A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
=Fitzgerald, Rev. David=, D.D., Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
This reverend and highly respected divine was born at Tralee, in the
county of Kerry, Ireland, on the 3rd of December, 1813. He is the eldest
surviving son of William Fitzgerald, barrister-at-law of Adrivale,
county of Kerry, who married Anne, sole daughter and heiress of the Rev.
Robert Minnitt, of Blackfort, county of Tipperary, and rector of Tulla,
county of Clare, whose ancestor, Captain John Minnitt, came to the
country in the reign of Charles II. One of Mr. Fitzgerald’s ancestors
was a captain in King James’ army. This gentleman lived during the reign
of six English monarchs, and died at the advanced age of 116 years. Rev.
Mr. Fitzgerald was educated at schools in Clonmel and Limerick, and
obtained his A.B. degree and divinity testimonium at Trinity College,
Dublin. In February, 1843, he married Cherry Christina, second daughter
of Rowan Purdon, M.D., a physician of established reputation and
extensive practice in Kerry, his native county. His brother, Richard,
was a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and his son, George, was a
scholar in the same university. In June, 1845, after a creditable
examination by Rev. I. T. Russel, archdeacon of Clogher, he was ordained
deacon at Tuam by Lord Plunket, bishop of the diocese, and in 1846 was
ordained priest by Lord Riversdale, bishop of Killaloe, on letters
dimissory from the bishop of Clogher. He began his ministry as curate to
Rev. Geo. Sidney Smith, D.D., ex-fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, at
Cooltrain, county of Fermanagh. He then had charge of the district
church, at Maguire’s Bridge, in the same county, where as secretary to
the Poor Relief Committee of that place, he established a soup kitchen
for its famine-stricken inhabitants, and was the means by obtaining
subscriptions from absentee landlords and other benevolently disposed
persons, with a ton of rice from the Quakers, of providing daily
suitable cooked food for four hundred families for several months, and
left on his departure over £100 in the hands of the committee to carry
on the work. In June, 1847, he came out to Prince Edward Island as
assistant minister to Rev. Dr. Jenkins, then rector of St. Paul’s
Church. On the retirement of Dr. Jenkins and that of his successor, Rev.
C. Lloyd, in 1857, he was appointed rector of the parish, which he
served without intermission for thirty-eight years, when in 1885 he
retired from active duty. For upwards of twenty years he was a member of
the board of education, and a trustee of the Lunatic Asylum, and for
some time was chaplain of the Legislative Council. He is the author of
several printed sermons and pamphlets, and has delivered lectures on
various subjects for several years. In 1881 he took the degrees of A.M.,
B.D., and D.D., at King’s College, Windsor. On several occasions since
his retirement, he has occupied the pulpit in the parish church and in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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