The Fitzgerald Home
Denison, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built on 800-acre farm near Bells by Geo. S. Fitzgerald, who moved with family from Virginia to Texas in 1857. He cut building timber on his farm in 1859. On return from Confederate army he erected this house in 1866. He was prosperous and esteemed, serving as a Grayson County Commissioner from 1880 to 1884. House was framed of pegged oak logs. Main rooms are 20 by 20 feet, joined by 12-foot hall. Two stairs lead to upper story. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
George S. Fitzgerald moved his family from Virginia to Texas in 1857 and cut the building timber for this house on his own 800-acre farm in 1859. Interrupted by service in the Confederate army, he finally raised the pegged-oak house in 1866 and went on to prosper as a respected Grayson County commissioner. Its sturdy 20-foot rooms and twin staircases reflect the substance of a rebuilding postwar household.
Why it matters
The home embodies the Southern migration into Texas and the work of rebuilding a life and livelihood in the years right after the Civil War.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · George S. Fitzgerald
Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Coffman Cemetery
Denison, TX
While David Harman Coffman served in the Confederate army during the Civil War, his wife Harriet and their four sons made their way from Missouri to North Texas. After the war he rejoined them and bought this land, and in 1878 the Coffmans deeded a one-acre plot to the county for a public cemetery and an adjoining acre for a school and Baptist meetinghouse. Among those buried here is J.K. Miller, the pioneer on whose land the city of Denison was laid out.
Grayson County, C. S. A.
Sherman, TX
During the Civil War, Grayson County served as a Confederate military, defense, and supply hub on Texas's northern frontier. Cavalry regiments raised here captured federal forts in Indian Territory and manned a defensive line along the Red River, while Sherman depots gathered clothing and food for troops and soldiers' families. Even the notorious guerrilla William C. Quantrill camped nearby in 1863–64 before fleeing Confederate arrest.
Jesse P. Loving
Sherman, TX
Jesse "Jess" P. Loving came to Texas from Missouri in 1847 and settled in Sherman by 1852. A Confederate veteran, he became a leading citizen, serving multiple terms as county treasurer and in the state legislature. In 1879 he drove the founding of the Old Settlers Association of Grayson County, helping the pioneer generation preserve its own story.
Old Cedar Community
Sherman, TX
Settled in 1848 by Grayson County pioneers who reclaimed land from wilderness amid Indian raids and frontier hardship, Old Cedar quickly needed a cemetery—still holding some 400 graves, including one Union and eighteen Confederate veterans. As the community took root it built Cedar Academy in 1871, where students learned to make ink and split goose-quills alongside their lessons, and organized the Cedar Methodist Church the same year. Camp-ground revivals under brush arbors drew families from miles around each summer.