Entering upon the practice of law in 1908, Edward Clarence Fitzgerald has made continuous progress in his profession and is now numbered among the leading representatives of the Ottawa County bar, maintaining his office in Miami, and he has also taken a prominent part in public affairs of the County. He was born in Keystone, Benton County, Iowa, February 19, 1884, of the marriage of Edward and Mary (Quinleven) Fitzgerald, the former a native of Syracuse, New York, while the latter was born in Wisconsin. Both are deceased. The father came west as a boy and learned the trade of a harness maker. He engaged in business at Keystone, Iowa, until 1888 and then removed to Rock Rapids, that state, where he spent his remaining years, passing away in the faith of the Catholic Church.
Edward C. Fitzgerald attended the grammar and high schools of Rock Rapids, after which he entered the collegiate department of the University of Iowa, winning the A. B. degree in 1906, while in 1908 he was graduated from that institution with the degree of LL. B., on the completion of a course in law. In the fall of the latter year he came to Miami, being accompanied by a classmate, Arthur C. Wallace, with whom he became associated in practice. His professional ability soon won recognition and he was called to public office, serving as County attorney of Ottawa County from 1911 until 1913: He then resumed his practice with Mr. Wallace and in 1915 was chosen United States probate attorney for Ottawa, Craig and Delaware counties, having under his charge the affairs of five civilized tribes of Indians. He continued to fill that office until the 1st of July, 1921, discharging his duties in a most efficient and conscientious manner, and is now practicing independently, specializing to a large extent in that branch of jurisprudence pertaining to Indian affairs, of which he has an expert knowledge. He possesses those qualities which are indispensable to the lawyer a keen, rapid, logical mind, plus the business sense, and a ready capacity for hard work. In a discussion he has the gift of seizing the gist of the matter, while he also possesses the knack of setting it in correct perspective, and his practice is a large and constantly increasing one.
Mr. Fitzgerald has closely studied the questions and issues of the day, and believing that the principles of the Democratic Party contain the best elements of good government, he has ever labored for its success. He is connected with Phi Delta Phi, a legal fraternity, and is a devotee of golf, being a familiar figure on the links of the Rock Dale Country Club, of which he is a popular member. Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, of which he is a past exalted ruler. He has always been loyal to any public trust reposed in him and his entire career has been actuated by a spirit of progress that has been productive of substantial results. The thoroughness of his knowledge regarding any subject in which he takes an interest is one of his strongly marked characteristics and is undoubtedly one of the strongest factors in the success which he has won in his profession.