James received land grants in 1770 ("200 acres in St. George Parish. Granted on March 6, 1770. Grant Book G, page 548. 200 acres bounded on the northwest by Dukes Pond and all others sides by vacant land") and in 1775 ("100 acres in St. George Parish. Granted on January 3, 1775. Grant Book M, page 874. 100 acres bounded on all sides by vacant land."). He died there in 1775 after his arm was crushed in a grist-mill. His widow Christiana (shown as Christian Fitzgarral) was granted 300 acres in Burke County in 1787 (Grant Book NNN, p. 347), and son James received 200 acres in 1797 (Grant Book ZZZZ, p. 200).
According to The Handy Book for Genealogists, James Oglethorpe established the first English colony in Georgia in 1733 with a grant from King George II, to provide the means for Englishmen imprisoned for unpaid debt to start fresh in the New World. Other immigrants were invited to the new colony, including persecuted Protestants, and settlers from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Moravia, Salzburger and the Scottish Highlands. The early land lotteries held in 1803, 1806, 1819, 1827 and 1832 eventually attracted settlers from Virginia and the Carolinas (the Georgia Secretary of State's site actually lists eight Georgia Land Lotteries: 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827, 1832, 1832, 1833).
- Edward Fitzgerald, b. ca 1763; died at sea, enroute to America
- David Fitzgerald, b. ca 1765; m. Mary McIntosh
- Mary Fitzgerald, b. ca 1767; m. James Stevens
- James Fitzgerald, b. ca 1769; m. Mary Fenn
- John Fitzgerald, b. ca 1771; m. Rebecca Adams
David married in Liberty County 15 Jan 1789; James, Jr., reportedly moved to Montgomery County, Georgia, around 1800; and John moved to Irwin County in about 1823.
