Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-11-01
SAW MANY NOTABLES
MEMORIES OF r. c. CURTIS OF
ROCKY RUN
IN A LIFE OF 81 YEARS
Daniel Webster Seen at a Dance and
La Fayette During the Memorable
Visit of 19245-Preston Brooks,
Who Beat Charles Sumner Re-
called as a Wild College Boy.

F. c. Curtis, the venerable farmer OF
Rocky Run, Columbia county, whose
present hobby is the circular barn, but
who conferred a considerable blessing
upon dairymen by inventirg the shot
gun can, so-called, comes 20 Madison
on all manner of agricultural or horti-
cultural occasions, and tires not in tell
ing of the advantages Of the round
barn. The gain in space if such struc
lures are used for COWS is as to l,
he declares, and, though he is an old
man, he yet expects to live to see this
style of stable almost universally
adopted.
Mr.. Curtis has been on earth quite
long enough to have seen numerous
notables and to have witnessed many
interesting events. Ancestrally he is
on the maternal side only twelve re-
moves from that famous old Elder
William Brewster, from whose virile
pen came the memorable Mayflower
compact-the law of that day and Cf
that community. Mr.. Curtis was born
while Napoleon was in eXile-in 1919.
This very natural occurrence in his
life happened at Stockbridge, Mass.
He saw the immortal La Fayette at
Lebanon Springs, N. Y, in 1925, while
the great French patriot was being
feted by his grateful American friends.
For seven years along in the sos Mr.
Curtis was learning all about harness
making and saddlery at Columbia, S.
c., and there he was wont to see John
c. Calhoun, 'cold cuss," according to
the homely estimate of the Rocky Run
pioneer. There, too, he knew, but not
we'll, W. G. Preston, United States
senator, and his brother, John S., SON
in-law Of Gen. Wade Hampton, not the
Wade Hampton of the present day but
his illustrious prOgenitor.
Preston Brooks, who later won an
Infamous name by brutally beating
Charles Summer in the capitol ct
Washington, was a hot-headed, devil
may-care fellow of patrician blood, in
college at Columbia.
"Of course he had nothing to do with
plebians like me, rather gratefully de-
| clares MIR. Curtis.
Rev B. M. Palmer was at that time
a Columbia clergyman of high stand
| ing who won great acclaim throughout
the south with a powerful sermon in
support of what he termed the divine
| institution of slavery. This address
| was widely reprinted in the north and
| it's obnoxious tenets eXerted a tremen-
| dous influence, Mr.. Curtis asserts, in
arousing hostility to the cruel and bar
| barous institution. 1t was only some
| 13 years since that Mr.. Curtis met Mr..
| Palmer, this time in New Orleans,
where the reverend gentleman occu-
pies a fashionable pulpit and is held in
| much esteem.
And he ought to be- emphatically
| declares Mr.. Curtis, despite his out
rageous views of earlier days, for he is
really a very excellent and talented
gentleman whose themes no longer
have in them the poison once preached.
[ strolled into his church and after the
| sermon went forward to greet the
speaker. Strange to say, he knew NE
and we had royal evening at his
home later talking over Old times"
| Mr. Curtis and the famed Field fam
| lily came from the same locality, the
Curtises changing their 9bo,ia early to
the New York side from their Massa-
| chusetts habitat, and the whole lot
were to some extent boys together,
though the Fields were older.
Henry Clay is well remembered, as
he was seen while on an electiOneer-
ing tour to Columbia, and likewise
Gov. Pierce Butler, one Of the ''Unre
| constructed" who migrated to Mexico
after the AppomatOX drama. At Pitts
field, Mass, in 1886, Daniel Webster,
quite like the hustling politician of
today, attended the county fairs and
captivated the gentler sex by dane
ing freely at a hop in the evening.
Curtis was lad of IT and cherishes
the felicity Of having had the greatest
of all American orators deign to speak
to him on that occasion.
Van Buren, was a neighbOr q the
Curtises in New York and Mr.. Curtis
we'll recalls the return of Martin to
the old home, in 1897, just after he
had been elected president, to attend
a brothers funeral
Mr.. Curtis came to Wisconsin at 27,
settling On the land which is yet his
home, but two or three months later
Iaboriously worked his way back by
lake and otherwise to meet one who
was patiently waiting to become his
bride. She died eight years ago, and
now at 81 the bereft husband is still
a profound mourner, though CHEEKY
and hopeful in the purview of the little
world that knows his presence.-Madi- |
son Democrat.