SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Horace Tibbitts, Page 328

HORACE TIBBITTS comes from one of the pioneer families of Sheboygan County.  As he has spent the greater portion of his life in the neighborhood of his present home, Hingham, he is very well known to the people of the community.  He is a native of Waldo County, Me., born January 6, 1842, and is next to the youngest of nine children whose parents were Benjamin and Sarah (Clark) Tibbitts.  A fuller history of this worthy couple appears in the sketch of their son, Lemuel T.

    Two years before Wisconsin was admitted as a State, or in 1846, Horace Tibbitts, a lad of five years, came with his parents to Sheboygan County.  He attended the district schools and passed his youth on the frontier farm of his father.  When he was nineteen, he offered his services to his country, becoming a member of Company I, First Wisconsin Infantry, under Capt. Rogers and Col. John C. Starkweather.  He was sworn into service October 9, 1861, and went to Camp Scott, near Milwaukee, his regiment being later assigned to the division of the army commanded by Gen. Buell.  This department operated in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, and, being afterwards placed in Gen. Rosecran's army, was known as the Department of the Cumberland.  The first skirmish in which our subject took part was the battle of Perryville, Ky., where the army suffered severely, and his brother Arthur was slightly wounded.  The next battle of note was at Stone River, and soon after he went on the Sherman campaign under Gen. Thomas, and was in the battles of Resaca, Dallas, and others up to the engagement at Chickamauga, on September 19 and 20, 1863.  He was all through that hard-fought battle and was twice wounded, once in the left side of his collar-bone, after which he was crippled by a wound in his left leg, as the result of which he was three months in the hospital.  On his recovery, he joined his regiment and participated in the Atlanta campaign, being engaged in hard fighting for weeks before the city surrendered.  On the 1st of September, 1864, he was in the battle of Jonesboro, south of Atlanta, which decided the fate of that city.  At this time his term of service expired, and October 13, 1864, he received an honorable discharge at Milwaukee.

    On New Year's Day of 1866, Mr. Tibbitts married Miss Maggie Simpson, who was born in Scotland, April 11, 1846.  To them have been born two sons and three daughters, one of whom is deceased.  Jennie is a successful teacher, having been educated in the public schools of Hingham; Ora, who is a student at Plymouth, has also been engaged in teaching; Veota will graduate in the Class of '94 in the Waldo High School; Fay, the youngest of the family, is the pet of the household.  The mother was a maiden of eight summers when she came to America with her parents, who located in Sheboygan County in 1854.  They are both now deceased.  Mrs. Tibbitts is a lady of good education, and after leaving the common schools, entered the seminary at Monroe, Mo.

    In politics, Mr. Tibbitts is a Republican, and cast his first vote for the Martyr President, Abraham Lincoln.  He is known to be a good friend to the public schools, and is active in promoting the cause of education.  Socially, he is a member of A. O. Heald Post No. 192, G. A. R., at Cascade, Wis.  He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  He deserves to be classed among the prominent citizens of Lima Township, where he is much respected by all.