There are few men of W. G. Tittsworth's years who can boast of having served their country in the Civil War, and indeed there are few who can relate so many thrilling incidents and events as a matter of personal experience. The life of Mr. Tittsworth has indeed been varied and fiction furnishes no stranger tales than some of the chapters in his life record.

He was born in Franklin County, Arkansas, on the 10th of September, 1847, his parents being David and Elvina Tittsworth, who were natives of Tennessee, and at an early day removed to Arkansas, where the father died, the mother afterward going to Missouri, where her last days were passed, the family settling on a farm in Taney county. There were six children: A. D., William D., William G., Mary, Narcissa and Annie. After losing her first husband, Mrs. Tittsworth was married in Taney County to James Clevenger, a farmer, and W. G. Tittsworth of this review not being satisfied at home, went to live with his maternal grandmother, who resided on a farm in Taney County. He was but five years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Missouri, and owing to his father's early death he had no educational privileges but through reading, observation and investigation he has continually broadened his knowledge, being long recognized as a well informed man.

The year 1859 witnessed his removal from Missouri to Iowa, where he was employed at herding cattle by I. C. Cooper, of Des Moines. Returning to Missouri, he was there at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War. The condition of affairs which existed in the border state is too well known as a matter of history to need recounting here. It was a time when party feeling ran very high and long time friends and even families were separated and became enemies because of opposing views in regard to the questions at stake. Missouri became principally the scene of the operations of the guerrillas, who, under the guise of loyalty to the south carried out their real object of murder and plunder. These bands were composed of many of the most desperate men of the state. On one occasion they visited the home of Mr. Tittsworth's mother, searching for arms and plunder. The second eldest son, William D. Tittsworth, then a youth of fifteen, was at the home of a neighbor four and a half miles away. The raiders found him, and being aware that his step-father had-voted for Missouri to remain in the Union and that the family entertained Union sentiment, remorselessly shot him down. Wounded, he managed to escape to the bushes and at length reached a vacant log cabin in the woods where he was cared for by sympathizing neighbors. Scenes of bloodshed and cruelty were everywhere prevalent and it was with such that William G. Tittsworth became familiar at a time when most boys are acquiring an education. Seizing a rifle and mounting a horse which his mother gave him, he joined the Home Guards, May 2, 1861, and served under Captain Jesse Gallaway, who was shot down at the threshold of his own door, with his child in his arms, by a relentless guerrilla who fired upon him from the dark. The Home Guards fought a skirmish with bushwhackers at Forsyth, Missouri, and later General Sweeney came upon the scene with a regiment from Kansas and two pieces of artillery and attacked the bushwhackers at Forsyth, dispersing them. Mr. Tittsworth was present at both engagements. Later he returned to Des Moines, Iowa, and subsequently went to St. Louis, Missouri. He desired to enlist again for service in the Civil War but was rejected on account of his youth. He then joined Company B, Eighteenth Missouri Infantry and served without muster or pay until later on near Atlanta, Georgia, where he was mustered and remained with the regiment until 1865, when he was mustered out at St. Louis. He was with the Army of the Tennessee when it participated in the battles of Atlanta, Resaca, Dallas, Snake Creek Gap and many others, and was with Sherman on the famous march to the sea. He also went with the army as it proceeded northward through the Carolinas, on to Washington and was present at the grand review.

When the war was ended Mr. Tittsworth again went to Des Moines, Iowa, and later proceeded to Michigan and to Chicago. In that city, meeting an old acquaintance, he was enabled to secure a position as cook on a vessel on Lake Michigan, being thus employed for two seasons. In 1868 he went to Wyoming, where he remained until 1880, and the story of his life on the plains of the west was a thrilling one, oftentimes fraught with great hardships and dangers. He became a trapper and hunter, selling the products of his skill to the builders of the Union Pacific Railroad until 1871, when he returned his attention to the ranch, raising horses and cattle in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, and also carrying on business as a drover. He became a noted cowboy and expert trailer. He lived in Wyoming at the time when the gamblers almost ran that country and when no man's life was really safe, but though often the companion of desperate characters whose entire lives showed scarcely a trace of goodness, such was his character and his principles that he came unscathed from the fire. During his residence in the west he visited many parts of Wyoming, Utah, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and other territories, and became a great hunter, killing many deer, elk, mountain sheep, bears and other wild animals. He was connected with one event notable in the history of Colorado--the opening of the Henpeak Mine, when two hundred warriors of the Ute tribe, who had just murdered the Van Dyke party, ordered the Henpeak miners to leave the country. The celebrated scout, Jim Baker, an old companion of Kit Carson and Jim Bridger, was with the miners. He had in early days married several different Indian squaws and was the father of many half-breed Indian children. It is said he could count upon his fingers as many as from twenty to thirty. His son, William, a half breed, then about thirty years of age, was then with him. Jim Baker was very fearless and powerful frontiersman and had killed many Indians. He met the warlike party of Ute's in council and boldly told their chief that he had been to Washington and seen the Great White Father, who had given him that country to Bear River and that they must leave. The chief replied that the whites had killed their buffalo and mined their gold, and he demanded that they leave. Baker seized the chief and roughly jerked him off his horse, telling him he would kill him, and Baker stepped into his camp and seized his rifle, ordered the Indians to leave or he would open fire and the fight would begin at once. The sagacity of the Indians convinced them that discretion was the better part of valor and they departed, and Baker sent three men, one of whom was our subject, to see that they crossed the Bear River.

Among the various experiences of Mr. Tittsworth when a young man struggling to gain a position in life, is his career as a circus man. For one season he was with Yankee Robinson's Circus in Illinois and Iowa, his business being to describe for a side-show the relics left from the burning of Barnum's famous museum in New York. Thus he obtained a wide knowledge of human nature, which has been of great value to him.

The summer ranch of Mr. Tittsworth was in Salt Wells Basin and he wintered his cattle at Brown's Park, Colorado and Utah, which is a deep depression in the ground, the sides rising from four to seven thousand feet.

During his residence in the wilds of the west Mr. Tittsworth always had a faithful companion in his wife, whom he wedded on the 24th of July, 1872. She bore the maiden name of Jean Law and was born in Scotland in 1857, a daughter of George Law, whose birth occurred in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1812. Her mother bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Phillips. Mrs. Tittsworth was one of a family of ten children and it was in Rock Springs, Wyoming, that she was married. She lived with her husband in that wild western country and was often alone :for weeks at a time, save for the company of her little daughter Florence, her husband being away on trading expeditions or acting as guide to parties crossing the desert. For nine months at one time she never saw the face of a woman, white or black. The ranch was fifteen miles from the nearest neighbor and thirty-five miles from the railroad. For nine years Mr. and Mrs. Tittsworth there resided, the year 1880 witnessing their arrival in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where he has now a highly improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres. His home is pleasantly located within a short distance of Avoca and is thoroughly equipped with all modern accessories and conveniences. Mr. Tittsworth has made a specialty of raising and feeding stock and is widely recognized as one of the leading stock-raisers of this portion of the county, and the family residence stands on a natural building site, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country, and its furnishings are attractive and tasteful.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Tittsworth have been born five children: Florence Elizabeth, who was born June 30, 1875, and is the wife of Joseph True, of Knox township; David, who was born January 15, 1877, and is deceased; William D., who was born November 24, 1879, and is now in northern Wyoming; John C., who was born August 23, 1882, and is in Utah; and Bertha B., who was born March 31, 1885, and is a graduate of the Avoca High School. She is now a teacher in the rural schools of the county.

In his political views Mr. Tittsworth has long been a stalwart Republican and fraternally he is connected with the Masonic Lodge and with the commandery. He is likewise a member of the U. S. Grant Post, G. A. R., of Avoca, and thus maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades.

There are few men who can relate from personal experience stories of life in the west so varied and so interesting as can Mr. Tittsworth. In his youth he witnessed events which can never be forgotten and many experiences of the west have also left an indelible impression upon his mind. Today, however, as one sees him amid the quiet surroundings of a beautiful home in Pottawattamie County, it is difficult to realize that his entire life has not been passed in the same way. It is fitting that in his later years he should enjoy the fruits of his former toil. His entire life has been a busy one and he is yet actively engaged in general farming and stock-raising, having a fine herd of Poland China hogs. He is a careful student of high grade stock and his successful experiments in the raising of hogs are the results of careful study and scientific research. He has also made a specialty of the raising of seed corn. Some years ago he started with but one ear of Reed's Yellow Dent seed corn and since that time he has carefully followed up his experiments in the raising of prize corn until today his seed corn is in demand all over the county. His wife has charge of the poultry and fruit products and has won many premiums at county fairs in the exhibits of high-class poultry, fruit, bees and honey. Their home is an attractive residence standing in the midst of a beautiful grove of evergreens and forms one of the loveliest pictures to be met with as one travels over Pottawattamie County.