Posing for a portrait, likely at Bonnie Brook around 1900. Courtesy Rose O'Neill and Bonniebrook Museum at Branson, Misosuri; Director Susan Scott.

Juddy Tittsworth was born January 2, 1880. He was the son of William David Tittsworth and Martha Jane Gideon. His paternal great grandfather, Colonel Isaac Tittsworth, was a Revolutionary War soldier. His father was a Union soldier in the Civil War in Missouri, Juddy’s birthplace, in a cabin on Bear Creek in Taney County. The youngest of five children, the parents divorced when Juddy was an infant and both remarried other spouses. He lived with his mother and her new husband, Thomas Melton.

The sketch accompany this story was done around 1900 by artist Rose O'Neill, author, sculptor and creator of the Kewpie Doll. In "The Story of Rose O'Neill: An Autobiography," the author wrote (pp. 62-63):

"A youth named Juddy Tittsworth lived with a witty old mother across the creek. He was seventeen when he first came to Bonniebrook to chop firewood and was so shy he would hide like a rabbit when we went out to pay him. We would have to leave the money on a stump for him and when he was sure we were out of sight he would come, crouched and hiding to get it.

"He had a panther's walk and it was a pleasure to us to watch his beautiful face going about his work. We got him into the house at last and he became a member of the family.

“He helped to build Bonniebrook with flourishes such as bay windows, French windows, and bookshelves with cleverly fitted panels - even though he had never seen an urban house. He had an inquiring mind and a face that Raphael might have done; the color like a painting upon ivory. His black locks rippled to his shoulders. He had a passion for guns and violins. He even tried Henry James, saying, 'Well, I suppose it is good there was someone to do it like that'. He posed for me as Juggs in my first published novel, 'The Loves of Edwy' (1904)," (pp. 122-3; 158-9; 196-7 & 414).

Records indicate Juddy married Catherine "Kitty" Gordon in Jackson County, Missouri August 3, 1918. His draft registration card in 1918 at age 28 listed a next of kin as his older brother, Elzy, now buried in the Cupp Cemetery in Taney County and that he was employed as a laborer for Kansas City Power & Light Company.

It appears he had served 1904-06 as an artificer or skilled craftsman (probably a carpenter) for the Missouri 27TH Infantry, enlisting in May of the earlier year. He'd been stationed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois; his character was rated as "Excellent."

He and Catherine continued to make their home in the Kansas City area throughout the 1920's and 30's where he worked as a carpenter. It appears there were no children and Kitty's eventual whereabouts remain a point of research. He died November 30, 1944, six months after the friend and protégé from his youth, Rose O’Neill and was buried in the National Cemetery in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Drawing by Rose O'Neill courtesy the Bonniebrook Historical Society, Inc. and Susan Scott, Walnut Shade, MO).