12 soldiers to disease. When his service ended he took up ministering and promulgating Cumming's prediction of June 1869 for the date of the "Return of Jesus". The date came and went without fulfillment and he turned to agnosticism.[1]p195 He married Julia Leever in December 1869.

Law career[edit]

Fitzgerald graduated from an unknown institution in Indiana in 1872, which may have been related to his later law career.[10]

Fitzgerald and pensions[edit]

By 1875 Fitzgerald was working as an attorney working in the field of military pensions, where disabled veterans sought assistance provided through military service. In this period legal frameworks increased restrictions on relief and increasingly lawyers assisting in navigating the requirements became common place.[11][12] By 1877 Fitzgerald was publishing a journal titled The Boys in Blue which covered pensions, bounties, claims, patents, and the army and navy.[13] There is also a report that Fitzgerald may have helped set up a relation in their move to Winfield, Kansas in 1880 and it mentions another paper Fitzgerald was editor of the National Citizen Soldier, published at Washington, D. C., with a circulation of 40,000 copies.[14]

In the 1880s Fitzgerald became law partners with Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, a well known agnostic of the period.[1]p195 Fitzgerald and Ingersoll and others became involved in the Star route scandal of preferential mail route delivery and they were generally acquitted and aided in the acquitting of others. Around this time advertising started calling Nathan "Colonel" Fitzgerald.[15]

In 1880 Nathan testified that the pensions office of the government was increasingly delayed in service to pensioners and that his office had a clientele of some twenty-five thousand people.[16] In the middle-later 1880s Fitzgerald and his office's work in pensions for veterans became controversial and was ultimately censured.[17] Fitzgerald's office was perhaps the second largest handling pensions for veterans in the period. Competitor George E Lemon, at times larger than Fitzgerald's, bought out Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald's legal license was withdrawn. Fitzgerald had left the pension business by 1884 following Lemon promoting a bill through congress increasing the fees payable to lawyers.[18] Ultimately Fitzgerald lost a large amount of money, and his legal career ended.

Politics and business[edit]

Shortly after having left law Fitzgerald suffered the loss of one his daughters in 1888[1]p195, and his mother by 1890. All his elder siblings had passed by this time.

He became part owner of a business in Nebraska which burnt to the ground in 1895,[19] while also working at a business in New York which had a "bloomers" problem.[20]

In 1896 he ran for the office of Governor of West Virginia for the national Populists party and failed,[21] but he remained involved with the party through 1900.[22] In 1901 a patent for a milk-bottle was filed partly under his name.[23]

Discovering the Bahá'í Faith[edit]

Fitzgerald was in Washington D.C. by late 1901,[24] and in the winter between 1901 and 1902 he first encountered the Bahá'í Faith.[1]p195 The Washington DC, Philadelphia and Baltimore Bahá'í communities trace their origins back to Charlotte E. Brittingham Dixon and it is possible she introduced Nathan to the Faith.[25] ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had instructed that there be limited teaching in Washington D.C. at the time.[1]p135

By January 1902 Fitzgerald had joined the religion,[26] and in February a Philadelphia newspaper referred to him as "at present, perhaps, the leading native male expounder of the new faith in this country"[27] though it should be noted that he was unknown outside of Washington and Philadelphia[1]p195 and the major centers of Bahá'í activity were in Chicago, Kansas, and in Green Acre. His view of the Faith was influenced by Millerite expectations, and he believed his mother's faith was vindicated by it and explored prophecies of the apocalypse often in his writings on the Faith.[28]

In April, 1902, he received a letter from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and then traveled to Baltimore to promote the Faith.[1]p195 He had returned to Washington DC by Spring 1903, and read a poem of his at a veteran meeting there.[29] By then the community had coalesced and Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl had been present as Abdu'l-Bahá's representative to promote the teachings of the religion.[1]p137 Around early 1904 Fitzgerald took up residence in Tacoma Washington and around late 1904 or early 1905 he went on pilgrimage.[1]p196 Thornton Chase noted that on March 19, 1905, Fitz-Gerald visited Chicago and spoke about his pilgrimage, staying for a few days.[30] His activities picking up in Washington state were visible to the Bahá'ís and in the newspapers.

In the west[edit]

1905[edit]

Fitzgerald around 1905.

The minutes of the Bahá'í House of Spirituality in Chicago mention Fitzgerald several times in 1905[31] as do the papers of Thornton Chase.[30] In 1905 he published a book on the Faith titled The New Revelation: Its Marvelous Message and dedicated it to Laura Clifford Barney,[32] though Mason Remey thought it had many mistakes.[31] In October 1905 he published the first attempt at a nation-wide journal on the Faith which was titled Old and New but it lasted only one issue for November.[33] The Bahá'ís of Chicago gave him advice on how to make it more suitable, however it did not earn enough subscriptions and was discontinued.

During 1905 Fitzgerald worked as a public speaker on the Faith and sought letters of recommendation. On June 24th he spoke at a meeting with the Minister's Alliance of Tacoma which did not go well, with Nathan stating that they let him speak only 15 minutes before interrupting him.[1]p196 As of October 1905 he was asking for monetary support so that he could work full-time presenting the religion, and received feedback that `Abdu'l-Baha recommended earning one's own livelihood. Fitzgerald claimed to have delivered 188 lectures in seven months in 1905, and his talks received newspaper coverage in Salt Lake City, Olympia, and San Francisco at least.[34]

1906[edit]

Fitzgerald continued to travel and give talks to teach the Faith in 1906, and some of his talks had large audiences even if the environs were not the best.[1]p199 He knew his understanding of the Faith was limited and as of 1906 he gave people cards addressed to the Chicago Bahai House of Spirituality for them to seek further information, and that year eighty-seven people requested information from the House of Spirituality with sixty-two being from Portland, ten from Walla Walla, two from Seattle and thirteen from elsewhere.[1]p199 His efforts were mentioned in the minutes of the Baha'i House of Spirituality in Chicago several times in 1906.[35] The Chicago House of Spirituality encouraged Fitzgerald to establish an organized community in Portland where there had been a noticeable response, and local Bahá'ís regard this as the establishment of the Faith in the area,[36] however Fitzgerald continued travelling to present the religion rather than settling in the area.[37] He tried to earn a living himself during this time.[38]

Some notable Bahá'ís were introduced to the Faith by Fitzgerald in 1906. In Seattle Hyde Dunn was introduced to the Faith after overhearing Fitzgerald quoting Baháu’lláh in a store, and he began accompanying Fitzgerald to teach the Faith.[39][40] Both Fitzgerald and Dunn introduced Clara Davis to the Faith in Walla Walla later that year, and she later married Hyde and together they established the Faith in Australia[1]p204 and were named Hands of the Cause.[39]

Later days[edit]

Fitzgerald settled in Tacoma and published poetry,[41] and continued to travel.[42] He did not give talks on the Faith during his travels, and was not otherwise linked to the Bahá'í community, and in 1908 he published a book dedicated to Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy,[43] although he did not associate with the Christian Science community either.

Fitzgerald moved to the Los Angeles area in 1909.[44] From 1909 to 1912 he lived in various states before finally settling in Texas and in 1914 he returned to Los Angeles. There are various mentions and publications along the way.[45] Other Bahá'ís traveled among the cities he had found believers in such as Ella Cooper, Thorton Chase, and Isabella Britingham, and communities were founded.[1]p201–2 In 1913 Fitzgerald had his poem Palestine, An Epic of the Holy Land published and dedicated it to Laura Clifford-Barney.[46]

Fitzgerald apparently retired with a pension by 1914[47] but continued to make news one way or another a few times.[48] He eventually moved to a veteran's retirement home where he died on February 6, 1924.[1]p194

Legacy[edit]

Fitzgerald's life as a Bahá'í has been called "audacious"[49] and "colorful".[1]p194 He had little help when teaching and received some criticism, regardless significant Bahá'í communities in the Pacific North West were established as a result of his efforts. Some notable Bahá’ís from communities established by Fitzgerald were George O. Latimer, later elected to the National Assembly, Mary Rabb who compiled one of the first versions of the Divine Art of Living and Ida Finch who had been a Christian Scientist many years and would travel over seas for the Faith.[1]p202–204

In a book commemorating the Centenary of the Faith in 1944 which summarized the progress of the religion in America before 1944 he is noted as:[50] one of the 108 Baha'is to go on pilgrimage before 1912, among the six most noted for traveling highly for the religion, and noted as one of the teachers of the religion who had died prior to 1944.

Robert Stockman's second volume on the history of the religion in America has an entire chapter on Fitzgerald.[1]

Publications[edit]

  • 1905 - Nathan Ward Fitzgerald (1905). The New Revelation: Its Marvelous Message. Tacoma, WA. p. 288. OCLC 18335461.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • 1908 - "Woman's Work," and Other Poems
  • 1913 - Nathan Ward Fitzgerald (1913). Palestine: An Epic of the Holy Land. San Antonio, TX: Wood Printing & Engraving Co. p. 137. OCLC 26601229.

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 Robert H. Stockman (1985). The Bahá'í Faith in America: Early expansion, 1900-1912. Bahá'í Pub. Trust. ISBN 978-0-85398-388-0.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Nathan Ward Fitzgerald, by Jennefer Burk, find-a-grave.com, Mar 19, 2012
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 ACTON CEMETERY, MARION CO.,IND., Extracted from SL#873781, Cemeteries of IndianaCopied and typed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints circa 1957 from records submitted by Church members. Transcribed by Joy Fisher
  4. ↑ All results for Nathan W Fitzgerald Ancestry.com
  5. ↑ Catherine Fitzgerald, GENi,Managed by: Eldon Clark (C)Last Updated: August 13, 2012
  6. ↑ David Williamson (29 December 2011). The 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry: A Civil War History. McFarland. pp. 322, 339. ISBN 978-0-7864-8887-2.
  7. ↑ * Men's War Service Register, 1922-1931 (F), Indiana University War Service Register, 1920-1946, Archives Online at Indiana University
  8. ↑ Fitzgerald , Nathaniel W., National Park Service, US Dept of Interior, Feb 26, 2016
  9. ↑ * 132d Indians…, The Indiana Herald (Huntington, Indiana)27 Jul 1864, Wed • Page 2
    • From Indianapolis, Fort Wayne Daily Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana)27 Aug 1864, Sat • Page 2
  10. ↑ A letter has just been recieved…, Indianapolis Journal, Volume 52, Number 121,Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 May 1902, p. 7
  11. ↑ Civil war pension attorneys and disability politics, by Blanck, P., & Song, C., University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, vol 35, 2002 , pp. 137–217
  12. ↑ * Attention Company!, Canaseraga Times, Canaseraga NY, April 22, 1875, p. 4
    • "Attention" Galesville Independent (Galesville, Wisconsin), June 10, 1875, Page: 4
    • "Pensions" Mirror and Farmer (Manchester, New Hampshire) October 21, 1876, Page: 8
  13. ↑ * "The boys in blue", De Ruyter New Era, Oct 25, 1877, p. 1
    • The Boys in Blue, The Forest Republican (Tionesta, Pennsylvania)17 Oct 1877, Wed • First Edition • Page 3
  14. ↑ * JUDGE C. COLDWELL & FAMILY, Index to Historical Resourcesfrom Mary Ann and Richard Kay Wortmanon the History of Cowley County, Kansas
    • "The Washington World and Citizen-Soldier/The Soldier's Friend", Geo. P. Rowerll &Co American Newspaper Director, 14th edition, NY BY, 1882, p. 1081
  15. ↑ * Benjamin F. Grafton, Halbert E. Paine, Robert G. Ingersoll, Nathan W. Fitzgerald…", Denver Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado), December 3, 1881, Page: 8
  16. ↑ Political pamphlets. 1880. p. 471–3.
  17. ↑ * Nathan W. Fitzgerald, of New York…, The Brooklyn Union, June 18, 1884, p. ?
  18. ↑ * Larry M. Logue; Peter David Blanck (19 April 2010). Race, Ethnicity, and Disability: Veterans and Benefits in Post-Civil War America. Cambridge University Press. pp. 111–126, 186. ISBN 978-0-521-51634-1.
  19. ↑ Fire damage at Crawford, The Omaha Daily Bee, July 27, 1895, p. 5
  20. ↑ * Waitress's bloomers must go, The Sun, Nov 20, 1895, p. 8
  21. ↑ * They didnt fuse - Colonel Nathan Ward Fitzgerald, The Wheeling Intelligencer, Sept 5, 1896, p. 1
    • "Col. Fitzgerald. The Bloomer Restaurant Man to Run for Governor", Wheeling Register (Wheeling, West Virginia) Volume: 35 Issue: 60, September 7, 1896 , Page: 2
    • "Col." Fitzgerald's vagaries, The Sun, Sept 6, 1896, p. 3
  22. ↑ * The Sun Almanac for ... A.S. Abell Company. 1899. p. 74.
    • "?", The Evening Star, Feb 2, 1900, p 16.
    • Will name Bryan, Oshkosh Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin)5 May 1900, Sat • Page 1
    • Off for Sioux Falls, The Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, North Carolina)9 May 1900, Wed • Page 6
  23. ↑ "Patent 35472" Dec 24, 1901, by G.N. McDonald and N. W. Fitz-Gerald
  24. ↑ Filed December 27, 1901…, Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia)7 Jan 1902, Tue • First Edition • Page 12
  25. ↑ Robert H. Stockman (1985). The Baha'i Faith in America: Origins, 1892-1900. Bahá'í Publ. Trust. pp. 128–135. ISBN 978-0-87743-199-2.
  26. ↑ * Follow new religion, The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland)11 Jan 1902, p. 7
  27. ↑ Baha'i propaganda in Amerca (Chapter 2), by E.G. Browne, Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion
  28. ↑ Apocalyptic Thinking and Process Thinking: A Bahá’í Contribution to Religious Thought, by Moojan Momen, Lights of `Irfán, Irfan Colloquia, vol 13, 2012, editor Iraj Ayman, ISBN 978-3-942426-12-1
  29. ↑ Col. Fitzgerald to read his memorial day poem, The Washington Times (Washington, District of Columbia)24 May 1903, Sun • First Edition • Page 5
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Notes on the Thornton Chase Papers; 1905-7, by Robert Stockman, for The Baha'i Faith in America volumes
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 House of Spirituality minutes for 1905, American Baha'i History, 1892-1912, Robert Stockman's notes in the National Bahá'í Archives
  32. ↑ Nathan Ward Fitz-Gerald (1905). The new revelation: its marvelous message.
  33. ↑ Old and New Seattle, Washington: Nathan Ward Fitzgerald, Editor, November 1905
  34. ↑ * Fitzgerald has new mission, The Salt Lake Herald, July 10, 1905, p. 1
  35. ↑ House of Spirituality minutes for 1906, American Baha'i History, 1892-1912, Robert Stockman's notes in the National Bahá'í Archives
  36. ↑ History of the Baha’i Faith in Portland, by the Baha'is of Portland/Vancouver Metro area community, Nov 22, 2011
  37. ↑ * Calls him Messiah, The Morning Oregonian, Mar 9, 1906, p. 5
  38. ↑ * Refused to pay license, The Salt Lake Herald, Mar 31, 1906, p. 10
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Dunn, Clara (1869–1960),and Dunn, John Henry Hyde (c. 1855–1941), Graham Hassall© 2009 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States.
  40. ↑ Seattle’s Bahá’í History, Baha'is of Seattle metro community, 2007
  41. ↑ * Bryan Victorious (poem), by Nathan Ward Fitzgerald, Los Angeles Herald, Oct 23, 1908, p. 4
  42. ↑ The opening of Pico Heights, The Arizona Republican, May 21, 1908, p. 6
  43. ↑ Nathan Ward Fitz-Gerald (1908). "Woman's Work," and Other Poems.
  44. ↑ * Strangers to Us All Lawyers and Poetry, by James R. Elkins, College of Law, West Virginia University, September 2, 2001, Strangers to Us All - Lawyers and Poetry)
  45. ↑ * Standard's birthday, Washington Standard, (Olympia Wa), Nov 25, 1910, p. 2
    • Colonel Nathan Ward Fitzgerald…, Tombstone Epitaph, Apr 20, 1913, p. 2
    • "California good enough for me", by Col. Nathan Ward Fitz-Gerald, 1913
    • "Palestine: An Epic of the Holy Land" by Nathan Ward Fitz-Gerald, 1913
  46. ↑ Palestine: An Epic of the Holy Land at archive.org accessed April 26, 2019.
  47. ↑ United States (1914). Statutes of the United States of America Passed at the ... Session of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 87.
  48. ↑ * Disgruntled poet sues, Daily East Oregonian, (Pendleton, OR), Aug 27, 1915, p. 3
  49. ↑ Moojan Momen (1982). Studies in Babi and Baha'i History. Kalimat Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-890688-45-5.
  50. ↑ The Bahá'i centenary, 1844-1944: a record of America's response to Bahá'o'lláh's call to the realization of the oneness of mankind, to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Bahá'i faith. Bahá'í Publishing Committee. 1944. pp. 141, 155, and 166.
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