ROBERT HUBERT FITZGERALD is the president of the First National Bank of Sweetwater, the only national bank in Nolan county. He comes of a family of Irish lineage. His father, William W. FitzGerald, was a native of Tennessee and when a young man removed to Georgia, whence he came to Texas about 1848. He located in Polk county and in 1864 removed to Gonzales, where he made his home until the time of his death in 1861. He was a farmer and stock-raiser by occupation. In Texas he was married in 1851 to Miss Elizabeth Hubert, who came of Huguenot French ancestry and his a native of Mississippi. She still survives her husband and is now living in Haskell, Texas. In their family were seven children, five sons and two daughters, of whom one son has passed away, while the others are yet residents of Texas.
R. H. FitzGerald, whose name introduces this record, was born in Gonzales county, Texas, September 27, 1852, and was reared to farm life. His education was acquired in Stonewall Institute, a school in the eastern part of Gonzales county, which was founded soon after the war in the section known as Big Hill. It proved a valuable institution of learning of that period and was attended by a great many young men who sought higher educational advantages than could be obtained in the common schools. Many of its students have since won prominence in public and business life in the state. When his school days were over Mr. FitzGerald embarked in the stock business, which he has followed during the greater part of his life. He made his home in Gonzales and at times was the owner of extensive cattle interests. In 1901 he came to Sweetwater to make his home and previous to this time had established cattle interests in this section of the state. He now owns a ranch in the southwestern part of the county which at the present time covers thirteen section but was formerly more extensive. In May, 1901, the First National Bank of Sweetwater was organized by J. V. W. Holmes with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. It is the only national bank in Nolan county and is a safe, reliable institution, conducting a general banking business. Its affairs are capably conducted under the supervision of Mr. FitzGerald, who is an enterprising business man of keen discernment and ready sagacity.
On the 29th of November, 1871, Mr. FitzGerald was united in marriage to Miss Emma Littlefield, a daughter of H. B. Littlefield of Maine. She was born in Texas and by her marriage has become the mother of four sons and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. FitzGerald have a wide circle of warm friends, and the hospitality of the best homes of this part of the state is freely accorded them. On the 9th of June, 1896, Mr. FitzGerald became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and he likewise belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the degrees of the lodge and chapter, his membership being in Sweetwater. He has also been a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity for the past twenty years. He is honored and respected not alone because of the success he has achieved but also by reason of the straightforward business methods he has ever followed, and his history is proof of the fact that prosperity is not the oucome [sic] of genius but is the result of clear judgment, experience and unabating energy.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and Western Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, p. 388.