William James Fitzgerald (November 1, 1861 – December 17, 1937) was an American politician. Between 1907 and 1911 he served as Lieutenant Governor of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Life

Fitzgerald was born in

Monroe, Wisconsin Monroe, known as "the Swiss Cheese Capital of the USA", is a city in and the county seat of Green County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,661 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered by the Town of Monroe to the north and the T ...

. He attended the

Lombard College Lombard College was a Universalist college located in Galesburg, Illinois. History Lombard College was founded in 1853 by the Universalist Church as the Illinois Liberal Institute. In 1855, however, a major fire damaged much of the college, p ...

Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...

. In the following years he taught schools in Illinois and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. Since 1883 he lived in

Dodge City, Kansas Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge (US Army Post), Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The c ...

where he was engaged in the cattle and farming business. In addition he raised horses. He joined the Republican Party and became a member of the city council and the education board of Dodge City. In 1894 he was elected to the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for craftin ...

where he became a member of the ways and means committee. He was also the chairman of a sub committee to investigate old claims and accounts against the state. He remained in this chamber until 1897. In 1906 Fitzgerald was elected to the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Kansas. After a re-election in 1908 he served two terms in this position between 14 January 1907 and 9 January 1911 when his second term ended. In this function he was the deputy of Governor Edward W. Hoch (first term) and Governor Walter R. Stubbs (second term). After the end of his time as Lieutenant Governor Fitzgerald stayed active in politics. He was a delegate to various Republican Conventions on local and state levels. For four years he served as Finance Commissioner of Dodge City. In that capacity he supported the implementation of the new water works system, the extension of the sanitary sewer system, and the street paving. Besides his political activities he still managed his various agricultural enterprises. Fitzgerald died on December 17, 1937 in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

at the age of 77.

References

2. Biography – FITZGERALD, WILLIAM JAMES – Volume XV (1921-1930) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography (biographi.ca)

External links

The Political Graveyard

The Lieutenant Governors of von Kansas

(engl.) 1861 births Lieutenant Governors of Kansas Kansas Republicans Lombard College alumni People from Dodge City, Kansas People from Monroe, Wisconsin 1937 deaths {{Kansas-politician-stub