Doc Tilton House
~ by Julia Pearson
When the pandemic brought a great pause to people’ s lives, Jill Lane felt the beckoning of her Indiana roots.
Born in South Bend to teachers, Margaret and Lester Daniels, Jill was the middle child to brother, Eric, and sister, Leslie Ann. Her homebase was in New Mexico, where she had been inducted into the New Mexico Tourism Hall of Fame in 2018. She was known to
many fans of her blog,“ Jack’ s Dog Blog Travelogue,” that chronicled her travels with her beloved bulldog, Jack, as they ventured forth and reported on petfriendly travel. Her famous sidekick Jack died in August of 2019.
A real estate listing for the historic Tilton house in Nashville immediately caught Jill’ s attention. She had graduated from Indiana University and family members were living in
photo by Jack E. Harden
Bloomington, making a relocation to Brown County an attractive retirement option.
Located at 23 North Jefferson Street, by the Village Green, tax records show the Victorian home was built in the late 1800s by William Pittman. It was purchased by James Lewis Tilton and his wife, Sarah Jane, both descendants of early Brown County pioneers who emigrated from Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Tilton taught school for fifteen years, and over time was also a farmer, assessor, and postmaster. He was elected as a Van Buren Township trustee in 1874. In 1888, he moved to the Jefferson Street address with his family, including sons, Frank and Ray, and daughter, Mamie. The Tiltons were the proverbial pillars of the growing community, opening a general store on the northwest corner of Van Buren and Main. A fuel pump was installed on the south
Frank M. Hohenberger photos: Ruth Tilton, 1950 and town square, 1934.
36 Our Brown County • July / August 2023