Bureau County IL Archives Newspapers.....Kitterman, Michael - Pioneer
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Terasa pcuser@horizon.hit.net July 1998


BUREAU COUNTY INFORMATION

Pioneer Kitterman helped build Tiskilwa Mills-Bureau Co. Republican 
-26 July 1984

Michael Kitterman was born in Franklin County, Virginia, near Rocky
Mount, the county seat, about the beginning of the year 1800.  He 
found his way to Indiana as an orphan boy, stopping in Harrison 
County on August 18, 1826.  He married Miss Lydia Clark in Perry 
County, Indiana.  She was a native of Nelson County, Kentucky.

In 1828 he came west to look at the country and make plans.  He liked 
what he saw and decided to prepare a home for his wife and babies.  
He arrived with with a saddle horse and $4.00.  So he hired out for 
$9.00 a month to a man named Hall.  He worked for Hall about six 
months.  He would "rest on Sunday" by getting out a few logs to build 
a cabin.

Kitterman went back to Indiana to get his family.  Arriving with his 
family, he found that his cabin had been seized by "Curt" Williams, 
the notorious "claim jumper".  Williams did leave during the Black 
Hawk War, and Arthur Bryant improved the property.  But Williams 
returned, much to the dismay of Kitterman and Bryant.  The two talked 
it over, and they were able to rid themselves of Williams for $20.00. 
This was Section 16.  During the trouble with Williams, Kitterman 
made a stake further south that became his permanent home.

When the mills were built in Bureau County, Michael Kitterman was 
involved.  Here is his own story in his own words:

When the mills were built I went up to the Fox River and got a grist. 
When I wanted salt I had to go to Chicago.  It would take me eight 
days to go up and eight days to come back.  I took my food along:  
when I was there once I wanted some whiskey;  I went all over chicago 
for it.  Well I went into a saloon and the keeper said:  "I've got a 
five-gallon jug."  Well what will you fill it for?  Says he:  "I'll 
put in the five gallons and give you the jug for a dollar."  I took 
it.  I lived under the wagon as I came home, and had all the whiskey 
I wanted to drink.

This quotation is taken from Bradsby's History of Bureau County.  
Bradsby describes Kitterman as "big-hearted, big-brained, though 
unlettered- a superb type of grand old pioneer."

The Kittermans had six sons and four daughters.  They were one of the 

The Kitterman cabin, the second cabin he built after losing the first 
to the claim jumper, was located near Tiskilwa.  It was on the 
Tiskilwa-Princeton road on the right side of the road, a short 
distance from the present canal bridge as you drive toward Princeton.

In 1846, Kitterman built a brick home on the left side of the road, 
crossing the canal and heading for Princeton.  The bricks for the 
home were made by Kitterman and Mr. Gosse of Princeton.

There is a picture of Michael with the article.

Note:  As with all stories handed down through the years about family 
members, a lot of the facts are lost and new facts are added.

Michael was not left an "orphan".  His father died in 1811, when 
Michael was 11 years old. Anna Danner Kitterman continued to buy and
sell land in Franklin County.  Anna Kitterman and eleven of her 
children, some of which were married and had children, came to 
Harrison County, Indiana arriving there in time to make the 1820
census.  Before the 1830 census, Anna and all her children except two 
sons, John and Zachariah had moved to Perry County, Clark township, 
in Indiana.  They are listed there in the 1830 census.  Michael left 
Indiana and went to Bureau County  in 1828.  He returned to Indiana 
and made the 1830 census and shortly after this took his wife and 2 
children and his wife's parents along with other members of the 
family and neighbors to live in Bureau County, Illinois.

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