Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. (Coale 190). Francis Scott was the only child of Edward Fitzgerald and Mary MollieMcQuillan (Beebe 339). Fitzgerald was named after a distant member of his fathersfamily (Beebe 339), who happened to be the author of The Star Spangled Banner (Bruccoli xix).Edward Fitzgerald was the father of Francis S. Fitzgerald. Edwards business, theproduction of wicker furniture in St. Paul, Minnesota, failed. (Bruccoli xix). Due to this,his family moved to Buffalo, New York, in 1908 (Bruccoli xix). In New York he becamea salesman for Procter & Gamble; in 1908 he was dismissed (Bruccoli xix). After hisdismissal they returned to St. Paul and moved in with Mary Mollie McQuillans mother(Bruccoli xix). Her mother was an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesalergrocer in St. Paul, Minnesota (Bruccoli xix). When the family finally decided to stay in St. Paul, Minnesota, was whenFitzgerald was encouraged to study at the St. Paul Academy (Beebe 339). From 1911 to1913 Fitzgerald attended the Newman School, a Catholic prep school in New Jersey(Bruccoli xix). Later he pursued a literary apprenticeship education at PrincetonUniversity (Bruccoli xix). He showed no interest in his education; he preferred writing fora show for the Triangle Club (Beebe 339). During his junior year he was placed onacademic probation (Beebe 339). At this time the United States joined World War I, andFitzgerald took the opportunity to drop out of school and accept a commission in theArmy (Beebe 339). Having time on his hands, he decided to revise a novel he had draftedduring his time at Princeton (Beebe 339-340). A New York publisher rejected the novel(Bruccoli xix). In 1918, Fitzgerald met the lady who would later be his wife (Eble[13] ). She was the daughter of a judge form Montgomery, Alabama (Eble [13] ). During 1919,Fitzgerald was discharged form the Army (Bruccoli xx). He worked for and ...
