O P Fitzgerald

Oscar Penn Fitzgerald was a Methodist minister, reporter, and teacher who lived from August 24, 1829, to August 5, 1911. Between 1867 and 1871, he was California's Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 1890, he was made a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was born on August 24, 1829, in Caswell County, North Carolina, not far from Ruffin. His parents were Richard Fitzgerald and Martha Jones Hooper. Fitzgerald came from a long line of people in Nottoway County, Virginia,...See more

Oscar Penn Fitzgerald was a Methodist minister, reporter, and teacher who lived from August 24, 1829, to August 5, 1911. Between 1867 and 1871, he was California's Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 1890, he was made a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was born on August 24, 1829, in Caswell County, North Carolina, not far from Ruffin. His parents were Richard Fitzgerald and Martha Jones Hooper. Fitzgerald came from a long line of people in Nottoway County, Virginia, where many of his cousins lived in good stead. He married Sarah Banks of Georgia in 1855. In his early years, he went to a normal country school like most kids did at that time. The Oak Grove Academy in Rockingham County, North Carolina, was his first real chance to learn. The man who taught him, Booker Doss, was very strict, but he taught him a lot. For some reason, Fitzgerald couldn't help but go to Lynchburg, Virginia, when he was thirteen to work for the Lynchburg Republican. There, it was proven that he was very good at writing. By the time he was twenty, he was already known as a good writer in the area. See less