author
O. P. (Oscar Penn) Fitzgerald
1829–1911
A Methodist preacher, educator, and editor, he turned his years in Gold Rush–era California into lively writing and went on to become a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His work blends memoir, travel sketch, and religious reflection shaped by a long public life.
1 Audiobook
California Sketches, New Series
by O. P. (Oscar Penn) Fitzgerald
About the author
Born in Caswell County, North Carolina, in 1829, Oscar Penn Fitzgerald became a Methodist minister in the 1850s and was sent as a missionary to California. During his years in the West, he also worked in education and journalism, eventually serving as California's superintendent of public instruction from 1867 to 1871.
Fitzgerald later returned to the South, where he edited church publications and continued writing. In 1890 he was elected a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, a role he held until his death in 1911.
He is remembered as an energetic churchman and man of letters who wrote extensively about religion, public life, and his California experience. Among his best-known books is California Sketches, which draws on his time in the state and helped preserve a personal view of that era.