Joseph van Beuren Wittmann

married three times

• Elizabeth, by who bore son Joseph vB Wittmann, II
  • (on his mother's side and her mother's side) the couple was old New Amsterdam in the DeBrugh / Grevenraedt families
• Jane Camilla Lynch, a widow from North Carolina (or of an annulled marriage or divorce)> maiden name resumed
  • two children
• Marion, a divorcée (c. 1949)
  • no children

Note: Joseph had two other children living at the time of his death in 1969: see: https://www.newspapers.com/image/118005699/?terms=hassayampa%2Bvan%... = Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) 22 Apr 1969, Tue Page 2

1. Cecilia Wittmann of California
2. Mrs. Richard Kimball, then living in Pakistan ...~• as these are never mentioned by Joseph his son in later life and that they don't show up in his 1st wife's household either, we may assume their mother is Jane Camilla Lynch ... also, in the obit. for his last wife, a step daughter Tina Kimball of Hopkington NH is mentioned ( https://www.newspapers.com/image/124830169/?terms=%22Joseph%2Bvan%2... )
   
   

(two grandchildren noted and unnamed)

his son? http://arcade.nyarc.org:80/record=b1057135~S7

http://www.oocities.org/rocki47/wittmannsaga.html > recalls the last efforts for a dam in the 1940s

Joseph van Beuren Wittmann family traces back to the:

THE WALNUT GROVE DAM DISASTER

Long History of Disaster

NADABURG IS RENAMED WITTMANN
TO HONOR A MAN WITH PROMISES

Joseph and Eleanor Wittmann were spared from the flood of 1889 and soon returned to New York. In 1907, Eleanor gave birth to their only child, Joseph Van Beuren Wittmann.
The senior Joseph traveled to Arizona once a year to look over the family's holdings.The youngest Joseph grew up in the east. Not until the early 1920's did he take on the dream of his father. There was little talk of rebuilding the Walnut Grove Dam and the project was abandoned until 1925, when Wittmann inherited the property following Van Beuren's death. He hired William A. Farish to re-survey the area. After five years of study, Farish concluded that rebuilding the two dams was not practical. Once again the project was abandoned.

While the senior Wittmann was working on plans to build another dam on the Hassayampa at Box Canyon, young Joe taught singing as the choirmaster at Morristown while also serving as an attorney. During this time, he met William Hovey Griffin , the first homesteader of the area known as Nadaburg. Griffin's .. dream of bringing water to the area helped fire Wittmann's own dream of irrigating the desert.

"In November, 1929, Wittmann filed the Wittmann Irrigation Project using the survey done by W.A. Farish. The plan also referred to as the Box Reservoir, called for bringing water from the Hassayampa down through Morristown and on to Nadaburg. The finances needed for the project were enormous. The few families in the Nadaburg area were all poor, but had fairly large tracts of land. An agreement was reached wherein many of Nadaburg's land owners gave three-quarters of their land to Wittmann to help finance the project".

"Belief in Wittmann and his dreams was still running high in the mid 1930's. By mutual agreement, the town's name was officially changed to Wittmann, to honor him. But by 1946, there was still no dam and no irrigation water. A group of residents filed suit for the return of their properties. Eventually, they would recover approximately one-half. Though there was talk of changing the town's name back to Nadaburg, it was never done. Wittmann returned to the east coast and was apparently not seen in Wittmann again." ~• In fact: Wittmann returned West: First to CA and then to Phoenix AZ where he ran a hotel. This Joseph van Beuren Wittmann died at home in AZ. Also, it was widely known that US Govt. money would be needed to fund the project... It never materialized, {analysis by MMvB, distant cousin}

• Tax ruling involving the 'Will of his mother, Eleanor van Beuren Wittmann describes certain aspects of her son's life.
• Walnut Grove by Jim Liggett
  • Library of Congress Control Number: 2009938080 : ISBN: 0-9765591-2-9 ; Pathfinder Publishing, 51662 US 60/89, Wickenburg, AZ 85390

other details of interest (from https://www.leagle.com/decision/195264411gktcm6331452 ) Concerning his father who died in 1942

"During the period from the death of Mrs. Wittman to his own death, decedent assumed the full support of his son, Joseph. Joseph was never gainfully employed until after decedent's death.