Although scant information can be gleaned from William David Tittsworth's Death Certificate (#27113 dated August 22, 1915), we can confirm his burial in Cupp Cemetery on the same date, two days after his death, from the document. His place of residence was listed as Bluff, a small town on Bull Creek north of Walnut Shade, not far from where his first wife, Martha Jane Gideon Tittsworth Melton had died four years prior. The couple had divorced in 1880 in Forsyth. There were five children: Albert G., Alice, Elza, Anna J.F., and Thomas Judson "Juddy," (the latter upon whom the character of Juggs is based in the artist Rose O'Neill's novel, "The Loves of Edwy.")
Additional research is needed to definitively establish William's parents although he appears to have been born in Arkansas around 1845. His father may have been David Tittsworth, born Kentucky about 1793, himself the son of Col. Isaac Tittsworth, a Revolutionary War officer. By 1860, William and a sister, Anna, are living in Taney County in the home of James and Alvina Clevenger; the latter likely his mother, remarried after being widowed from her first husband, William's father. William would make his home in the Taney and Christian County areas the remainder of his life.
It appears William was the only victim of the notorious Civil War era outlaw and bushwhacker Alf Bolin who lived to tell the tale. In "Alf Bolin's Buried Treasure" in the Winter 1974-75 issue of the White River Valley Historical Quarterly, Doug Mahnkey informs us: "There were many victims of his ruthless warfare. One was Dave Titsworth, a lad of sixteen years, living at what is now Walnut Shade in Taney County. He was shot in the breast by Alf Bolin near Day Past Office on Bear Creek. After he had shot the lad some women asked him if he was not ashamed, killing such a young boy. He replied, 'Get into the house and shut your mouths if you want to save your scalps. That makes 19 I’ve killed.' He rode away. The women then attended to the boy’s wounds. Bettsey May and Susan Keithley bound up his wound and cared for him until he was well again." Another account of the shooting appears in the book, "Biographical History of Pottawattamie Co., Iowa," in which William is said to have recovered in a cabin shared with another young man, Samuel Marion Davis, whose own shooting by his father in law during the war was the basis for the tale, "The Legend of Ghost Pond."
In May 1861, William joined the Christian and Greene County Home Guards. He later completed his Civil War military service for the Union's 8TH Missouri Cavalry for which he received a pension starting in 1890. He served with his brother, William G. Tittsworth, in both units.
By war's end William was married to Martha Jane, the daughter of John "Bear Creek Jack" Gideon. After their divorce, he continued to farm in the Bull Creek basin. He re-married Louisa Cole in 1883. Two children were born but only one, Thomas, lived to adulthood.
In 1910, the couple made their home just across the county line in Christian County. It was likely near here that he died of heart failure in August 1915 and was interred in the Cupp Cemetery. A son from the first marriage, Elzie, has a stone in that graveyard. William's son Thomas from the second marriage served in WWI and was a mail carrier and farmer. Current research is attempting to discover where Thomas and his mother Louisa are buried. Louisa continued to receive her husband's Civil War pension after his death.
Additional research is needed to definitively establish William's parents although he appears to have been born in Arkansas around 1845. His father may have been David Tittsworth, born Kentucky about 1793, himself the son of Col. Isaac Tittsworth, a Revolutionary War officer. By 1860, William and a sister, Anna, are living in Taney County in the home of James and Alvina Clevenger; the latter likely his mother, remarried after being widowed from her first husband, William's father. William would make his home in the Taney and Christian County areas the remainder of his life.
It appears William was the only victim of the notorious Civil War era outlaw and bushwhacker Alf Bolin who lived to tell the tale. In "Alf Bolin's Buried Treasure" in the Winter 1974-75 issue of the White River Valley Historical Quarterly, Doug Mahnkey informs us: "There were many victims of his ruthless warfare. One was Dave Titsworth, a lad of sixteen years, living at what is now Walnut Shade in Taney County. He was shot in the breast by Alf Bolin near Day Past Office on Bear Creek. After he had shot the lad some women asked him if he was not ashamed, killing such a young boy. He replied, 'Get into the house and shut your mouths if you want to save your scalps. That makes 19 I’ve killed.' He rode away. The women then attended to the boy’s wounds. Bettsey May and Susan Keithley bound up his wound and cared for him until he was well again." Another account of the shooting appears in the book, "Biographical History of Pottawattamie Co., Iowa," in which William is said to have recovered in a cabin shared with another young man, Samuel Marion Davis, whose own shooting by his father in law during the war was the basis for the tale, "The Legend of Ghost Pond."
In May 1861, William joined the Christian and Greene County Home Guards. He later completed his Civil War military service for the Union's 8TH Missouri Cavalry for which he received a pension starting in 1890. He served with his brother, William G. Tittsworth, in both units.
By war's end William was married to Martha Jane, the daughter of John "Bear Creek Jack" Gideon. After their divorce, he continued to farm in the Bull Creek basin. He re-married Louisa Cole in 1883. Two children were born but only one, Thomas, lived to adulthood.
In 1910, the couple made their home just across the county line in Christian County. It was likely near here that he died of heart failure in August 1915 and was interred in the Cupp Cemetery. A son from the first marriage, Elzie, has a stone in that graveyard. William's son Thomas from the second marriage served in WWI and was a mail carrier and farmer. Current research is attempting to discover where Thomas and his mother Louisa are buried. Louisa continued to receive her husband's Civil War pension after his death.
Although scant information can be gleaned from William David Tittsworth's Death Certificate (#27113 dated August 22, 1915), we can confirm his burial in Cupp Cemetery on the same date, two days after his death, from the document. His place of residence was listed as Bluff, a small town on Bull Creek north of Walnut Shade, not far from where his first wife, Martha Jane Gideon Tittsworth Melton had died four years prior. The couple had divorced in 1880 in Forsyth. There were five children: Albert G., Alice, Elza, Anna J.F., and Thomas Judson "Juddy," (the latter upon whom the character of Juggs is based in the artist Rose O'Neill's novel, "The Loves of Edwy.")
Additional research is needed to definitively establish William's parents although he appears to have been born in Arkansas around 1845. His father may have been David Tittsworth, born Kentucky about 1793, himself the son of Col. Isaac Tittsworth, a Revolutionary War officer. By 1860, William and a sister, Anna, are living in Taney County in the home of James and Alvina Clevenger; the latter likely his mother, remarried after being widowed from her first husband, William's father. William would make his home in the Taney and Christian County areas the remainder of his life.
It appears William was the only victim of the notorious Civil War era outlaw and bushwhacker Alf Bolin who lived to tell the tale. In "Alf Bolin's Buried Treasure" in the Winter 1974-75 issue of the White River Valley Historical Quarterly, Doug Mahnkey informs us: "There were many victims of his ruthless warfare. One was Dave Titsworth, a lad of sixteen years, living at what is now Walnut Shade in Taney County. He was shot in the breast by Alf Bolin near Day Past Office on Bear Creek. After he had shot the lad some women asked him if he was not ashamed, killing such a young boy. He replied, 'Get into the house and shut your mouths if you want to save your scalps. That makes 19 I’ve killed.' He rode away. The women then attended to the boy’s wounds. Bettsey May and Susan Keithley bound up his wound and cared for him until he was well again." Another account of the shooting appears in the book, "Biographical History of Pottawattamie Co., Iowa," in which William is said to have recovered in a cabin shared with another young man, Samuel Marion Davis, whose own shooting by his father in law during the war was the basis for the tale, "The Legend of Ghost Pond."
In May 1861, William joined the Christian and Greene County Home Guards. He later completed his Civil War military service for the Union's 8TH Missouri Cavalry for which he received a pension starting in 1890. He served with his brother, William G. Tittsworth, in both units.
By war's end William was married to Martha Jane, the daughter of John "Bear Creek Jack" Gideon. After their divorce, he continued to farm in the Bull Creek basin. He re-married Louisa Cole in 1883. Two children were born but only one, Thomas, lived to adulthood.
In 1910, the couple made their home just across the county line in Christian County. It was likely near here that he died of heart failure in August 1915 and was interred in the Cupp Cemetery. A son from the first marriage, Elzie, has a stone in that graveyard. William's son Thomas from the second marriage served in WWI and was a mail carrier and farmer. Current research is attempting to discover where Thomas and his mother Louisa are buried. Louisa continued to receive her husband's Civil War pension after his death.
Additional research is needed to definitively establish William's parents although he appears to have been born in Arkansas around 1845. His father may have been David Tittsworth, born Kentucky about 1793, himself the son of Col. Isaac Tittsworth, a Revolutionary War officer. By 1860, William and a sister, Anna, are living in Taney County in the home of James and Alvina Clevenger; the latter likely his mother, remarried after being widowed from her first husband, William's father. William would make his home in the Taney and Christian County areas the remainder of his life.
It appears William was the only victim of the notorious Civil War era outlaw and bushwhacker Alf Bolin who lived to tell the tale. In "Alf Bolin's Buried Treasure" in the Winter 1974-75 issue of the White River Valley Historical Quarterly, Doug Mahnkey informs us: "There were many victims of his ruthless warfare. One was Dave Titsworth, a lad of sixteen years, living at what is now Walnut Shade in Taney County. He was shot in the breast by Alf Bolin near Day Past Office on Bear Creek. After he had shot the lad some women asked him if he was not ashamed, killing such a young boy. He replied, 'Get into the house and shut your mouths if you want to save your scalps. That makes 19 I’ve killed.' He rode away. The women then attended to the boy’s wounds. Bettsey May and Susan Keithley bound up his wound and cared for him until he was well again." Another account of the shooting appears in the book, "Biographical History of Pottawattamie Co., Iowa," in which William is said to have recovered in a cabin shared with another young man, Samuel Marion Davis, whose own shooting by his father in law during the war was the basis for the tale, "The Legend of Ghost Pond."
In May 1861, William joined the Christian and Greene County Home Guards. He later completed his Civil War military service for the Union's 8TH Missouri Cavalry for which he received a pension starting in 1890. He served with his brother, William G. Tittsworth, in both units.
By war's end William was married to Martha Jane, the daughter of John "Bear Creek Jack" Gideon. After their divorce, he continued to farm in the Bull Creek basin. He re-married Louisa Cole in 1883. Two children were born but only one, Thomas, lived to adulthood.
In 1910, the couple made their home just across the county line in Christian County. It was likely near here that he died of heart failure in August 1915 and was interred in the Cupp Cemetery. A son from the first marriage, Elzie, has a stone in that graveyard. William's son Thomas from the second marriage served in WWI and was a mail carrier and farmer. Current research is attempting to discover where Thomas and his mother Louisa are buried. Louisa continued to receive her husband's Civil War pension after his death.
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