Precious Baby Catherine blessed our family for only one month, but has a place in our hearts and heaven forever.

Our family remembrance is that Catherine was born with heart defect, commonly referred to as "blue baby". At the time of her passing, Catherine's oldest brother, Thomas, baptized her with Holy Water.

Babies affected by TOF have malformed hearts that cannot fully oxygenate the blood. This causes cyanosis, a blue coloration of the skin due to deoxygenated hemoglobin in blood vessels near the skin surface.

John Fitzgerald 's WWI Draft Registration card, signed September 12, 1918, has his occupation as Blacksmith. The location of this draft board # 25 was 1808 S. Ashland Avenue, about 1 and a half miles from John's home at 2159 W. 13th Street.

John's youngest child, Joan Anne, was born May 9, 1918, 4 months earlier.


John's death certification also has occupation as Blacksmith.

As displayed in the Draft Registration card, John's employer was Heywood and Wakfield. It was a very large furniture manufacturing company with offices in all the major cities of the U.S.
At the Chicago factory, they produced cane and wood seat chairs, baby carriages, opera chairs, reed & fibre furniture, and wood and steel school desks. The factory employed blacksmiths to forge all the steel framing for the various products.

The factory, warehouse, and lumber storage occupied a complete city block at Taylor and Washtenau Avenue on Chicago's "West Side".
In 1926, there were 674 employees at the Chicago factory complex.



Please see: A Completed Century: 1826 - 1926 the story of Heywood Wakfield Company

The purchase of the site in 1888 for building of a new factory in Chicago was made because of its location at the crossing of two important railroad afforded excellent freight facilities.

In the final chapter of the book referenced above, entitled "In Conclusion", the company describes its attitude towards its employees in 1926:

"Over 5,000 men and women secure their livelihood through the Heywood Wakfield Company. It has been the policy of the management to pay these employees fair remuneration for service rendered.
...the management has not yet been of the opinion that it can safely adopt a pension system... In each of the largest plants including Chicago, a hospital room with an attendant nurse is maintained, her services supplemented when necessary by an attendence of a factory physician... The Chicago factory operates a restaurant and a Benefit Association."

The company sold stock and paid stock dividends

In the Census of 1920, John and Mary Kate has a family of 5 children. Their baby daughter Catherine born in 1916 and passed away after 4 weeks.

John's occupation is "Laborer Railroad".

The family's address is 2158 W. Hasting Street
Chicago. The Census page displays 7 families in living in the corner apartment building at 2158 Hastings Street.

In the Census of 1910, John Fitzgerald's occupation is Boilermaker Railroad.

In the Census of 1920, John Fitzgerald's occupation is Laborer Railroad.

This is a map of the locations for the railroad roundhouses that John J. Fitzgerald may have worked at. The Yellow indicator is the roundhouse of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad's Western Ave. yard. The Blue indicator is the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Robey Yard.

In the Chicago City Directory of 1910, John J. Fitzgerad is listed as a Laborer, 2150 W. 13th Street. In the Census of 1910, John and Mary Fitzgerald are living at 2159 W. 13th Street, in a 4 flat apartment building. In 1916, they were living in an apartment at 2159 W. 13th Street.
In the 1920's, their apartment was at 2158 Hastings Avenue.

Please see Damen Avenue on the left running north and south. It is 2000 West. Then see Leavitt Street running north and south. It is 2200 West.
The apartments where the Fitzgerald family were living were at the corner of Leavitt & 13th Street, and Leavitt & Hastings Street.

The 2 railroad roundhouses were located several blocks to the south of the Fitzgerald home.

John and Mary Kate Fitzgerald lived near St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. Their children all attended the grammar school, receiving their first communion, confirmation. Next to the Church was St. Mary's High School for girls, which taught a 1 year commercial course of typing, stenography, spelling. Joan Fitzgerald attended St. Mary's for one year at the age of 15 - 16. Joan used the "shorthand" method of writing throughout her life, as learned at St. Mary's.

The Church buildings were torn down in 1968.