Relationship: 2nd great-grandmother (Gleeson line)
Wisconsin Native, Daughter of Irish Immigrants
Maria Ann Fitzgerald was born on July 3, 1865, in Ironton, Sauk County, Wisconsin, to James Fitzgerald (1828–1899) and Margaret (Murtagh?) Fitzgerald. Both parents were Irish-born. Her father James came from Dromin/Athlacca in County Limerick, Ireland, and emigrated during the Great Famine era, settling in Wisconsin by the mid-1850s.
Maria grew up in a farming family in Sauk County, where the 1870 census shows her with siblings William, John, and Jane. By 1880, the family had relocated to Buffalo County, where her father's brother Richard Fitzgerald had also settled. Maria was part of the first American-born generation—raised on Wisconsin soil by parents who had crossed the Atlantic seeking new opportunities.
On November 23, 1892, Maria married James Joseph Gleeson, an Irish immigrant from County Clare (or the Clare/Limerick border region). The couple settled in Mondovi, Buffalo County, and later spent time in Stearns County, Minnesota, before returning to Wisconsin.
Maria and James had seven children, though two died young:
Their daughter Anne Barbara Gleeson (1903–1986) would later move to Arizona and marry Raymond R. Mowrey, connecting the Gleeson line to the Mowrey family.
Maria died on approximately July 28, 1916, in Mondovi, Wisconsin, at age 51. She is believed to be buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Mondovi alongside other family members. Her father James had died in 1899, also in Mondovi.
Maria Ann Fitzgerald's life bridged two worlds—the Irish heritage of her immigrant parents and the American Midwest where she was born and raised. Through her daughter Anne, the family story would eventually reach Arizona.
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