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Welcome To Sullivan County, Indiana
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JAMES E. BITTLEJAMES E. BITTLE.--James E. Bittle, an extensive landowner and one of the practical farmers of Gill Township, Sullivan County, was born December 21, 1865, in Champaign county, Illinois. He is the son of Silas and Fannie (DeVere) Bittle, the former born in October, 1842, in Putnam county, Indiana, and now residing in Tippecanoe county. The subject's mother was born in February, 1847, in Fountain County, Indiana, and died October 11, 1908. Silas Bittle was the son of William and Landis Bittle, the former a native of Virginia who went to Indiana about 1830, locating in Putnam county, where he entered government land and remained a few years, and then disposed of his land and mover to Montgomery county, where he purchased other lands. Later, thinking to better his circumstances, he sold this tract of land and went to Fountain County. In 1868 he sold out there and went to Anderson County, Texas, and there retired. He took about sixty thousand dollars with him when he went south. He was a wonderful worker and a shrewd trader and made many large deals in stock. He died about 1878 in Palestine, Texas, and was buried in that city. Silas Bittle, our subject's father, remained at home and assisted his father until he reached his majority, when he married and removed to Champaign county, Illinois, where he worked two years and then returned to Fountain county, Indiana, where he bough an eighty acre farm, to which later he added sixty-six acres. He remained on that place for thirteen years, then sold his farm of one hundred and forty-six acres. He then moved to Montgomery county and purchased two hundred acres, and lived there seven years, after which he sold, and bought the tow hundred and forty acre farm on which he now resides, the same being situated in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. This farm is said by good and unbiased judges to be one of the finest within the entire state. Mr. Bittle is an extensive swine raiser, running mostly to Poland-China stock. The children born to Silas Bittle and wife are as follows: James E.: Frances, born March 12, 1867, married Charles McCorkle and lives in Tippecanoe county, Indiana: Alonzo, born December 14, 1869, resided in Chicago and is a traveling salesman for a drug firm, married Hattie Phillips; Luther, born September 1, 1877, resides in Tippecanoe county, married Vera Buxton. Leaving the common schools, James E. Bittle entered DePauw College at Greencastle, Indiana, where he took a one-year's course, after which he went to Purdue college, and there took a course in mechanics, being at the last named school for two years. He then taught for three winters, working on the farm during the summer months. He worked at farming until twenty-eight years of age, when he purchased a quarter section of land in Fountain county, Indiana, which in 1902 he sold and came to Sullivan county, purchasing two hundred and fifteen acres, but he traded this in May, 1908, for two hundred and eighty acres in Gill township, where he now resides, and in addition to general farming he is extensively engaged in raising many hogs. Politically Mr. Bittle is a believer in the principles of the Socialist party, but so far has voted the Democratic ticket. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while his wife is connected with the Christian denomination. He has been an extensive traveler, having been in more than half of the states within the Union. At one time he and his brother owned a line of elevators on the CloverLeaf railroad system, but he sold out in 1906. He was united in marriage, June 29, 1904, to Cora E. Curtis, born June 29, 1883, in Sullivan county, Indiana, a daughter of J. R. and Olive (Mooney) Curtis, the former born March 4, 1840, in Sullivan county, and the latter October 20, 1842, in Floyd county, Indiana, both of whom are still living within Sullivan county. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bittle: Burton Keith, born April 16, 1905, and Frances Jaunetta, born October 9, 1907. VOLUME II. PAGE 266.
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