| Ambrose
Fitzgerald really got around East Texas--and
without ever leaving his homestead.
Between the time he came to Texas
in 1846 and died in 1893, he lived in five East Texas counties and served as the
first county clerk of three of them. Yet, he never moved from his original homestead
grant.
Here’s how he did it.
When
he came to Texas, he settled at Lone Oak, about 2.5
miles north of what is now Point,
on 640 acres he received under a grant from the Mercer Colony. At the time, the
region was a part of Nacogdoches County.
In 1848, Van Zandt County was
carved from Nacogdoches County and Fitzgerald was elected as the new county’s
first county clerk. He was also a member of the first grand jury impaneled in
the county.
Two years later, Wood county was created and Fitzgerald was
elected as Wood County’s first county clerk. Remember, now, he still lived near
Point.
Fitzgerald was
still county clerk when the Civil War exploded and he took a leave of absence
to enlist in the Confederate Army, serving as a captain.
When he returned
from the war to resume his duties as county clerk of Wood County, the reconstruction
government refused to let him vote or serve in public office.
However,
his son Bill, who was barely old enough to run for office, was elected county
clerk. He immediately hired his dad as a deputy clerk.
In 1890, Rains
County was created and, for the third time, Ambrose became the first county clerk
of a newly-formed county.
He served until 1871 when he resigned from office.
Later in 1882, he was elected as tax-assessor collector for Rains County.
Fitzgerald
was also a Baptist minister for forty years and it has been said that he baptized
more converts than any other minister in the sparsely settled county.
One
of these was James
S. Hogg, who later became the governor of Texas.
When Fitzgerald died,
he was buried besider two large oak trees and his grave lies outside Emory’s
City Cemetery.
He rests there, unknown, unhonored and forgotten--except
for the unusual distinction of being the only man in Texas to live in five Texas
counties without leaving his homestead. |
