Liman J. Curtis

As printed in 1911

LIMAN J. CURTIS.

A man who has won a competence by working long and hard in the proper direction and is now living in honorable retirement, surrounded by the comforts of life as a result of his former years of strenuous endeavor, is Liman J. Curtis, of Calamus, Olive township. He is one of the sturdy spirits who has contributed largely to the material welfare of the locality in which he resides, having been one of the leading farmers and stock men for many years, and as a citizen he has always been public spirited and progressive in all that the term implies.

Mr. Curtis was born in Clinton county, Iowa, in 1850 and is the son of D. C. and Maria (Alger) Curtis, the father a native of Vermont and the mother of Madison county, New York. D. C. Curtis came from Vermont Hills, his native state, to Clinton county, Iowa, in a very early day, and located here, entering land in Ohve township, one hundred and sixty acres. He found the country wild and rather sparsely settled, but he set to work with a will, cleared and improved his place and lived there many years, becoming very well established. His death occurred about 1907, at the advanced age of eighty-two years and some months. He was always a very active man, and in connection with his farming he preached here for over fifty years and did a great deal of good, being an earnest church worker and a thoroughly good and useful man whom everybody admired and esteemed. He was a Freewill Baptist and, politically, was a stanch Republican. His family consisted of three sons and three daughters.

L. J. Curtis, of this review, was educated in the home schools and he assisted with the general work on his father's farm when a boy, having always been a farmer. He started life for himself in Olive township and steadily progressed up to the time of his retirement. He is the owner ni one of the choice farms of this favored section of the great Hawkeye state, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres, which was all improved by its present owner. He worked hard and managed well both as a general farmer and stock raiser and hence is now able to spend his declining years in ease and comfort. He always kept good cattle, hogs and horses, "being a good judge of all kinds of live stock. Through C. W. Cole, of Ohio, he bought and imported the first Norman stallion ever brought to Olive township. In the fall of 1900 Mr. Curtis retired to Calamus where he has a comfortable, commodious and nicely furnished dwelling, and he has lived here continuously ever since with the exception of three years spent in Clinton. lie is now retired from all active business. He is universally regarded as a man of high integrity.

Mr. Curtis was first married on June 3, 1877. to Eliza E. Boyd, after whose death he married Grace Rector. His third wife was Clarissa Jane Rector, who was born in Madison county. New York, from which state she came with her mother and brother to Clinton county, Iowa, when a young girl. To Mr. and Mrs. Curtis one daughter has been born, Blanche, who married Frank People, of Calamus.

Mr. Curtis has never aspired to political office, but he has held the office of trustee of Olive township in a very acceptable manner for a period of thirteen years. He is a Democrat.

As printed in Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa (1911). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.