John F. Fitzgerald, numbered among New Haven's merchants, has through the successive steps of an orderly progression won a position as head of the leading men's furnishing goods business in New Haven and the county. He was born April 4, 1878, in Cleveland, Ohio, a son of James Fitzgerald, whose birth occurred in County Tipperary, Ireland, and who came to America prior to the Civil war, settling in New Haven, where he followed blacksmithing. At the outbreak of hostilities between the north and the south he enlisted in the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, with which he remained until the close of the war. He was wounded in one of the engagements, causing him the loss of a finger. With a most creditable military record he returned to his home in Connecticut when the war ended and resumed blacksmithing. In 1877 he removed with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained until 1880, when he came to New Haven and here remained until the time of his death, which occurred when he was fifty-six years of age. His political endorsement was given to the democratic party and his religious faith was that of the Catholic church, for he was a devout Christian and was a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, taking an active part in the charitable work of that organization. He married Catherine Muldoon and they became the parents of eight children, five of whom are yet living.

John F. Fitzgerald was educated in the public schools of New Haven and started out to earn a living when a youth of sixteen, his first position being that of errand boy with the Charles Manson Company, with which he earned two dollars per week. He afterward became connected with the Edwin Malley Company and later with the Gamble-Desmond Company. He spent three years with the Malley Company in the men's furnishings department and thus received his initial training in the line of business in which he is now prominently engaged. He was with the Gamble-Desmond Company for five years and afterward with Chase & Company and in 1907 he entered business on his own account at No. 954 Chapel street, where he has since remained. He began in a comparatively small way and from a humble start has developed the leading men's furnishing goods business in the city and county, having a very extensive and gratifying trade which is merited by reason of the large and well selected stock which he carries, his straightforward dealing and the courteous treatment accorded patrons.

On the 10th of June, 1899, Mr. Fitzgerald was married in New Haven to Miss Lilian I. Tierney, a native of New Haven and a daughter of Patrick and Ellen J. (Cunningham) Tierney, who were early settlers of New Haven and of Irish birth. The father is now deceased but the mother survives. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald:  Alicia Gertrude, who was born in New Haven, March 19, 1906;  and John and Regina, twins, born June 4,  1911.

In the exercise of his right of franchise Mr. Fitzgerald considers the capability of the candidate rather than party ties. He is a member of St. Brendan's parish and he holds membership with the Union League Club, Knights of Columbus and the Knights of St. Patrick. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and has been exalted ruler of his local lodge. He has served as a private in the Governor's Foot Guard and he has membership in the Racebrook Country Club, all of which associations indicate much of the nature of his interests and the rules which govern his conduct. Starting out in life a poor boy, he has been the architect of his own fortunes and has builded wisely and well, while the many creditable phases of his record commend it as an example that others may profitably follow.