From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
publ. 1912, Page 1363-1366
 
LEWIS CURTIS.  The late Lewis CURTIS was one of the honored pioneers of 
Walworth county who aided in laying the foundation on which to erect the 
superstructure of the locality's present prosperity and progress.  Through the 
period of early development he was an important factor in the improvement and 
advancement of material, civic and moral affairs.  Always calm and dignified, 
never demonstrative, he had the greatest sympathy for his fellow men, was 
always willing to aid and encourage those who were struggling to aid themselves; 
yet, in this as in everything else, he was entirely unostentatious.  Nothing 
could swerve him from the path which he believed to be the right one; 
friendship was to him inviolable and the obligations of home life a sacred 
trust.  His upright life commanded universal respect.
 
Mr. CURTIS was born in Plymouth, Chenango county, New York, November 8, 1813.  
He was a son of Junia and Nancy (MEAD) CURTIS.  The father was of New England 
ancestry, his progenitors having lived in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode 
Island.  Junia CURTIS lived in New York City for a time, where he was interested 
in developing a rotary engine, similar to the modern steam turbine.  He was 
working on the problem of applying steam navigation so that it might be 
commercially successful.  He was intimate with Robert Fulton, to whom he 
submitted his plans.  Fulton, backed by the powerful influence of Chancellor 
Livingston, seemed to have a monopoly on the use of the Hudson river, appropriated 
the ideas already evolved, and got the credit for being the first to make 
steam navigation a commercial success.  Mrs. CURTIS's grandchildren still have 
many of his drawings of inventions.  Junia CURTIS also lived at Salina or 
Syracuse, New York, and there he was the first to put in steam pumps for 
pumping salt, having made the pumps himself.  He built up an extensive business 
and employed many men.  Some believe that he was the real inventor of the 
steamboat.
 
Lewis CURTIS was just a lad when his father died, and his mother also died 
when he was young, and when eighteen years of age he was thrown upon his own 
resources.  He went to Toledo, Ohio, where he engaged in the mercantile 
business for himself.  He married Mary Elizabeth HUMPHREY at Chillicothe, 
Ohio.  She was the daughter of Hiram and Mary (BLODGETT) HUMPHREY, one of the 
early settlers of New England, who lived first in Massachusetts, then in 
Connecticut.  Michael HUMPHREY married Priscilla GRANT, from whose family Gen. 
U. S. Grant was descended.  The HUMPHREY ancestry embraces a number of 
prominent people in the United States and also has been traced back several 
generations in England.  Mary Elizabeth HUMPHREY was a sister of Benjamin 
HUMPHREY, one of the early citizens of Elkhorn, Wisconsin.
 
Lewis CURTIS and wife started from Toledo in 1839 to drive to Chicago, where 
he intended entering the merchandise business, but he was unable to rent a 
room for his store.  He was offered a large piece of land in what is now the 
heart of Chicago, in exchange for his team, but refused it, thinking the town 
was in too swampy a place to have any future.  He came on to Lake Geneva, this 
county, arriving in January 1840.  Here he immediately went into business, 
opening the first drug store in Lake Geneva.  Here he became a leader in 
business and public affairs, and for ten years he served as postmaster, his 
term extending all through the Civil war.  He was also interested in real 
estate operations, particularly in the buying and selling of farms.  He 
assisted in all movements having as their object the general upbuilding of the 
community.  He was one of the leading promoters and subscribers to the 
railroad project whose successful accomplishment was celebrated in 1856 by a 
great gathering on the hill now occupied by the St. Francis church.  The 
Female Seminary also found in Mr. CURTIS an attentive and sympathetic advocate 
and a substantial supporter.  In fact, there was hardly any public enterprise 
which did not know him as its stanch friend from its incipiency to its final 
accomplishment.
 
Lewis CURTIS owned about one thousand acres of land, as valuable as the county 
could boast, around Lake Como and along Lake Geneva.  The ground on which the 
Yerkes Observatory now stands and also that of the Young Men's Christian 
Association camp formerly belonged to him and remained in the family until 
sold for the uses mentioned.  They received one thousand dollars for eleven 
acres to the Young Men's Christian Association, also sold one hundred and 
forty-five acres for the observatory.  By his public spirit, his business 
position and social standing he belonged to that select few who are always 
relied upon to build the institutions of a community, to direct public sentiment 
and mold public opinion.  He was intensely loyal to the union and during the 
great war of the Rebellion gave active support to the federal government.  He 
gave liberally in helping care for the families of those who went to the 
front.  But prominent as he was in early day public and business affairs of 
Lake Geneva and vicinity, his leading place in the history of Walworth county 
was as one of the pillars of the Congregational church, of which he was a 
deacon for over sixty years, a remarkable record and one fraught with the 
greatest good.  From the time of his advent in Lake Geneva he was one of the 
church's most prominent members and substantial supporters, and in his earnest 
work for the religious welfare of the city his influence was most potent and 
long continued.  He was familiarly known as "Deacon" Curtis, or "Uncle" Lewis 
CURTIS.  He was indeed a good and useful man and his influence for the 
amelioration of conditions here was far-reaching.
 
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis CURTIS, named as follows: Mary 
Augusta died in childhood; Martha Ann died when young; Hiram Humphrey, born 
December 6, 1844, lives at Castlewood, South Dakota, where he is president of 
a bank, also a real estate dealer and an authorized abstractor; Frances 
Caroline married Albert A. SAWYER and resides at Oak Park, Illinois; Lewis 
Henry died when about ten years of age; Walter lives on the farm on the 
Elkhorn road, three and one-half miles northwest of Lake Geneva; Annie E. died 
when about six years old; Harriet and Anna Belle both live in Lake Geneva, 
both highly esteemed for their upright character and kindness of heart.  The 
death of Mrs. Lewis CURTIS occurred on March 21, 1868, Mr. CURTIS surviving 
thirty-six years, dying on July 6, 1904, at the ripe old age of ninety years, 
heaven having bounteously lengthened out his life until it was replete with 
blessings, his career having been signally long, useful and honorable, one of 
which his descendants, his wide circle of friends and acquaintances and the 
county may well be proud.
 
Submitted by Carol