Charles E. Kittinger Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 286-289

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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CHARLES E. KITTINGER, an extensive land owner of Edmunds county, South 
Dakota, is one of the foremost men of the farming community of Powell 
township. He is a gentleman of exceptional ability and energy, and is 
thoroughly conversant with agricultural pursuits. He is a source of 
information to others less observing or without the practical 
experience of our subject, and is a recognized leader in the community 
where he resides. He is a writer for agricultural papers, and is 
associate editor of the "Dakota Farmer." As a learned gentleman and an 
upright citizen he well merits his high standing with the people of 
Edmunds county. His home is one of the pleasant estates of which Powell 
township may be justly proud. A portrait of Mr. Kittinger appears on 
another page of this volume. 

Our subject was born in Racine county, Wisconsin, January 16, 1860, and 
was the youngest in a family of four children born to Isaac and 
Pricilla (Bernet) Kittinger. His paternal grandfather, John Kittinger, 
and his maternal grandfather, Albert Bernet, were farmers by 
occupation, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New 
Jersey. Our subject's father was born and reared in Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania, and was by trade a carpenter, and was of Swiss descent. 
The mother of our subject was born in Niagara county, New York and was 
of Scotch descent. Both the Kittinger and Bernet families were in 
America previous to the Revolutionary war, and Major Bernet served on 
Washington's staff. Our subject's parents were married in 1845, and in 
1855 moved to Wisconsin. 

Charles E. Kittinger was reared in Caladonia, Racine county, Wisconsin, 
and was given a liberal education, supplementing a common-school 
education with a course at Whitewater Normal, where he graduated in the 
class of 1880. He received a state certificate as teacher and spent 
three years in the school-room as instructor, the last year teaching in 
the Excelsior Business College in Milwaukee. Previous to his normal 
course he had learned cheese-making, and for two years prior to 
teaching had followed that trade. He went to Edmunds county, South 
Dakota, in the spring of 1883, and squatted on land in Powell township, 
none of the land being surveyed at that time. He erected a claim 
shanty, fourteen by sixteen feet, and kept house for himself until his 
sister went to Dakota and located land. During the next two years he 
erected a house and barn and began the improvement of his property. He 
is now the possessor of eight hundred acres of land, about three 
hundred acres of which is under cultivation. He engages in wheat-
growing and cattle raising and has made a success in the pursuit of 
farming. His farm affords more than usual comforts, and he has a fine 
orchard of plum trees and small fruits. In 1897 he established a 
general store on his farm, and in 1899 added a blacksmith shop. 

Our subject was married March 11, 1885, to Miss Nellie Gittings, 
daughter of William and Elizabeth Gittings. The father was a native of 
England, the mother of Wales. The parents emigrated to Racine, 
Wisconsin, where Nellie Gittings was born. She died in December, 1885. 

Mr. Kittinger was again married, November 9, 1887, his second wife 
being Alice Smith, daughter of James Smith, a nurseryman in Faulk 
county, and a former horticulturist of Des Moines, Iowa. Four children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kittinger, as follows: Christie, Mary, 
Clarence and Ethel. Mr. Kittinger is a member of the National Farmers' 
Congress, and is an active worker for the principles of the Populist 
party. He is a member of the state central committee for Edmunds 
county, and has attended various conventions as delegate from his 
district. He was nominated by the Populist party in 1898 for state 
senator. He is a silver man and stands firmly for his convictions. As a 
man of progressive, enlightened views he is deservedly held in high 
esteem and respect by his fellow men.