Seedlings for a Promise

In 1924, at the age of 18, John Dennis Fitzgerald left his hometown Price to pursue his dreams.  He had graduated from High School at the ripe young age of 16.  He had been active in his High School.  The 1923 annual, The Carbon, lists some of his pursuits, "Yell master,'21, Athletic Manager '22, President of the JFF club "21, President of the K.O.L. club'22, President of Senior Class 1st semester '23."

Clearly a young boy with this much zeal could not be satisfied in a quiet, remote town.  So off he went to New York, Denver, Los Angeles, CA. and more.  He worked as police beat reporter, then later as a foreign correspondent for United Press.  He went on to work for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and in between time he tried to become a successful writer.  The writing was the biggest dream, and the least successful part of his life, in his eyes.  Eventually he gave up.  In April of 1940, Mamma passed away and the disappointing tide began to turn.

The six Fitzgerald children had not been together for at least 16 years.  A lot had changed in all of their lives.  They were all now adults.  Each had suffered heart ache and loss.  Now for a few short days they were together to bid farewell to their parents.

Following  Mamma's service at the LDS chapel and the city cemetery, the Fitzgerald children returned to the house on 100 West, which had belonged to

The Families Thoughts on the Books

The other day Mary asked what the real Tom thought of the books.  Unfortunately I have no direct answer from Tom.   He gave no interviews so no clues were left.  We do, though, have some family responses. 

The first family response comes from Isabelle, the oldest, she was very pleased with the books.  She had helped John with Papa Married a Mormon.  Later, John dedicated Mamma's Boarding House to "Belle F. Empey for help in research."

In subsequent interviews various relatives have stated, "the brothers were all very proud of John."  They tend to stand divided on who was the real Great Brain.  That is one of those mysteries that will be debated for a long time. 

I know it's short answer, but I hope it helps.  Keep the questions coming.
Carrie

A chance to say Thanks

Last night I checked my FindingFitzgerald email and received a word of praise. Tim Kane at www.growthology.org wrote, "It is only a month old, and I hope Carrie never loses her enthusiasm no matter how small the updates are." I was thrilled. Thank you. And if any of our readers are looking for economics help, check out growthology.

As I continued to re-read the emails I've received I marveled at the responses of support. Sandy wrote, "I can't believe I was just researching how to buy the next book and ran across this website and blog! You are fantastic for doing this."

I love it - to be called fantastic makes me sing.

Kathy said, "I have visited your webpage. Congratulations on it. It's a wonderful page." Doug added, "Thanks Carrie, I'm following your blog and plan to spend a lot of time at both sites."

I was so excited to have fans.

Joseph shared, "Stumbled upon your site quite out of the blue. Man, I used to love those books. Keep on keepin' on." The keep on support continued from Bob who added, "I really like your website. Keep it up."

These words of encouragement, as well as the questions from other posters, keep me enthused. I loved my research long before anyone else knew about it. I loved that I was ahead of the internet on so many of the finds. I love sharing this story with all of you. Thank you for making my dreams of sharing my finds so much fun. I'll "keep on keepin' on" if you promise to "keep on keepin' on".

Thanks everyone.