What Happened To Arthur?

My Grandfather died a very long time ago. He died when my Dad was only 11 months old, so they never knew each other. Whatever I learned about my Grandfather, I received from my Aunts who were young women when he passed in 1925.
There were many family stories and beliefs about Arthur D Curtiss that I have found not to be true. Over the last 15 years I have dug into my family genealogy and history following the paper trail to where ever it took me. I discovered the true facts about the death of Arthur because I actually contacted the hospital where he passed away and had them photo copy his records for me. What I found dispelled one very mysterious family legend as to the cause of his death.
I have also discovered things that I think my dear deceased Aunties didn't even know. Things that occurred before they were born. It seems that my Grandparents possibly started their marriage on a very shaky foundation.
As per my usual searching routine, I happened upon I newspaper article dated Wed, May 23, 1906 from the St. Joseph News-Press/Gazette. Page 5
"A. D. CURTISS LEAVES
Street Railway Conductor Deserts Wife of Ten Months"
Oh my gosh. This was a shocking article to say the lease. Here it was for all of St Joe, Missouri to read about. After 10 months of marriage something caused Arthur to temporarily bolt from his wife and run away. He was almost 25 years old. He had a good job working as a Streetcar Conductor. Why would he write a note and leave it under the door saying he couldn't live happily with his wife anymore?
The article said the my Grandmother was very sick at the time. I returned to my family tree and found that she wasn't sick in any sense of the word. She was however very pregnant and about to give birth to her first daughter in July. I was beginning to get the picture of what was really going on with Arthur. This was all happening too fast for him to process. A new wife added more responsibility. Now a baby on the way adding even more pressure and responsibility. He must have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed and possibly trapped. He couldn't take the pressure.
But there was a twist to the story. The article also said that his friends thought he had committed suicide! He had told a friend recently he wanted to throw himself into the Missouri River and end it all. Maybe he could go into a state hospital if he acted crazy enough. His friends tried to make light of his talk by teasing that he might not actually be able to stay out of the asylum the way he is!  Running away and committing suicide are two different things! I believed something more than the normal pressures of a new family were at work here. I'm happy to report that he did not commit suicide but returned home at some point as I have census records and photos of them together. There was no follow-up article.
Arthur did in the end die in a State Hospital. His cause of death: Paralysis of the Insane.

Edward H Curtiss Memorial Service

December 14, 2018 - South Tulsa Baptist Church

The Memorial Service for Edward H Curtiss was a wonderful celebration of a life well lived. 

Edward H. Curtiss  1924 – 2018 by Jeffrey S. Curtiss

Of all the things that I could say today about my dad, I want to say that my prayer is that I finish my life as well as he finished his.

I knew him from July of 1953 until a week ago Tuesday, but his life began in 1924, three decades before mine.

He was the only son of a single mom who was widowed when he was just an infant.

She raised him and his three older sisters, the youngest of whom was 12 years his senior, during the great depression years of the 1930’s.

During those difficult years his mom baked and sold cakes and pies out of their home to help support the family.

As a child, the most influential men in his life were his brothers-in-law, particularly Elvin Drake the husband of his Sister, Ethaline. Elvin was 21 years older than my dad.

As a youngster, Dad spent his after-school hours and weekends working in a gas station owned by a cousin, and he spent many of his summers working as a counselor at the Big Bear Boys Camp in Big Bear Lake, California where his brother-in-law, Elvin was a director.

His early life and his teen years weren’t all that much different or outstanding from any other young person of his time or even of our day.

However, in the summer of 1942 at the age of 18 my dad went to war in answer to this nation’s call. He fought alongside the hosts of young men and women that now comprise what we call, “The Greatest Generation”.

His tour of duty in the war was spent aboard a destroyer escort, guarding convoys of supply and troop-bearing ships as they transited the Atlantic Ocean between the U.S., Europe, and Africa. When not on convoy duty his ship’s assignment was to hunt German submarines up and down the east coast and in the Caribbean Sea.

When the war in Europe ended, he was reassigned to a destroyer in the Pacific Theater where they saw no combat action but took part in the first atmospheric tests of the newest and deadliest weapons ever developed my man. My dad was an eyewitness to four atom-bomb tests at the Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls as a participant in Operation Crossroads.

He had had an interesting and adventurous life, but in 1948 his life took a dramatic turn.

My dad entered the Navy as an idealistic high school graduate of 18. Six years later he was a battle-tested, world-traveled sailor. In those six years he had been tested as only the military and war can test a young man. During his service with the Navy he had seen man and nature at their best, and at their absolute worst.

Having personally served in the Navy I understand that military life in a time of war can shape your worldview into something a bit more jaded than most people’s, but when my dad heard the salvation message, and the story of Jesus Christ, he re-set the course of his life toward Jesus and never looked back.

Of all the great stories my father told us as we grew up, none were told with as much heart and enthusiasm as when he related the change in his life between the night, he asked Jesus Christ to be his Lord, and the next morning when he awoke to an entirely new and vibrant world. My dad was radically saved. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. My dad experienced that change and it thrilled him.

From the day he was saved until his last trip to the hospital, my dad was a voracious, ardent, insatiable student of Bible; always learning, always seeking; but he also put what he learned into practice. If you knew my dad for even the shortest time you knew that he was a follower of Jesus Christ. You knew that by the way he treated people, and because very soon after he met someone, he would ask them if they knew Jesus too. If they didn’t, he would make sure that they heard the story of Jesus and what Jesus meant to him, and what Jesus has done for them.

My dad loved people, he was a people person. It didn’t matter if you were a follower of Christ or not, his home; our home was always open to folks he met along life’s way.

A number of the people sitting here in these pews were young adults that my dad and mom met and folded into our family. Attorneys, accountants, flight attendants, artists, secretaries, musicians, air traffic controllers, foreign exchange students; they run the gamut, and some, now as many as four decades later, are still considered a part of our  family. And the ones who are family to us share our common bond of faith in Jesus Christ. Some of them share that bond because of the testimony of my father and mom, and the love of Jesus that flowed, and flows, through them.

You, know, I don’t recall ever hearing my dad refer to himself as a member of any denomination, or even as a Christian. If asked, he would tell you what church he attended, but my dad always told people that he belonged to Jesus Christ. That was his identity. Dad was a lot of things; Husband, friend, father, engineer, WWII veteran, wood worker, award-winning photographer, hunter, fisherman, outstanding grandfather, and great grandfather, but he found his purpose and his significance, in his Savior and everything about him flowed from that.

My father was a wonderful man but he was not without his faults. When you spend a lifetime with someone you see those faults, but when you know that this person loves you without condition those things about them that may be irritating, or quirky, or even funny don’t really matter, and matter even less with the passing of time, as you watch them run their race with patience, and in rock-solid faith that God is indeed working all things together for good to those who love Him and belong to Him, and are called according to His purpose.

When I look at the whole of my father’s life, I can clearly see the hand of God accomplishing His perfect work through the use of an imperfect, but wholly committed man.

I could tell you lots of very funny and great stories about my father, Edward H. Curtiss, but my purpose today is to honor him for who he was as his core.  His achievements and accomplishments are many; some of them are significant on a very grand scale, but I think that I can best honor him by telling you what I know he would want you to know about him.

In summer of 1948, in San Diego, California, just before he was honorably discharged from his service to his country, my dad said yes to Jesus, and then began to discover the simple and unalterable truth of the faithfulness of God and the rock-solid truth of His word.

I want to leave you with three short passages that I know my dad would give to you if he were standing here in my place instead of me in his. The first is, in a very real sense the key that can, if you choose to use it, unlock every one of life’s door you ever encounter.

Psalm 37:3, Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. My dad wisely took God up on that offer and found it to be true. By the way, that word, delight, means to get to know God like someone with whom you find yourself falling in love, because you will fall in love with Him. My dad loved God with all his heart.

The second is from the book of Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 5 and 6.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and don’t depend on your own ability to understand. Do everything as though He was standing right beside you, and He will direct your pathway.

The third is a pair of verses that my dad often prayed back to God during his last days. They are from Psalm 73, verses 25 and 26.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25-26. That was his testimony during the worst of his last days.

We miss Dad terribly. We are grieving, but not without hope. We are feeling the pain of separation but not of loss, because we know that my dad is more alive today than he has ever been, and that we are going to see him again, maybe soon – who knows.

Allow me to leave you with this, the words of Job, a man of incredible faith; who knew unbelievable suffering but never lost his faith.

Here is what he had to say in the midst of his incredible pain and loss. He spoke of the future, bodily resurrection to eternal life, of everyone that places their hope and trust in God and His son Jesus Christ.

²⁵ “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
²⁶ “Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;
²⁷ Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see, and not another. Job 19:25-27

That is how my dad lived his life, knowing that his Redeemer lives. And I know that it is a hope that he, and we would love to share with each of you.

On behalf of myself and my family; we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming here today to honor my father.

The front and inside of the Memorial Card / handout given to the friends and family who attended the Memorial Service.

This is the Video of the Military Honor Guard who volunteered to Honor Edward H. Curtiss for his 6 year service during WWII. 

CURTISS FAMILY in the NEWS - 1872

Here is a story I found while searching for Curtiss news via newspapers.com. The story as it appears in print is very hard to read due to poor quality so I transcribed it.

It appears that the siblings of  L. Rebekah Steadman (nee Curtiss b.1819) thought it wasn't healthy for her to stay with her husband James Steadman III in McKean, PA. At age 53 she was most likely going through menopause and acting crazy.

Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) - 29 May 1872, Wed. - Page 4

ABDUCTING A WIFE

A Married Lady Stolen by Relatives – A Curious Case

McKean Township has had another sensation, thought not of a very virulent kind. Living there is Mr. James Steadman age 45 or 50, a farmer, of frugal habits. His wife is daughter of Alfred Curtis, Esq. of that place and she is of weak mind, and has been partially deranged for some time. Her brother, H. H. Curtis, insurance agent and Deputy Sheriff of Venango county is resident of Pleasantville where also resides her sister, Mrs. B. Snell (Small). Mrs. Snell and Mrs. H. H. Curtis visited McKean about a week ago, stopping with Mr. Alfred Curtis, and sent for Mrs. Steadman. Thinking a change of scene would be beneficial they proposed that she should return to Pleasantville with them and suggested it to Mr. Steadman. who objected on account of the expense. They said he should be at no expense in the matter, but he did not assent to their proposition. However, they subsequently induced Capt. Daniel Marsh to drive them and Mrs. Steadman with them to the Waterford depot and then telegraphed to Mr. H. H. Curtis to meet them at Titusville and take them to Pleasantville. The programme was carried out, but Mr. Steadman didn’t approve of it and made compliant before Alderman Skinner, charging conspiracy and abduction upon Alfred Curtis -- the wife’s father – her sister Mrs. Small, her sister in-law Mrs. H. H. Curtis, and Capt. March.  An officer was sent with warrants, and the Pleasantville ladies gave bail before Justice Dodge, to appear at next Court. Messrs. Curtis and Marsh were brought from McKean to this city for a hearing.  Mr. H. H. Curtis wished to avoid the annoyance of attending Court, and paid all the costs to settle the suit, also offering Mr. Steadman a bond of indemnity that Mrs. S. should not be any charge to him while she was there. She yet remains at Pleasantville.

The Family: 

Alfred Curtiss (b. 1797)

Loeza Rebekah Curtiss (b. 1819) married to James Steadman III (b. 1815 England)

Henry Hatch Curtiss (b. 1829) married to Varilla W. Waid (b. 1833)

Lovina Belinda Curtiss (b.1823) married to Robert  A. Small (b. 1823)

Seeking Curtiss Cousins

This post is primarily an attempt to connect with my Curtiss relatives. I've added your names to this list hoping that you have done a web search of your own name or the names of your parents to see what may be out there. If you find your name in this list on this blog, you are my cousin and I would love to make a connection.  You can send an email to this blog and I can then get in touch with you. Here's the list of Cousins I've found:

Virginia Dale (Curtiss) Thorp
Rodney K. Thorp
Letitia C. Thorp (Allan, Ferry, Graybill)
Linda K. Thorp (Crandell)

Norma Dixon (Curtiss) Donat Joiner
Ronald Floyd Donat
Ronald J. Donat
Patricia Ann Joiner

HENRY HATCH CURTISS

My 2xGreat Grandfather's brother, Henry H. Curtiss was born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania 1829. His parents were Alfred and Charlotte (Hatch) Curtiss.
He married a local girl named Varilla W. Waid on the 4th of July 1849. They had four daughters named Ada Evangeline, Alma Bernice, Adelma Clarabell and little Hattie May who died by age 3.

In 1850 at age 21, Henry was a Blacksmith and lived in Randolph Township, PA, close to where his father had a farm in Guys Mills. He moved his family to Allegany Township, PA where he was farming. In 1863 he registered in the Civil War Draft Registration but did not serve. That same year Hattie May died. Henry made a career change and moved to Pleasantville, PA where he became a News Dealer. He stayed in Pleasantville for the remainder of his life which ended suddenly one night in 1878.

On the night of October 18th, Henry had invited guests to his home for dinner. Dr. William A.Glover, Miss Theresa Lay and Mary A. Lay were there in the sitting room with daughter Dell (Adelma) enjoying a conversation about the scenery in Arizona. Everyone was having a good time and according to Mary Lay, Henry was in his usual happy entertaining spirits. They mentioned some relics that they had gotten and Henry got up from his seat and went to his desk. He said he had some interesting relics from a nitroglycerine explosion to show Dr. Glover. As he pulled the bones out of his desk drawer Dell said she didn't like having them in the house as they were skull bones. They were looking at the bones and heard the sound of a pistol firing. Henry said, "Who loaded this pistol?" He got up, walked to the lounge where he had been sitting earlier and sat down. Everyone thought he had exploded something to frighten them until he slumped over on the lounge. Dr. Glover said, "I thought he had exploded something to frighten us; then I got up and just as my back was turned I heard their screams, and as I turned around I saw him falling and caught him and put him on the lounge, and found life extinct." They called for Dr. Benedict who did a full examination and found a wound in his left side. The bullet had passed through his heart. Dell said that her father "was in his usual good spirits" and that it was her pistol that was kept in the desk drawer and she had been the one to load it about a year before the accident. He apparently didn't know it was loaded when he put it back in the drawer and it fired off a round into his side. The Coroner's Inquest concluded it was an accidental shooting.

Edward H. Curtiss - Navy History Part 2

Bikini Experience

December 15, 1947 - USS PASIG AW-3

On the way to the atoll we made a brief stop at the island of Roi. I have no conformation of the name but it is what we were told. We came to a stop and were soon joined by a smaller cargo type vessel. The big black box was off loaded onto this ship along with the security marine group. We then proceeded to Bikini, took up our assigned station and dropped anchor. The next morning ( July 26 ) we got underway and took up patrol station among all the rest of this operations ships. I cannot remember how many ships were anchored in the test area but there were a lot of them. All doomed to be sacrificed to further our country’s need to know the effectiveness of the bomb on ships at sea. The German battleship Prinz Eugen ( pronounced Yoygen) which was captured during WWII and our old retired aircraft carrier Yorktown.

We were all very nervous about this test. Thinking about the radioactivity and the force of the blast but here we were determined to make the best of it come-what-may. My normal sea detail was in the forward engine room but when the captain requested anyone that could draw sketches of the explosion should “lay up”to the bridge. This was to be an opportunity of a lifetime that I was not about to miss so up to the bridge I went. I was handed a sketch pad , a pencil and a pair of special dark glasses to protect the eyes from the intensity of the blast. When the bomb exploded it was so fascinating it took me a few minutes to get to working on the sketches but I did. They were good enough to be entered into Naval records and I got a thank you letter from the Admiral in charge of this operation. Believe me it was an unforgettable experience.

Helen Francis "Babe" (Curtiss) Conner

9 May 1912 – 14 May 2014

Helen Frances “Babe” Conner was born May 9, 1912 in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Her father was Arthur Darby Curtiss and mother Lata LaVesta Launder. Her father was a florist who did landscaping work and worked in greenhouses. 

Helen was the third child with two older sisters, Ethelyne N. Drake and Ruby L. Grandfield, both now deceased. 

In the early 1920s the family moved to Los Angeles and lived on Idaho Avenue. In 1924 Helen’s brother Edward H., whom many of you know, was born. Ed would go on to marry Helen Tollefson – and the sisters- in-law were very close friends. Sadly, Arthur Curtiss never knew his son because Arthur was in the hospital from early 1924 to mid 1925, when he died. Helen was 12 years old. 

In 1929 Ethelyne married Elvin “Ducky” Drake who was a beloved figure in UCLA athletics for his entire career – Drake Stadium was later named after him, and the players loved him. 

 

Everyone had a nickname in this family. Ruby was called “Sis”; Lauren, Ruby’s husband, was called “Red”; you heard about “Ducky”; Ed was and is called “Bud”; of course there was “Babe”.

Babe graduated from University High School. She was  in its first graduating class. She was

extremely social and had some wonderful friends. They started a high school philanthropy club called Cosmos. She graduated right around the time of the Great Depression, and after graduation, Helen worked at the Tivoli Theater on Santa Monica Blvd for 25 cents per day. 

She met her husband John Wesley Conner who of course had a nickname – he was called “Wes” - and they were married in 1931. Both ended up working for Tucker McClure, Corporation which was a General Contracting business. Wes was an electrician and Helen was an excellent secretary who was an expert in short hand. During this time, even though World War II had not started yet, Tucker McClure was building military bases, and there was a lot of military activity going on in Ecuador. Helen and Wes transferred to the jungles of Ecuador around 1933 and they would live there for almost a decade.  

Interestingly enough, the doctors had told them they would not be able to have children, and for quite some time they didn’t. But in 1943 they decided to leave Ecuador to have their first child, John, here in the United States.  Helen was VERY pregnant. On the way home from Ecuador, their plane actually crashed in Mexico because of a landing gear failure. Amazingly, no one was hurt, but there was still this little matter of getting to Los Angeles to have their baby. Fortunately, they got here just in time. 

Wes and Helen ended up having two children – John Arthur born in 1943 and David O. born about a year and half later. The doctors were wrong.  John is married to Patricia Johnson and David is married to Jill Fry. 

While back in Los Angeles, Helen continued working for Tucker McClure as executive secretary. She used to ride the red car trolley from Venice Blvd to downtown LA, where she handled the company payroll. She always made sure her kids had their lunches packed before school, and would send the kids to school before she headed off to work.  

In 1960 Tucker McClure the owner of the business, passed away, and his son Allan took over. Allan ended up closing down the business and Helen helped with that process. Allan was also really into astronomy, and Helen helped him get some of his work published. He gave Helen and Wes a telescope, and this became one of her hobbies and interests. 

However, the closing of the business meant Helen needed a new job, and so she became the executive secretary for the California State University Chancellor’s Office, from 1960 to 1974. She worked for the President of the Council.  

She finally retired in 1974, age 62.  

She and Wes’s life in retirement was extremely enjoyable. She had a lot of friends, and she was still friends with some people from Uni High School, in fact the Cosmos philanthropy club kept going up until the 1970s. They met once a month. She and Wes were also involved in a club called the Huff and Puffs which was a square dancing club. They were part of a poker club, and she was a member of the philanthropy club called PEO International.

Helen and Wes traveled all over the world including Germany, England, Australia, Ireland, they even went to China in the 1970s which was pretty much unheard of. Their favorite place was Italy. They were both healthy and able to enjoy clubs, social events and they loved having the family, including their sons, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters Samantha, Cassandra, and Alexandra, and extended family over for family dinners. Babe hosted nearly every wedding shower, baby shower, anniversary party and many birthdays for the family. 

They were blessed with good health and a fun retirement together which they enjoyed until the 1990s, when Wes Conner died in 1994 at age 87. 

Helen was a member of the West LA Methodist Church on Butler Ave, then University Bible Church on Wilshire Blvd. In the few years I knew her, she asked me to call her Helen, I think she thought it wasn’t good for the pastor to call her Babe. 

The biggest spiritual influence in her life was Community Bible Study. Helen Curtiss first invited Babe to join in the late 1970s, and she really enjoyed it. Over time, her understanding of the Bible grew and she began talking more and more about the Lord Jesus as her Savior. She was faithful in doing her lessons and homework. After a while, she was asked to serve in the leadership group, as Dottie Larson’s transcriber in shorthand, which she did even into her 90s. She would type up her notes and send them to Dottie, and those teachings would end up all over the country. Babe loved the women of CBS and it made a huge impact on her life. The other CBS women really loved her, too.

In her last years, Helen was eager to go be with the Lord in heaven. Sometimes she would wake up in the morning and say “Oh darn, I’m still here.” She had no doubts about where she would spend eternity, not because she was a good person but because she had faith in God’s Word, that whoever truly calls upon and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Well, she’s finally there. 

Her Memorial Celebration was held at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, California May 28, 2014. 

 

Eulogy by Rev. Rob Brooks, University Bible Church