52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 8 - I Can Identify

When I first came across this photo of my 2nd great grandmother, Mary Fitzgerald, I thought I was looking at a photo of myself transported back in time. Mary has striking blue eyes, which I also have, as do my grandfather and mother. My children and some of my grandchildren also have these blue eyes.

Mary Fitzgerald, undated

Mary Fitzgerald was born in the city of Rochester, New York, in 1840, the oldest of nine children of Michael and Mary Cayton Fitzgerald.

Mary married Austin Fitzgerald June 25, 1870, in Rochester. Austin was from Schenectady, a town about 200 miles east of Rochester and 20 miles northwest of Albany, NY. It's unusual for a woman to marry a man with the same last name. Mary's parents immigrated from Ireland, but I haven't found Austin's family. I don't know if Mary and Austin were distantly related and that's how they met, but it's a possibility.

Mary and Austin had five children: William Vincent born 1871 in Decatur, Illinois, Mary Louise born 1873 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Charles born 1874 in Wisconsin, Austin born 1877 in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and Joseph born 1879 in Iowa. In the 1880 census, the family is in the town of Sanborn, Iowa. Sanborn was a little town established just a few years before, along the line of the Milwaukee Railroad. It was a place populated mostly by railroad workers and their families. Although I don't know for sure, I think the towns where the family lived and the various children born were stops along whichever railroad Austin worked for.

Mary passed away in Minneapolis on June 11, 1884, from typhoid pneumonia. Austin passed away in 1923. He and Mary are buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester.

Here's a picture of me at age 20 - you can decide if I've inherited the Fitzgerald eyes.