Isabel Fitzgerald
March 28, 1826-Oct. 26, 1898
Niles Daily Star, Monday, October 26, 1896, page 3, col. 3, microfilm Niles District Library
Mrs. Isabel Fitzgerald, widow of the late Jerome B. Fitzgerald, died at her residence at 1 o'clock this morning. The funeral will be from Trinity Episcopal church at 11 o'clock Wednesday forenoon. Interment at Silver Brook Cemetery. Obituary in these columns tomorrow.
Niles Daily Star, Tuesday, October 27, 1896, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library
Obituary
Once more the summons has gone forth! Once more a soul has been called by tits Maker, out of the church militant, unto Himself. Once more a home has been shorn of that which made it a home! Once more a mother has been taken away, and that dear reality is transformed into a sacred memory!
The Lord Jesus sanctioned, and sanctified the love of all humanity, for mother. In the early morning of Monday, October 26, after a brief illness, Mrs. Isabel Fitzgerald passed peacefully away from this life, into the spiritual. 'Tis hard indeed to realize that she who was so full of life, is now stilled in what we call death. That her energetic activity, in all good works, for which she was so justly noted, is over, here. Those willing hands, so eager to do for others, are folded and resting. Mrs. Fitzgerald was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, March 28, 1826, and married to Jerome B. Fitzgerald June 5, 1848.
Mrs, Fitzgerald has been well known in Niles, as the wife and widow of the late Jerome B. Fitzgerald. When first married he took his bride to his home in St. Joseph, Michigan, from whence they removed to Niles, and after an interim of months only, to New York city, where they resided for several years. A longing for western life then led them to Granby in southwestern Missouri, and in a few years more, the disastrous results of the civil war, again drove them north, to find a temporary refuge in Muscatine, Iowa. But, true to nature's first pleadings, Niles once more received them; and here they journeyed down the pathway of life, together meeting sorrows as time mostly brings them, culminating in Mr. Fitzgerald's sickness and death; and here together now, they sleep with their own. One loving daughter and three sons were with their mother, ministering to, and comforting her last hour. But not these alone will mourn for her, others there are to whom she has been almost a mother. Her church will sadly miss her constant, ready help, her hopeful nature, her faithful attendance. Her guild, from whose work she was rarely absent; the friends and neighbors of nearly half a life time.
There was a beautiful element of self sacrifice running all through Mrs. Fitzgerald's life, even to its very close. While her husband lived, she lived for him first, and made his home, also a home for his friends. After he was taken away from her, bravely taking up her burden of heart loneliness, she strove to live for her children, her church, her neighbors and friends. As one of these dearest friends tearfully said, "she was so fond of serving others that you could never do anything for her without she, in some way, turned it into a benefit for yourself."
Taken in the midst of her usefullness, and in the fullness of her capacity, it will be long ere her place is filled, or her aid supplied. Truly it may be said, that hers was a well spent life, and full to the brim of kindly words and deeds. May the welcome words greet her ears--"Well done thou faithful one, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." F.L.