George R. Fitzgerald
was born in Maryland, and came from there to Chillicothe, Ohio. From the latter place, he came to West Union, probably about 1816. About all we know of him, we learn from Col. Wm. E. Gilmore, of Chillicothe, to whom we are indebted for many favors.
While in Adams County, Fitzgerald kept a fine horse, which he was accustomed to loan to his friend, young Joseph Riggs, a bank clerk, to ride to North Liberty to court Rebecca Baldridge, daughter of Rev. Wm. Baldridge. In 1818, he was elected to the Legislature from Adams. County and had Gen. Robert Morrison for his colleague. In 1821 and 1822, he again represented Adams County in the lower House, having no colleague. In 1822, he appears to have changed his residence to Highland County, for he was prosecuting attorney there in 1824 and again in 1831 and 1833. From there he returned to Chillicothe, and was in partnership with Judge Henry Brush. Fitzgerald was a portly, good looking man and of first-rate legal abilities and attainments. He was studious and attentive to business. He was moral and temperate in his habits, but at the same time, moody, often depressed in spirits, and melancholy. Whether this arose from love or dyspepsia, we do not know, but he was madly enamored of one of the daughters of Wm. Creighton, Jr., and his addresses were rejected. Upon Miss Creighton's marriage to another suitor, he went to Washington, D. C., and soon after com mitted suicide.
Eheu ! amare simul et sapere, ipsi Jovi non datur
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900