Notes for Joseph Butler Langley Bittick
Known as "Texas Joe".
Listed in the Pioneer Roster of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, 3-184. [Courtesy of Dorothy L. Miller]
He joined the California Gold Rush where he mined and farmed. He appears in Tuolumne Co, California census records in 1851.
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Joseph B. L. Bittick enlisted with Co. G, 1st Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers on May 25, 1847 as a private to serve twelve months in federal service in the war with Mexico. On July 31, 1847 he transferred to P. Hansbrough Bell’s Regiment, Middleton T. Johnson’s Company of Texas Mounted Volunteers. He was discharged from service in the Mexican War on May 24, 1848 .
Shortly after his discharge he joined the California Gold Rush. In 1849 Joseph rode the southern Gila River Trail to California with a 52 man party under Isaac H. Duval. Many of these men had also served in the Mexican War. Their journey to California took them through parts of Mexico with which they were familiar. [The Gila Trail: The Texas Argonauts and the California Gold Rush, Benjamin Butler Harris--Courtesy of Dorothy L. Miller who has a copy.]. After arriving in California, Joseph mined and farmed, and he appears in Tuolumne Co, California census records in 1851.
On 20 October 2007, there was presentation ceremony of the Texas Ranger Memorial Cross by the Former Texas Rangers Association at the Dudleyville Cemetery, Dudleyville, Pinal County, Arizona. 2007 marks 160 years since twenty-two year old Joseph B. L. Bittick enlisted in Company G, 1st Regiment of the Texas Mounted Volunteers as a Private and served one year of service to his country during the Mexican War.
Joseph is the first Bittick to have the Ranger Memorial Cross added to his headstone. Joseph is the second Bittick to be recognized for his Texas Ranger Service. George Crittenden Bittick, older brother of Joseph, died on September 15, 1864 while on patrol as a Texas Ranger in Uvalde County, Texas and is buried in an unmarked grave. John Cary Bittick, Sheriff of Monroe County, Georgia, is responsible for both Joseph and George being recognized and honored as Texas Rangers.
According to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame & Museum in a letter to John Cary Bittick, from 1846 to 1848, during the war with Mexico, five companies of Mounted Volunteers under P. Hansbrough Bell were the only men left at home to defend the Texas frontier. George Crittenden Bittick and Joseph Butler Langley Bittick were in one of those companies. These companies provided invaluable service protecting the frontier from Indians or served as scouts. They furnished their own arms, mounts and equipment. On July 31, 1847, Joseph transferred to P. Hansbrough Bell’s Regiment, Middleton T. Johnson’s Company of Texas Mounted Volunteers by order of Colonel John ‘Jack’ Coffee Hays. He was discharged from service on May 24, 1848.
More about the Texas Rangers can be found at: http://www.texasrangers.org.
A note in the records of Shelby County shows that Company ‘E’ and Capt. Truit’s Company, in the 1st Regiment Texas Cavalry, subsequently became Capt. Handley’s Company, 1st Regiment (Hays) Texas Mounted Volunteers. ‘E’ and ‘G’ stand for the same unit.
Bitticks, Joseph B.L.
Rank: Pvt
Company: G
Age: 22
Value of horse and equip: $100
Enlisted: 25 May 1847 for twelve months service
Mustered In: Austin , Texas
Transferred: 31 July 1847 to Capt. Middleton T. Johnson’s Co. , P. Hansbrough Bell’s Regiment, Texas Rangers by order of Col. J. C. HaysDischarged: 24 May 1848 by reason of expiration of term of service
Mexican War - Pensions
Joseph B.L. Bittick
Rank: Private
Armstrong & Johnsons Companys
Hay’s Texas Mtd. Vols.
Date of Filling: Jan 14, 1889
Class: Mex. Service
Application No. #21009
Certificate No.: 19221
Act: Jan 29, 1887
State: California
[for more information about the posthumous recognition of Joseph B. L. as a Texas Ranger and ceremony placing a Texas Ranger Cross at his grave, see Other Documents-Military Records: Joseph Butler Langley Bittick]
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Newspapers of Stockton, California
17 May 1856
J.B.L. Bittick to Eliza G. Summers, the 27th, by Wm. C. Pingree, all of Stanislaus Co.
[Gold Rush Days, Vol IV, 1856-1963, The San Joaquin Genealogy Society, 1980, courtesy of Dorothy L. Miller]
They divorced before 05 November 1889 when Joseph married Susan (Turpin) McKinney.
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Courtesy of Dorothy L. Miller:
See Other Documents--Biographical article on Joseph Butler Langley Bittick, A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Merced, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa, California, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892
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John Outcalt, History of Merced County, California : with a biographical review of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present; Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic Record Co., 1925, 903 pgs.
p. 280
"At the special judicial election on October 16, 1867, James W. Robertson was elected county judge; Erastus Eagleson and William S. Weed, justices of the peace for Township One; E. Hunter and Reuben Hail, justices of the peace for Township Two; and Joseph Bittick justices of the peace for Township Three. On November 6, 1868, H. B. Jolley was appointed a justice of the peace for Township Three."
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On January 14, 1889 he received his survivors pension for services in the Mexican War.
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Joseph B. L. Bittick Census Enumerations:
1850/1851 Township No 1, Tuolumne Co, California, 27 April 1851, p135b:
#770/770 Billocks Jos. B.L. 23 m w miner Tx
1860 Township No 2, Tules River PO, Tulare Co, California 25 July 1860, p25:
#197/197 Joseph Biddits 32 m w farmer $-/1500 Texas
Eliza 21 f w house keeper Kentucky
Henry 3 m w California
Albert 1 m w California
John Biddits 40 m w farmer Arkansas
1870 Snelling PO, Merced Co, California 24 June 1870, p251a:
#82/67 Bettick Joseph 42 m w farmer US Citizen Alabama
Eliza G. 30 f w keeping house Kentucky
Henry N. 13 m w California
Albert C. 11 m w California
Ashby H. 7 m w California
1880 Township 5, Range 13, Snelling, Merced Co, California, 12 June 1880, ed42, p340b:
#181/110 Bittick Joseph w m 52 md farmer Ar Tn Ga
Eliza w f 41 wife md keeping house Ky Ky Ky
Henry M. [N.] w m 23 son single laborer Ca Ar Ky
Albert w m 21 son single laborer Ca Ar Ky
Ashbury H. w m 17 son single laborer Ca Ar Ky
James A. w m 7 son single Ca Ar Ky [could he be George?]
McSwain James w m 35 [boarder?] single farm Mo Mo Ky
Summers Elizabeth w f 79 mother [in-law] widow Ky don't know don't know [a line is drawn thru this entry]
1900 Burbank Township, Los Angeles Co, California 14 June 1900, p6b:
#165/165 Bittick Joseph BL head w m Jun 1828 71 md 11 yrs, pensioner Tx Tn Ga
Susan S. wife w f Jun 1842 58 md 11y Mo Ky Va
Emerson Lottie Lorina boarder w f Dec 1877 22 single In In In
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[see Tombstone photos]
Buried: Bittick Cemetery, Dudleyville, Pinal Co, Arizona
For Joseph & Eliza's grave marker and a new tombstone & Texas Ranger Cross on his grave, see Cemeteries & Tombstones: Joseph Butler Langley Bittick.
Hugh and Betty Bittick Neal replaced the saguaro cactus which marked the graves of Joseph and Eliza after the cactus rotted with the current wooden marker.
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