frequently been a delegate to county and state conventions of the Republican party, with which he affiliates, he
has always refused nomination for any office except that of assessor; he is the present incumbent of that position,
and has served in that capacity for the past fourteen years. He strongly and unwaveringly supports the principles
of his party, and is a model citizen.
The subject of this brief biographical notice has been twice married. His first wife he was married to in 1873.
Her maiden name was Miss Anna Kindlie, and she was a native of Norway. This union was productive of a family of
five children, four of whom are living, viz.: Alice Bertha Maria, Laura Melia Maximelia, Jorgon Julius and Ole.
After the death of Mrs. Lehne, he subsequently married Mary Kindlie, a sister of his first wife, who was also born
in Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Lehne are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Emmett, in which he serves as
secretary, and also is a director in the parochial school connected with that church. He has been a member of the
local school board for at least eighteen years, and, believing in the maxim that "knowledge is power,"
follows it by giving his children every advantage for good educations.
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an honorable place as one of this class, and the farm on section 3 of Perry township, compares favorably with
others in its vicinity.
Mr. Fitzgerald was born in Wayne county, N. Y., in 1845, and when a lad, with his parents located in Greene county,
Wis., where he passed the boyhood days and in the common-schools of his district, acquired the rudiments of an
education. He was one of a family of thirteen children born to Michael and Ellen (Corcoran) Fitzgerald, both the
latter being natives of Ireland and born near the city of Dublin, where they grew to mature years and were married.
They came at once to America after this event and settled in Wayne county, N. Y., where the husband and father was
engaged in railroad contracting, assisting in the construction of some of the first railways in this country. Of
the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald, we note the following: Maurice, served in the Civil war, and during
an engagement at Mobile, Ala., was wounded, from the effects of which he died in 1866, he left two sons and one
daughter, all residing in Philadelphia; Elizabeth, married Alfred Clark, of Monroe, Wis.; Ellen, married George
Degroth, of Whitewater, Wis.; Stephen also served in the late war and now lives in Butler county, Iowa; Mary, is
the wife of Washington Lenhart, of Minneapolis; Michael lives in North Dakota; Sylvia resides at Lake Geneva, Wis.;
and the balance of the family died in infancy.
Our subject was the fourth child in the order of their birth and was just in the opening years of a vigorous
manhood when the war broke out. In 1862 he offered his services to his country and enlisted in the Twenty-eighth
Wisconsin regiment, infantry, which regiment was transferred to the front and attached to the western army. Mr.
Fitzgerald served under Gen. Banks in the Red river campaign, participated in the engagements at
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