History of the Samuel Curtis Family
This is the booklet that Maynard Curtis assembled in 1966. In
retyping it, I left in the spelling and punctuation, as I think
it is important to see it as he actually wrote it.
HISTORY OF THE
SAMUEL F CURTIS AND ICY DORA ZUMWALT FAMILY
Some interesting incidents gathered from extensive research.
Edited by Maynard D Curtis
Foreword: It is the innermost desire of most people to think about
the past, to live again their childhood days, to reminesce in general
their youthful associates, both friendly and otherwise; the uttered
words that indelibly left their impression on the flyleaf of the soul
culminating into an estatic shrine that will live forever, as a
memorial to the past.
Several of the Curtis children have expressed a desire that a record
of some sort be made concerning the activities of the family in
general, a record of the places where once we lived and other
pertinent facts, including dates, as near as possible. With this in
mind Amos and Maynard took time out and made a trip during the month
of July, 1966, gathering considerable data, and combining it with
information already at hand feel that this record will be of interest
to all the Curtis children in general, as well as their offsprings.
On our trip, July 5th, We left Peoria early in the morning. Anna
had been ill, had suffered a slight stroke, but was able to start to
work again, papering and painting. She still had that winning smile,
and our visit with her was short but sweet. Donald, (Anna’s boy,
Richard’s son), was staying with her. Don is 16 years old, a fine
boy, fair-minded, and a scholar with high grades.
On the road leading from Peoria on down to Pittsfield, (where
mother and dad were married in 1888), we found it lined with beautiful
fields of corn, and wooded countryside. Many squirrels and
cottontails scurried across the highway and some failed to scurry fast
enough and left their little bodies laying on the road. Someone
evidently ran over a skunk, and the skunk when he saw he was going to
get hit, folded his little hands and said, “Let us spray!”
Quite a few patches of wild roses grace the roadside, just as in
boyhood days. We even sang a few songs as the miles flew by, and of
course, “Where the river’s gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois,” had to
be one of them.
We stopped at Griggsville, “The Martin City of the World.” Along
the Main street was lined dozens of martin homes, elevated to a
comfortable height on metal poles. Several thousand pair of martins
have their homes here, a sight to behold.
Our next stop was New Salem, Illinois, and after Amos got thru
taking pictures we headed north out of town, on a gravel road, and
didn’t go very far until we met a mail-carrier, (Mr. Ted Stoeffer),
who was around 60 years old. He said he remembered Sam Curtis, and
vaguely some of the older boys. He also called to mind some of the
neighbors who lived around New Salem at that time. He was helpful in
getting us on the right track, and showing us how to get to the old
Fisk place.
As we neared Baylis, the city water tower loomed up, and Amos
took a picture of it, along with several other views of the town.
Mrs. Jessie Holmes lives here.
After dinner we started to find the old home sites. North of
Baylis, we found the old Powell place. The barn and house had burned
down. The road is graveled leading up the grade from the main road to
the homesite. Weeds as tall as your head grow all over the area where
the buildings used to stand. The fields are still cultivated. Much
of it is hayland, with red clover and alfalfa as the main hay crops.
We had a flat tire just as we arrived here. We ate dinner at Baylis,
eating at the only restaurant in town. It was not air-conditioned,
and altho’ the food was good, the water was terrible.
We visited the Ceburn, Powell, Fisk, and Collier places today.
The Collier place has a new house built on it, but the barn is the
original one, and in fair condition.
We had no trouble finding the old Fisk place. We drove from the
main gravel road down past the Old McLaughrey’s place until we came to
a gate that used to be the entrance to our old homesite. The fence
around Doane’s pasture was still standing, but had been repaired
several times. The bridge between the Fisk place south of the house
is gone.
With a little reconnoitering, the area that once was the yard and
barnlot appeared natural. Cattle were still grazing in the old
Doane’s pasture, where Bessie once rolled down the hill covered with
bumble bees, and altho’ having been stung several times on the way
down, jumped up at the bottom of the hill and exclaimed, “Boys, wasn’t
I going some?”
The old well is partly filled in. All the buildings are gone,
but it is easy to tell where the house once stood, because of the
indentation in the ground where the cellar door was. It was easy to
locate the spot where the cane mill stood, and the pummy pile where
the larger boys used to turn handsprings from the top of it. A field
of blooming red clover covers the area where the buildings stood. The
old road leading down the hill to’ward the Allen’s place is still
passable, but the creek had dried up leaving only scattered pools of
water. The timber on both sides of the road was about like it used to
be when we lived there, some of it being large enough for saw logs.
Our next stop was at Nebo:
There we found a relative, Humphrey Zumwalt, and also one closer
elated, Alonzo Zumwalt, a son of Marion Zumwalt who was one of grandpa
Henry Zumwalt’s brothers. Arriving at Alonzo’s house, which was about
3 blocks from the Postoffice, we found Alonzo’s wife in her back yard
picking green beans. Amos greeted her by reminding her it was pretty
hot to be working like that, to which she agreed and made us
comfortable until she could telephone Alonzo. Very shortly, “Lon,” as
she called him, showed up, a man of 73 years, very spry and mentally
alert.
When Lon found out we were interested in the Zumwalt family tree,
he became interested at once, as his son Homer was also a family tree
fan, and when Amos told him we were interested in locating grandpa
Zumwalt’s old home place site near Nebo, Illinois, he offered to go
along with us and show us where it was. We were thankful for his
help, as he led us right to it without any trouble. We found out the
home place is owned by a residenter in Nebo. In getting to the place,
we left the main gravel road leading east out of Nebo, to our right,
turning down a lane, and passing thru 3 gates. The furthur we went
the rougher became the road, and it wasn’t long until Amos began to
recognize the land, and he remarked it sure did remind him of the days
of his youth when he used to ride over that same road with grandpa in
a big wagon. Emotional tension grew as we neared the home site,
especially when he saw the same old spring coming out of the side of
the hill that used to supply grandma and grandpa with water. A mound
of dirt left a land mark where the old cave was located, where grandpa
used to cool his watermelons, and where he stored his winter supply of
vegetables. The contour of the land held much significance to Amos,
in placing the location of the house and barn, altho’ the buildings
had long dissappeared. Visiting this site didn’t mean as much to me
as it did to Amos, as I was too young when grandpa Henry Zumwalt moved
away from the farm in 1899 to Busch, Missouri, a short distance south
of St. Louis, Missouri on a farm, where he lived until his death.
Alonzo lived in Calhoun County at the time grandpa lived on the old
home place. Lon has three sons, Philip, Homer, and Wayne. (Philip
was killed in world war two.)
One story we heard concerning grandpa Henry Zumwalt: It seemed he
had a beetree on his land, but a neighbor knew also of it’s location,
and one night attempted to cut it. Because of the noise, grandpa
heard them and went down and found them cutting the tree. Grandpa
asked them to kindly leave and stop cutting the tree, as he may want
to cut it later. They did not respond to grandpa’s request and when
grandpa returned in about an hour, they were still hard at it. In the
dark, grandpa shot at the party, and we are told that one of the
fellows, who was sprayed with buckshot, ran all the way home and fell
in the door, exclaiming, “Oh, my God, I’m shot thru the heart!”
It was while Grandpa and grandma Zumwalt lived near Nebo, and
mother was a girl in her teens that this episode took place. It
seemed that old Uncle Dave Miller, a fish peddler, often visited the
Zumwalts on his routine stops thru that part of the country. For
several weeks old Uncle Dave had failed to show up, and when he
finally did, it was as a surprise to grandma. She greeted him gladly,
and offered him a chair. “Well, Uncle Dave,” she began, “Where in the
world have you been keeping yourself, we had just about gave you up,
and we heard that you were dead?”
With seeming grave concern and in his usual droll manner
replied, “Well, Mrs. Zumwalt, I heard that too, -- but I knew it was a
lie as soon as I heard it.”
Another story mother told about Uncle Dave. He had bought a new
farm, and was bragging it up. “Yes sir-ee, Mrs. Zumwalt, I just
bought me a farm, a good farm, Yeller as gold, yes sir-ee, yeller as
gold.”
He was planning on raising beef cattle on this farm, and was
expounding that possibility. “You know Mrs. Zumwalt, beefsteak is
good, and mighty good, and there’s lots of good eating in a beef. The
hookey-bone comes up for a load, and just sails for the paunch.”
In the following data an effort has been made to include some
memorial words or actions relative to all the progeny of the Samuel F.
Curtis family. Some incidents may seem relatively insignificant, but
not intentionally.
NEBO, ILLINOIS 1888-1895
Samuel F. Curtis, and Icy Dora Zumwalt were married here, July 31,
1888. Daddy Curtis was 22 years old, and mother was not quite 15
years old. They were married in Pittsfield, Illinois, by County
Judge, Mr. J. Patterson, in the presence of Eliza Zumwalt and Savana
McClary.
Edward Henry Curtis, Roy Clarence Curtis and John Andrew Curtis
were born in and around Nebo, Illinois.
BAYLISS, ILLINOIS 1896 TO 1904 (early spring)
The Duntson Place; This place consisted of an acre of land, and
there was a large tree in the corner. Uncle Ike Johnson would come
and milk his cow under the tree. Mrs. Turner had mother and Amos over
for a meal and the piece of meat Amos had for dinner was real tough.
As he was chewing on the meat, he looked up at Mrs. Turner and
inquired of her, “Is this the ear?”
The Wabash railroad ran thru Baylis, and it was remembered by
mother how the “Cannon Ball”, the fast limited train would wake up the
countryside with it’s loud shrill whistle, during the night.
Amos R. Curtis and William J. Curtis were born in Baylis.
COLLIER PLACE 1904 to 1906
Maynard D Curtis and Bessie May Curtis were born at this place.
Amos recalls an episode that took place here, between him and
John. It seems that they were in the garden, watching the blackbirds
which were flying around in large numbers, possibly eating the fruit
and making an undesirable scene. Altho’ Amos was only 7 and John 9
years of age, a conference was held between them concerning the
blackbirds, and it was decided that the blackbirds needed a good
cursing, John was to start in first and curse them with every vile
work in his vocabulary, and Amos was to follow in the same indignant
way.
It is anybodys guess which one rendered the most forceful swear
words, but when they finished both were satisfied that the blackbirds
got what was coming to them in no uncertain words. But it so happened
that Amos and John got what was coming to them also, as mother was
inadvertantly picking pole beans in hearing distance and felt it was
her duty to apply the peach limb, after which followed a lecture on
how little boys should control their speech.
At this place Bill climbed into a cherry tree, and when he partly
lost his balance, go hung by his sweater top, and the older boys had
to loose him, and take him down.
POWELL PLACE 1906 to 1908
Anna Laura Curtis was born here.
On this place, Old Boxer, our horse, that had served the family
faithfully for many years, became so old and worn out that dad thought
he ought to be gotten rid of. He asked Ed to take him down in the
back field, in a gully and shoot him. This, no doubt, is the hardest
thing that Ed ever done.
Many happy hours were spent here by the Curtis brothers. The
hill that led from the barn, down to the road, was a good coasting
place for the old buggy, which was used for that purpose. The shalves
were taken off the buggy and ropes were attached to the front axels
for guiding purposes. Hay was placed on the bed of the buggy, and one
time Roy was delegated to ride it down the hill. All went well until
the buggy got almost down to the bottom, when the front wheels buckled
and in the spill Roy was hurt. In order to keep his heart from
stopping he was stood on his head for a time until it stopped
fluttering.
Old shep, our big black and white dog went mad under the house,
and died there. Before he died he made considerable noise during his
death throes which scared mother and the children almost out of their
wits.
At this place, Amos set fire to some papers in the yard, on a
windy day, and mother had a hard time putting out the fire. When
mother found out who set the papers on fire a chase ensued. Amos,
during the chase ran in the house, and mom right after him. He ran
into a front bedroon, and dived thru an open screenless window, but
alas, mom was right behind him, and closed the window on Amos, holding
him firm while the paddle was administered.
John loved to ride “Old Skip”, one of the work horses. One day,
while he was riding her around, Old Skip went under a clothes line,
and John was brushed off. In the fall, John suffered a broken arm,
the only broken bone suffered by any of the Children during their
adolescence.
CEBURN PLACE 1908 to 1909
Edward H. Curtis and Sadie Hastings were married while Ed was
living with his parents on this place, July 31, 1908. They lived in
Baylis for a while, and Ed worked on the section for the Wabash
Railroad. Some years later, the Wabash re-routed it’s line, moving it
furthur south. The old Wabash depot has been moved north of Baylis,
and a farmer is now using it as one of his farm buildings. The
original work, “Baylis” is still to be seen on either end of the
building.
This place is where mother tells about dad pouring turpentine on
one of the cows, which had an injured back foot. While mother held
the back foot up in the air, with a rope, dad poured turpentine on the
sore foot. When the turpentine came in contact with the sore foot,
the cow kicked vigorously, and some of the excess turpentine from the
foot flew into dad’s eyes. Dad thought he was done for, and dropping
the bottle screamed, “Oh, my Lord, I’m blind, I’m blind, -where is the
watering tank?”, and while staggering and gropeing for it accidently
fell in.
Amos tells about Roy and the other boys cutting the winter’s
supply of wood with a buzz saw. Roy was off-bearing, throwing the cut
off chunks of wood vigorously back of him. It seemed dad wandered too
close and one piece of wood hit dad on the jaw, which knocked dad out
for a few minutes.
The house and barn still stands on this place, and Maynard
recalls mother asking him to take some umbrellas to the school house,
which was in sight, as it was starting to rain, and altho’ seven years
old, was too timid to leave mom for even so short a distance.
FISK PLACE 1909 to 1912
Nina Florence Curtis was born here.
At this place dad had a fine mare that had a prize colt. He
needed the mare to cultivate corn, and allowed the colt to follow the
mare to the field. Not wanting it to tramp the young corn, he tied it
to a tree along side the field with a long rope. While making the
round, cultivating the corn, the colt got tangled up somehow, and when
dad returned, the colt had tangled itself up in the rope, and had
choked itself to death.
While digging a well here, “Old Bud”, the family horse, was
pulling the dirt up out of the well in a half-barrel made into a
bucket. A crow-bar, laying close to the top of the well, (which had
been dug to a depth of about 30 feet,) accidently was knocked into the
well. Through the graciousness of the Lord, the crow-bar barely
missed dad’s head in it’s downward plunge, burying it’s point in the
bottom of the well. Dad came up at once, to deliver a discourse on
safety rules and regulations.
We had a cocky neighbor who lived not too far away. He bragged
to some one that he could lick a buzz saw and give it ten rounds
start, and that John would be wise if John would keep out of his way.
But when John met him face to face one day on the road in front of the
barn lot, this fellow lost his nerve, and made a quick get-a-way
taking to the timber that grew along side the road. A little furthur
down the road was the scene of “Old Bird’s death”, due, we thought to
a jealous neighbor having poisoned him, or giving him ground glass.
It was remembered that mother cried bitterly when Old Bird died,
having tried so hard to save him.
One time, mother had a very sophisticated lady from the city as a
week end guest. It was in the fall and we had just butchered some
hogs. Bessie and Maynard had taken a bladder from a hog, had cleaned
it up, and was using it for a balloon. It made a good one. We had it
blowed up real good and tied it with a string. While the lady was
visiting mother in the kitchen, the balloon was placed in the seat of
the big rocking chair in the living room. A cushion was placed over
it. We were all standing around unconcerned when the lady came into
the living room, and as we had hoped, she sat down in the prepared
chair. The string that held in the air broke, and the noise that
ensued produced about as an embarrassing situation as was
immaginable. We had an annoyed guest on our hands, and mother dealt
with us in a manner that made us wish that the lady had never visited
the Curtis home.
Amos and Bill were laying on their backs in the grass across the
fence from the house in Doan’s pasture. Amos was chewing some
tobacco, and happened to spit some tobacco juice straight up in the
air, and it landed in Bill’s eyes. The impact was tremendous. Bill
thought he was blinded for life, and started to run toward the house,
crying, “Oh my God!, I’m blind, I’m blind, help me, I’m going to
die.” Some one helped him thru the fence, and to the horse trough
where he soon washed his eyes, and fully recovered. Mother was in the
notion of punishing Amos, but he talked her out of it, as he offered
her a bite of cooky which he was eating at that time.
Bill was around twelve years old at this time. He was considered
a sleepyhead. On account of him being so hard to awaken, and get out
of bed of a morning the older boys would charivari him, by raising the
covers and dousing him with cold water. This procedure would not only
bring him out of bed in a hurry, but would also arouse his anger to
the highest pitch. One morning this happened but Bill was ready for
them. He had placed sticks of stove wood along the path from his bed
to the back door exit, and after the boys had douced him, out of bed
he came in hot pursuit grabbing the stovewood and hurling it after
them as they made their hasty retreat.
One day, the boys were helping dad build a picket fence between
the orchard and the corn field. In the process of building the fence,
Roy was using a single bit axe to tighten the pickets in the weaving
of the fence. Somehow the axe turned and the sharp edge struck,
cutting off dad’s little finger, between the first and second joint.
Dad ran into the house as fast as he could. Mother put the finger
back on, splinted it, and soaked it in turpentine. The finger grew
back and was normal.
Amos, Ed and John did quite a bit of night hunting. One night,
during the hunt, in a pasture where several cattle were kept, the
cattle became excited due to the lantern light and firing of the guns,
and stampeded. The cattle would have over run them if there hadn’t
been large trees present for the boys to get behind. Amos says he can
still remember those large forms hurtling by.
The older boys robbed a bee tree on this place. Dad refused to
go along with them, being so afraid of the bees. After the boys
returned around midnight with the honey, they also brought some bees
with them, and put them in bed with dad, which soon brought him out of
bed with quite a bit of fan fare.
Amos was the winner in an egg sucking contest on this place.
John and Amos was the contestants. Amos downed 2 ½ dozen, and John 2
dozen. John had to pay mother for the eggs, ten cents a dozen.
When Bill was about 11 years old, mother had an old churn. John
was quite a dexterous fellow. He often played with this old churn,
and would stick his head in it as it seemed quite a feat to him to
move his head in and out without getting it stuck. Bill was
adventurous also, and wanted to try it. But John, in managing the
trick wanted to fill the churn with water, as this would make it more
interesting. Finally Bill agreed, and his head went in easy, but when
he tried to withdraw it, his head wouldn’t come out. Bill became
excited, and started waving his arms and blubbering, knowing he would
surely drown. By this time, John was concerned too, and picked Bill
up bodily with the churn, water and all, and stood him on his feet.
This let the water run out, and after some manipulating succeeded in
removing the churn from Bill’s head, which saved the day for Bill. He
should have been grateful, but didn’t seem to appreciate the
experience very much.
When Roy was a very young man he accompanied dad to the field
where he was breaking new ground. Dad plowed through a bees nest, and
on the second round dad hesitated to plow thru the area where he knew
the nest was. Roy says, “Give me the lines, dad, I’ll plow thru
there”, and away Roy went. The bumble bees were waiting for him, and
really gave him a hard time. In his effort to dislodge them and while
shouting orders to the team to keep going, one bumble bee got in Roy’s
mouth, and one up his bretches leg, and dad had to hasten to his aid
to keep the team from running away. *This happened on the Collier
Place.
Daddy Curtis suspected that corn was being stolen from the corn
crib. John and Amos at once begin building a trap to catch the
thief. Using several springs taken from discarded buggies and
cultivators, a very effective trap was made, and perhaps more
dangerous than they even suspected. The trap was triggered so that
when the door was opened the released spring would be hurled toward
the door. The mistake they made however was in not telling dad about
the trap, and the next morning when dad went to the corn crib and
opened the door that he got knocked for a roll. He was scared so
badly that he didn’t linger to investigate, but hurried to the house
to tell mother about his narrow escape, and asking her if she knew
anything about it. Of course mother didn’t know, but John and Amos
waking up about that time, and hearing the conversation knew all about
it, and soon cleared up the mystery.
Mother was picking gooseberries in the cow pasture close to the
fence. She was squatting down, busily picking the berries when one of
the old cows came up from behind and lowered her head, sliding her
horns under mother lifted her bodily up in the air, tossing mother
over the fence. Mother lit on her all fours, while the gooseberries
flew in all directions. (Amos witnessed this.) **This happened on
the Collier place.
HULL, ILLINOIS 1913 to 1914
Arthur Woodrow Curtis was born here, January 25, 1913
Amos and John took a notion they would grab themselves a handful
of box cars and visit the large city of Hannibal, Missouri.
On arriving, they walked around seeing the sights, and marveling
at the vastness the city had to offer. The street was paved with
cobblestones and was full of sparrows scratching around in the horse
manure that littered the street.
As they turned a corner they spied a half drunken man waving a
pistol around, and occasionally pointing it at the cobblestone street
and pulling the trigger. He snapped it two or three times and nothing
happened.
A negro man across the street from him challenged him, “You
couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn!” At this remark, the old drunk
slowly raised the pistol, aiming it at him, and pulled the trigger.
This time, it did go off, and the bullet grazed the top of the negro’s
head, making a fullow right down the center of his head. The negro
jumped about 5 feet high, arms and legs extended, shouting, “Lawd ‘O
Mercy, Lawd ‘O Mercy!” The last we saw of him he was losing no time
going around a corner.
Maynard had his first love affair here. Altho’ 9 years old he
loved little Mary Kincaid very dearly. One day he found a dime, and
decided that he must treat her to a dish of ice cream. On their way
to the ice cream parlor Mary’s younger sister happened along, and
insisted on accompaning them up town. Maynard and Mary tried to out
distance her, but to no avail. Finally Maynard took both of them into
the parlor and ordered two dishes of ice cream, all that his money
would buy, and Maynard sat on a seat up against the wall prepared to
do without in order that Mary might have some ice cream. This was too
much for the proprietor, and she filled three dishes, announcing that
the third dish was on her. Later, when she seen mother, she told her
about it, and remarked what a gallant son mother had.
While living at Hull, dad ordered a box car, and Bill, Amos, John
and dad loaded it with their farm implements, furniture and live
stock, with several bales of hay, and other items, and ordered it sent
to Wausaukee, Wisconsin. Only one man was allowed to accompany the
live stock, but four went along, just to make sure that all went O.K.
Dad attended the car, and the other three boys were stow aways. This
proved to be quite an experience for the accompanying group, as the
stow aways had to keep hid under the baled hay during the time the
train was standing still enroute. This was in the fall of 1914.
WAUSAUKEE, WISCONSIN 1914
This is where the box car, containing the live stock, farm
machinery, and dad Curtis and the boys arrived. The time was late
fall, and a house was rented near Wausaukee, where we stayed until
buildings could be built on our new home site near Cedarville,
Wisconsin, five miles north of Wausaukee.
CEDARVILLE, WISCONSIN 1915 to 1920
Martha Naomi Curtis, and Hilda Loraine Curtis were born here.
At the time our new log house was almost completed, Amos, Bill
and Roy were upstairs, and one of the boys discovered a dynamite cap
and some fuse. The boys decided it should be exploded, and all took
cover except Roy, who decided that he would peek around the chimney
and watch it go off. The chimney was located in the center of the
house, about 15 feet from the exploding cap. Roy was always sorry he
risked one eye in watching it, as part of the cap hit his cheek,
leaving a permenant scar.
Nina was a great explorer when she was 7 years old. One day she
returned to the house with the announcement: “I went down in the
swamp, set on a stump, sucked my thumb and my feet sapped.” Nina
lisped at this time which made her statement sound so cute. The older
boys used to threaten to put her in the calf pen if she didn’t quit
sucking her thumb.
Martha was a doll when she was a baby. She loved to run around
scantily clothed, and when Maynard would be laying on his back,
resting during noon hours, she would like to sit down on his face, and
some times she would be pantless. One day she toddled in the house,
and very excitedly exclaimed, “Oh, mom, you know what, a bumble bee
came along, stung a chicken, and went right on.”
This is where Bessie and Bill had a pickle fight. We usually had
several acres of pickles, and sold them to the Libby, McNeil, & Libby
Company in Wausaukee. One day while picking pickles, Bill and Bessie
agreed between themselves to stand so many feet apart, and with their
backs turned toward each other allow each one to throw 3 pickles
aiming them at each other. Bessie had the first three throws, and
luck was with her. All her throws scored, the last one hitting Bill
in the back of the head, splattering pickle all over him.
This was too much for Bill and in his anger and excitement let go
all three throws so furiously and so fast that none of them hit
Bessie. Bill wanted to throw his three again, but dad said, “No,
Bill, you’ve had your chance and missed.”
Maynard made a little automobile from cultivator wheels, which
although quite crude and heavy, proved to be quite satisfactory. It
steered real good.
One evening, in late fall, about dusk, when snow covered the
ground, dad was on his way to the barn to do the milking. In his
hands he carried the lantern, milk pails, and some rutabagas which he
had cut up for cow feed. He was about half way down the grade between
the house and the barn when Anna and I came out of the house, and Anna
jumped in the auto, and I started pushing her down the hill with all
my might. We were rambling down the grade pretty fast and jokingly I
said, “Anna, guide it into him,” – and she did! The impact was
dissastrous, knocking him down, skinning him up, and buckets and
lantern flying in all directions. I tried to explain to dad how
innocent I was, but to no avail.
In the fall of 1920, it was decided that we sell the home place
in Cedarville, and move to Kansas City, Kansas. We had a public sale,
and everything including the farm was sold. We took the train at
Wausaukee, 10 P.M. and landed in Kansas City and stayed with Aunt
Susan Grable until we could buy a house which turned out to be a
property at 640 Tenney Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas.
THE END
To continue with the history of the Curtis family to our present
time would entail considerable research. It is hoped this can be
accomplished, and a second edition will be forth coming later.
Samuel F. Curtis born July 10, 1866
Samuel F. Curtis died Dec. 28, 1948
Icy Dora Curtis born Aug. 13, 1873
Icy Dora Curtis died Sep. 12, 1963
Elizabeth E. Curtis born Mar. 26, 1890
Elizabeth E. Curtis died Dec. 24, 1891
Edward H. Curtis born March 25, 1892
Roy Clarence Curtis born Jan. 28, 1894
John Andrew Curtis born Dec. 5, 1895
Amos Rigney Curtis born Jan. 17, 1898
William Jennings Curtis born July 13, 1900
William Jennings Curtis died Oct. 26, 1938
Bessie May Curtis born July 8, 1902
Maynard D Curtis born Dec. 28, 1904
Anna Laura Curtis born Aug. 30, 1906
Nina F. Curtis born May 9, 1910
Arthur Woodrow Curtis born Jan. 25, 1913
Hilda L. Curtis born May 11, 1915
Martha Naomi Curtis born June 15, 1917
Thelma Curtis died July 9, 1964
Jessie L. Curtis died Nov. 12, 1964
Lida Curtis died April 30, 1941
Samuel F. Curtis, Icy Dora Curtis, Thelma E. Curtis, Susan
Grable, are all buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery, Kansas City, Kansas.
MARRIAGES, INCOMPLETE
MAKE CORRECTIONS OR ADDITIONS IF INCOMPLETE
Edward H. Curtis, Sadie Hastings, July 31, 1908
Edward H. Curtis, Agatha Bartlett
Roy C. Curtis, Merle Inman July 21, 1923
John A. Curtis, Vernell Weston, 1919
Amos R. Curtis, Jessie Harper, 1920
William Curtis, Thelma Long, 1922
Bessie Curtis, Otto E. Wolff, 1918
Maynard D Curtis, Rose Braasch, July 26, 1924
Maynard D Curtis, Lida Barber, July 26, 1933
Maynard D Curtis, Thelma Curtis, July 24, 1943
Anna L. Curtis, Alfred Schlyer 1928
Nina Curtis, Howard Glimpse, 1926
Nina Curtis, Murl Rockwood, Ju 16, 1948
Arthur W. Curtis, Rose Curtis 1934
Hilda Curtis, Bernie Davis, Oct. 7, 1937
Hilda Curtis, Harlan Kline
Martha Curtis, Frank Nick
Martha Curtis, J. B. Dean