Perry Fitzgerald, a pioneer, farmer, and rancher, was born December 22, 1815, in Redstone, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. When he was about 20 years old, he moved to Vermillion, Illinois, where he began farming, married, and started a family. In 1842 he converted to Mormonism, moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, and in 1846 received his patriarchal blessing from John Smith, was ordained an Elder, and received his endowments in the Nauvoo Temple. In 1847 Brigham Young selected him as a member of the first company of pioneers to head west, assigning him as a scout responsible for two wagons. He entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 22, 1847, and helped Brigham Young raise the first flag over Ensign Peak. As he accompanied Brigham Young back to Winter Quarters, he met his family coming across the plains, and he returned to the Valley in 1848. After living briefly in Salt Lake City and Millcreek, he settled in South Willow Creek, now Draper, in the fall of 1851, built a cabin near the main creek, and secured rights to farm around what is now 12400 So. and about 1300 East. He was ordained a High Priest in 1856, and he and his second wife began the second Sunday School in Utah in the Draper Ward. He was active in protecting settlers from Indians and served as a First Lieutenant in the Willow Creek Militia. Remembered as a kind and gentle man who believed in never going into debt, he was known for valuing his word as his bond and for loving fine horses and driving an excellent team. He died in Draper on Oct. 4, 1889, at the age of 74.