The brothers enlisted (and served together) in Company L, 3rd New York Cavalry until George W. Bitner was “promoted to a Second Lieutenancy and assigned to Co I 1st US Colored Volenteer [sic] Cavalry.” At war’s end, he returned to Indiana, married and had a family.
— Compiled military service records of volunteer Union soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops [microform]: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavalry, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry (1997). Reel 0001 – 1st United States Colored Cavalry: Ackiss, Alexander – Born, John H. ( online at https://archive.org/details/compiledmili0001akesunit/page/n5 ). Bitner’s Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) can be viewed at n1509-n1557.
Invalid — 954,462 / 737,794
Widow –729,370 / 509,352, Inez C. Bitner
General Affidavit, Charles I. Barbour, 20 February 1891
56 years old; residence, Warsaw, Indiana … “That he has been intimately acquainted with said George W. Bitner for more than fifteen years”
Sworn Statement, Wilbur N. Funk, 24 February 1891
33 years old; residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana … “That he has been very well acquainted with [George W. Bitner] for about twelve years … that he gets the knowledge of the foregoing facts [i.e. Bitner’s afflictions] from personal observation, he having seen him almost every day during said time”
Sworn Statement, James W. Comstock, 23 January 1894
47 years old; residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana … “personally acquainted with [George W. Bitner] for the last 28 years. That I have lived as his neighbor worked with him, visited [?] him almost daily during all this time. … [he has been] unable to perform more than the 1/4 manual labor that he formerly did …”
Sworn Statement, Andrew G. Wood, 23 January 1894
32 years old; residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana … “personally acquainted with [George W. Bitner] for the last 15 years. That I live neighbor to him and have seen him almost daily and for most of this time on an average I would meet him at least once a day, have conversed with him frequently.”
Sworn Statement, William D. Alleman [sp?], 23 January 1894
32 years old; residence, Warsaw, Indiana … “personally acquainted with [George W. Bitner] for the last 15 years; that I live neighbor to him and have seen him almost daily and for most of that time on an average I would meet him at least once a day, have conversed with him frequently.”
Sworn Statement, C.W. Burkett, M.D., 23 January 1894
55 years old; residence, Warsaw, Indiana … “now and has been a practicing physician in said city for over 25 years; that he is personally acquainted with [George W. Bitner] for over 25 years …”
Sworn Statement, Andrew G. Wood, 23 January 1894
59 years old; residence, Warsaw, Indiana … “personally acquainted with [George W. Bitner] for about 28 years; He for a number of years lived next door neighbor to me. I have met him almost daily during this entire time …”
Sworn Statement, Amos Woolley, M.D., 23 January 1894
residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana … “”That he now and has been for 32 years last past a regular practicing physician and surgeon; that he has been intimately acquainted with [George W. Bitner] since the spring of 1868 and is now so intimately acquainted with him that he has been his family physician continuously since the aforesaid date that he now suffers and has been suffering for a long period of time from the effects of a sunstroke which he got while in the service during the late war of the rebellion. This matter affects him in this way. He cannot stand it to work or exercise in the sun when it is warm or the heat makes him dizzy and causes pain in his head and causes general prostration of his whole body and he cannot stand exposure in the cold or such exposure in being out of doors in cold weather gives him pain in the head and his head has the sensation of feeling cold all through the head when he has been out only a bit and he is obliged at once to seek a warm room and for a long period of time he has been suffering and is now suffering with general disability and he is totally disabled to perform hard manual labor all the time that he gets the aforesaid information from his long personal observation and acquainted with the said Geo. W. Bitner.”
Questionnaire (Form 3-402), George W. Bitner, 4 May 1898
[married] Yes, Inez Clara Bitner; Inez Clara Upson
[where, when, by whom] Nov 7th 1866; Warsaw, Indiana; G.W. Wilson
[record] pastor did not furnish any
[previously married] was not previously married
[living children] Yes, 4 living children: Gertrude, Oct 15, 1867; Luise, Feb 25, 1870; Charles, Mch 13, 1876; Harrie Porter B., June 15, 1880
Sworn Statement, George W. Bitner, 21 May 1898
“65 years old … duly enrolled at the Indianapolis Pension Agency at the rate of $8.00 per month by reason of disability resulting from “cataracts and general debility” rendering him partially unable to gain a support by manual labor … Also personally appeared Benj. W. Carr and Nicholas P. Cook residing at Warsaw, Indiana persons who I certify to be respectable and entitled to credit … they have every reason to believe from the appearance of said claimant and their acquaintance with him … that they know his disability is in no way the result of vicious habits for he has none.”
Mortgage, Inez C. Bitner & George W. Bitner to Charles H. Bitner, 4 May 1899
“This indenture witnesseth, that Inez C. Bitner and George W. Bitner, her husband of Kosciusko County, in the state of Indiana, mortgage and warrant to Charles H. Bitner of Kosciusko County, in the state of Indiana the following real estate, situate in Kosciusko County, in the state of Indiana, to-wit the south half (1/2) of lot #285 in original plat of the town, now city, of Warsaw in said county and state to secure the payment, when the same shall become due, of one certain promissory note of said date herein calling for six hundred dollars with six percent interest from date, interest due on or before six years after date signed by Inez C. Bitner and payable to Charles H. Bitner. It is understood and agreed that one hundred dollars or more may be paid or said note at the end of any year that the whole of the money gotten on said note has been used and is to be used in improving the separate real estate of the said Inez C. Bitner and for other purposes.
Inez C. Bitner
George W. Bitner”
General Affidavit, James W. Cook & Charles O. Davis, 28 December 1900
[Cook] 54 years old; residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana …
[Davis] 37 years old; residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana …
“That the claimant Inez C. Bitner lived with the soldier George W. Bitner to the date of this death as his wife; that the claimant has not remarried since the death of the soldier. The claimant owns the south half of lot number 285 in the original plat of the town — now city — of Warsaw, in Kosciusko County, in the state of Indiana. That the above property with the house thereon is worth in our judgment twelve hundred dollars, and that the same is occupied by a claimant as a residence. That claimant has no other property either real, personal or mixed. That her income per month since November 3d 1900, has been really nothing. That since the death of her husband she has been supported by contributions from her children. That no person is legally bound for her support. Affiant John W. Cook says for himself separately that he has been well and familiarly acquainted with claimant and her husband since 1880. And the affiant Charles O. Davis for himself says that he has been intimately acquainted with claimant and her said husband since 1894.”
General Affidavit, Inez C. Bitner, 28 December 1900
“Neither I nor my said husband George W. Bitner had been married previously to our marriage to each other on November 7th 1866 … of us has been married to That I have not sold any real estate … that I own in fee the south half of lot 285 in the now city of Warsaw in Kosciusko County in the state of Indiana worth about $1200, and household goods worth about $125 … My income per month since November 1900 from all sources has been nothing.”
[Note: There’s a line or crease in the area that describes the lot; it obscures what appears to be a partial date of “3rd 1900.” — Leslie]
Sworn Statement, Melvin A. Wilcox, 5 January 1901 [date stamped as received by Pension Bureau]
“[F]or the year 1900 … And there is borne on the records of said county in the name of Inez C. Bitner the south half of Lot number 285 in the original plat of the town — now city of Warsaw in said county; That said lot is assessed for taxation at $865.00; That in my opinion said assessed valuation is about three-fourths of the real value of said property; And there is borne on the records of said county, in the name of said Inez C. Bitner personal property of the assessed value of $none; That there is borne on said records in the name of George W. Bitner for 1900, personal property of the assessed valuation of $70.00; That in my opinion said valuation is about two-thirds of the real value of said property
Melvin A. Wilcox
Auditor — Kosciusko County”
General Affidavit, Samuel Bitner, 2 January 1901
62 years old; “I am a brother of the deceased soldier … He was about six years older than I and I always lived with him in the family and near to him until his death except while he was absent in the army. I have lived in the same town with him ever since his marriage to Inez C. Bitner in November 1866 …”
General Affidavit, William A. Bitner, 11 January 1901
63 years old; residence, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois; post-office, 5603 Aberdeen St., … “I am a brother of the deceased soldier George W. Bitner. I knew him intimately and well from our childhood all the years up to September 18th, 1861 when he and I enlisted in Co. L 3rd New York Cavalry in which I served with him until in November 1863 when he was promoted to Second Lieutenancy and assigned to Company I 1st US Colored Volunteer Cavalry. That I knew him intimately after his discharge until his marriage in November 1866 to Inez C. Upson at Warsaw, Indiana. and I know from my personal knowledge and my intimate acquaintance with him that he had never been married until his said marriage to Inez C. Upson. I further declare that I have no interest in said case and that I am not concerned in its prosecution.”
General Affidavit, Joseph S. Baker, 14 January 1901
62 years old; residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana; post-office address, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana … “That I first became acquainted with Inez C. Upson in 1853. She was then a child about five or six years old. I have known her intimately each year and all the time since. She was married to George W. Bitner in November 1866.”
General Affidavit, Silas W. Chipman, 14 January 1901
74 years old; residence, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana; post-office address, Warsaw, Kosciusko Co., Indiana
“That I have known the claimant Inez C. Bitner each and every year since her birth. She was married in November 1866 to George W. Bitner and she and said soldier lived together as husband and wife until his death in the fall of the year 1900 … Her maiden name was Inez C. Upson… “
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 