HENRY B. CURTIS.
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS.1
AT the re-organization of this Society
in March, 1885,
Hon. Henry B. Curtis, of Mt. Vernon, was
elected as its
First Vice President.
It is now our sad duty formally to
announce the death of
Mr. Curtis, which occurred on the fifth
day of last November
at the residence of his grand-daughter,
Mrs. Charles D. See-
berger, in the City of Chicago, Ill.,
where he was stopping
for a few days on his way home from a
business trip farther
West.
Upon this occasion it is eminently fit
that we should briefly
bring to mind the life, character and
public services of our
deceased friend and associate.
Mr. Curtis was born near the village of
Champlain on the
west side of Lake Champlain, New York,
November 28th,
1799, just two weeks before the death of
George Wash-
ington.
His parents, Zarah Curtis and Phalley
Yale Curtis, were
natives of Connecticut-his father a
soldier in the Revolu-
tionary War.
In 1809 the Curtis family removed to
Newark, Ohio-then
but a small hamlet of fifty or sixty
rude houses, mostly log
cabins-and a few years later took up
their residence upon a
farm near by on the south fork of
Licking River, where they
continued to reside when Henry left
home, at the age of
seventeen years, to join his older
brother, Hosmer, who was
then a practicing lawyer at Mount Vernon
in Knox county.
At this time, notwithstanding the meager
facilities for an ed-
ucation incident to the frontier,-and
the duties of farm life in
a new and heavily timbered country-he
had, by the same
unceasing industry that characterized
his after life, acquired
an English education, then considered
quite liberal, and some
knowledge of the classics. With this preparation for the
1Delivered February l8th, 1886, before
the Ohio Archaeological and His-
torical Society, of which Mr. Curtis was
First Vice President.
47
48
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
duties of life and with but twenty-five
cents in money he
took up his abode in the place destined
to be his home for
nearly seventy years.
Through the influence of his brother he
obtained employ-
ment in the office of the Clerk of the
Knox County Courts
where his industry and aptness soon
secured him the official
appointment of "Deputy Clerk."
This position brought him
into friendly contact with many of the
prominent lawyers of
Central Ohio, among whom may be
mentioned Thomas
Ewing, William Stanberry and Charles R.
Sherman, for it
will be remembered that in those days
lawyers of ability and
reputation were in the habit of
traveling from county to
county over what was termed a circuit.
Thus familiarized with the records and
proceedings of the
courts and inspired with an admiration
of the profession,
young Curtis resolved to make the study
and practice of law
the business of his life. He studied law
in the office of his
brother Hosmer, and was admitted to the
bar on the twenty-
second day of December, 1822, Judge
Hitchcock of the Su-
preme Court administering the oath to
him.
While yet a student he was unanimously
appointed by the
four judges of the Common Pleas Court,
Recorder of the
county, a position he continued to hold
for over seven years
-a most excellent evidence of the kindly
estimation in which
he was then held.
On the second of July following his
admission to the bar he
married Miss Elizabeth Hogg, daughter of
Percival Hogg of
Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio.
Mrs. Curtis died
July 17th, 1878.
With a mind naturally adapted to the
profession and well
stored with legal lore, and aided by the
acquaintance and ex-
perience acquired in the offices of
Clerk and Recorder, Mr.
Curtis soon attained, by dili ent
attention and thorough
preparation of his cases, a large and
profitable practice, ex-
tending over several counties and to the
courts of highest
resort in the State. Prominent among the
resident lawyers
practicing in Knox county cotemporary
with Mr. Curtis
were John W. Warden, Benjamin S. Brown,
Columbus De-
Henry B. Curtis. 49
lano and, later, Judge Rollin C. Hurd
and John K. Miller,
while among the non-resident lawyers
whom he was in the
habit of meeting in those days were
Thomas Ewing, the
Stanberrys and the Hunters. Of all these
early cotempo-
raries of Mr. Curtis, Columbus Delano
alone survives.
Among the many evidences of the high
standing of Mr.
Curtis with those who knew him best it
is proper to refer to
the fact that early in his professional
career he was appointed
by the Supreme Court as Commissioner and
Receiver of the
affairs of the "Owl Creek
Bank" of Mount Vernon, an un-
fortunate institution of considerable
local notoriety owing to
the great number of persons involved
financially in its down-
fall and the apparently inextricable
labyrinth of complica-
tions in which its members had become
involved by litigation
and otherwise. This entanglement was all
unraveled by him
and the rights and liabilities of the
numerous parties adjusted
upon acknowledged principles of equity
and justice and ac-
quiesced in by all. After having
prosecuted the practice of
the law for a period of time and with a
degree of success
both in honor and the acquisition of
this world's goods at-
tained by but few, in December, 1872,
Mr. Curtis celebrated
the fiftieth anniversary of his
admission to the bar by a ban-
quet at his home, "Round
Hill," to the resident members of
the profession and a few of his older
friends. Upon this oc-
casion he announced that he would
decline all new retainers
and thereafter devote his attention to
his own private busi-
ness. In fact for many years the extent
and diversity of his
property and business interests have
been so great that no
person with less of energy or method
could have managed
them as he did.
The veneration and esteem accorded to
him by the members
of his profession can not be better or
more appropriately ex-
pressed than by quoting from memoirs and
addresses already
expressed in public by his associates.
In a paper by Hon.
Frank H. Hurd the writer says of him:
"As a lawyer he was clear,
comprehensive and incisive.
The qualities of his mind led him from
the stricter technical-
ities of the law to the milder methods
of equity, and during
50
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
the active years of his career he had
few equals and no su-
periors in Ohio in chancery
practice."
In the course of an address delivered at
a meeting of the
Knox County Bar upon the occasion of the
death of Mr.
Curtis, Hon. W. C. Cooper said:
"As a lawyer Mr. Curtis was indeed
eminent and success-
ful. He deserved success and succeeded
as he deserved.
In his long career he no doubt met some
lawyers more
brilliant, some more eloquent, some more
learned, and others
more formidable, but he rarely met any
in whom all these
elements of the great lawyer were
blended into more com-
plete, well-rounded, powerful unity than
himself; for he pos-
sessed all these qualities in an eminent
degree. He was
learned, logical and eloquent, so that
we are not surprised in
turning the pages of our court records
to find that for nearly
fifty years he was engaged in almost
every important case
there recorded."
In an address upon the same occasion
delivered by Hon.
Columbus Delano, who for nearly half a
century was a co-
temporary practicing lawyer, running
side by side the race
of life with our departed friend, the
speaker said referring to
the period of their acquaintance:
"Mr. Curtis, at that time
in the chancery and business branch of
the profession was
the leading member of the bar."
Speaking of the family of
Mr. Curtis, and particularly of his
father and brothers, Mr.
Delano said: "All were cool,
deliberate and just, with strong
and vigorous wills well restrained and
controlled. They
were necessarily men of
endurance." "I ought to
know"
continues Mr. Delano, "as well as
any living man something
about the elements of the character of
the deceased. In him
the characteristic equanimity of
temperament of the family
was most markedly developed, but with it
there was great
energy and force of will with a strong
emotional nature that
was kept subdued in such a manner as to
prevent it from
predominating. There was with it very markedly sound
judgment, a judgment capable of taking
in and mastering all
the facts and circumstances of any
problem under its consid-
eration. But this is not all. There was
a marked and distin-
Henry B. Curtis. 51
guished, and I may say indomitable
industry with all this delib-
erate temperament and careful nature.
There was an industry
that never flagged and never failed and
never ran riot. It
was a steady, strong, persevering,
never-tiring industry."
The copious quotations from the language
of these eminent
gentlemen have been here resorted to in
according with the
well recognized rule of law that the
best evidence the case
affords shall always be produced.
In politics, Mr. Curtis was, in the days
of that party, a
Whig, but upon the organization of the
Republican party he
at once allied himself to that, and,
indeed, was present and
took part in its organization in Ohio.
Although he always acted with his party
in all political
movements and took great interest in
public affairs yet he
never, except in one instance, allowed
himself to become a
candidate for political office, seeming
to have no taste to
scramble for public place. In 1840 he
was nominated by the
Whig party as their candidate for
Congress in the district then
composed of Knox, Coshocton, Holmes and
Tuscarawas
counties. He was defeated, although he
succeeded in cutting
down the previous majority of the
opposition nearly a
thousand votes.
He was not, however, indifferent to the
honor and dignity
that belong to public office and public
trusts. In 1840 he
represented Knox county upon the State
Board of Equaliza-
tion. For many years he was an active
member of the State
Board of Control. For twelve years he
was a member of
the Board of Trustees of the Central
Lunatic Asylum, and
for several years the presiding officer
of that body and wrote
its annual reports for the last six
years of that time. During
this period the destruction of the old
building by fire threw
upon the Board the labor and
responsibility of designing and
carrying forward the work of
constructing the immense build-
ing now occupied by that institution. In
the year 1873 he
was appointed by President Grant a
member of the Board of
Visitors of the Military School at West
Point in which ser-
vice his methodical industry and
experience made him an ex-
ceedingly valuable man.
52
Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly.
Knox county is justly proud of having
within her borders
an institution of learning, which, when
judged by the number
of illustrious men it has sent forth is
second to none in the
land. It is probably due to the
influence and zeal of Mr. Curtis
more than to any other one man that
Kenyon College was
located on the hill some four miles east
of Mt. Vernon now
known as the village of Gambier.
President Bodine, in a
brief address at the funeral of Mr.
Curtis after narrating the
circumstances connected with this fact,
said: "In the provi-
dence of God, Mr. Curtis played a very
important part in fix-
ing the location of Kenyon
College." He never lost his in-
terest in that noble institution and
never failed to embrace an
opportunity of serving and assisting it,
and for many years
served on its Board of Trustees. A few
years ago as an
earnest of his zeal in the cause of
higher education he do-
nated to Kenyon College the sum of
fifteen thousand dollars
as the foundation for a fund, the income
from which is to be
used to assist indigent and meritorious
young men to acquire
an education. In this gift he not only
showed great liberality,
but by its terms he exhibited great
wisdom and foresight.
Although devoted to his profession and
with an extensive
practice ever at hand Mr. Curtis still
found time to devote to
general business enterprises. In 1848 he
organized the Knox
County Bank of Mt. Vernon, a branch of
the State Bank of
Ohio, and served afterward as its
president during the whole
period of its existence.
In 1865 he re-organized this bank as the
Knox County
National Bank of which he continued to
be president down
to the time of his death. He devoted
himself to banking
and monetary affairs as a science and
evidenced by his success
his natural adaptation thereto. Indeed,
Secretary Chase ac-
knowledged himself indebted to him for
some of the sugges-
tions that led to the adoption of the
present National Bank-
ing System, and Senator Sherman was in
frequent correspond-
ence with him upon financial subjects
while Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States.
Nor was there any enterprise likely to
benefit Mount Ver-
non that did not find in him a friend
and patron. His taste
Henry B. Curtis. 53
for, and study of architecture, enabled
him to give shape to
many of the public buildings, and to
encourage, by example,
a more tasteful style of private
residences. Many and many
thousands of dollars has he contributed
to railroad and man-
ufacturing enterprises from which he
never received any re-
turn except what inured to him along
with all his neighbors.
It is indeed surprising to find that in
all this intensely busy
life anything of time or energy should
be left from the de-
mands of professional and business
engagements. But the
systematic industry of Mr. Curtis after
meeting the demands
of business took in history, science and
literature; so that
he was rarely approached upon any
subject, whether it in-
volved the elements of his early
education; ancient or modern
history; the discoveries and researches
of science; general
literature, old or new; and particularly
the current questions
of public policy, in which he did not
show some degree of
familiarity and evidence of careful
thought.
Mr. Curtis belonged to a family
remarkable for their great
longevity and equanimity of temperament.
His father at-
tained an age of over ninety years; his
brother Hosmer died
in his eighty-sixth year and had he
himself lived a few days
longer he would have attained his
eighty-sixth year. His
two sisters, Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Eaton,
the former now
in her ninety-first year, and the latter
in her eighty-ninth
year, still survive him.
His brother, General Samuel R. Curtis, a
graduate of
West Point, who entered the military
service early in the war
of the Rebellion died at the
comparatively early age of about
sixty years.
He leaves surviving him of his own
immediate family one
son, Henry L. Curtis, a lawyer,-to whom
is committed the
administration and management of his
large estate,-and two
daughters, Mrs. Plimpton, widow of the
late J. G. Plimpton,
and Mrs. Devin, wife of Hon. J. C.
Devin. In addition to
these, his daughter, Mrs. Bridge, now
deceased, left an only
child, Emma, the wife of Charles D.
Seeberger.
The serene clearness of Mr. Curtis mind
was only equaled
by his wonderful equanimity of temper
and ability to control
54 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
his emotions. While he was ever ready to
stand manfully
in the defense and vindication of the
rights of his clients, his
friends and himself, no amount of
annoyance from pressure
of business, no degree of cruel or
ill-tempered thrusts from
an opponent could elicit from him the
least expression of a
ruffled temper. His words and manner
were equally urbane
whether he acknowledged a compliment or
resented an insult.
He never allowed himself to be betrayed
into exultation over
his success or to be in the least
depressed by defeat.
In his contact with his fellow-men he
accorded to all alike
the same kind, cordial reception and
considerate attention.
None were so lowly or poor as not to receive
respectful con-
sideration by him.
Ever temperate and abstemious in his
habits, always
under perfect self-control, and careful
and uniform in all
things, Mr. Curtis attained his
extraordinary age without the
impairment of a single sense or faculty.
His hearing re-
mained perfect. He wrote and read
without glasses. His
perception was quick and his memory
tenacious to the last.
Until he started on his trip West, which
proved to be his
last, he could be found daily and
punctually at his office, in-
dustriously at work and transacting
business with the same
self-reliant precision and dispatch that
characterized his early
life-affable, attentive, courteous to
all.
A. R. MCINTYRE.
HENRY B. CURTIS.
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS.1
AT the re-organization of this Society
in March, 1885,
Hon. Henry B. Curtis, of Mt. Vernon, was
elected as its
First Vice President.
It is now our sad duty formally to
announce the death of
Mr. Curtis, which occurred on the fifth
day of last November
at the residence of his grand-daughter,
Mrs. Charles D. See-
berger, in the City of Chicago, Ill.,
where he was stopping
for a few days on his way home from a
business trip farther
West.
Upon this occasion it is eminently fit
that we should briefly
bring to mind the life, character and
public services of our
deceased friend and associate.
Mr. Curtis was born near the village of
Champlain on the
west side of Lake Champlain, New York,
November 28th,
1799, just two weeks before the death of
George Wash-
ington.
His parents, Zarah Curtis and Phalley
Yale Curtis, were
natives of Connecticut-his father a
soldier in the Revolu-
tionary War.
In 1809 the Curtis family removed to
Newark, Ohio-then
but a small hamlet of fifty or sixty
rude houses, mostly log
cabins-and a few years later took up
their residence upon a
farm near by on the south fork of
Licking River, where they
continued to reside when Henry left
home, at the age of
seventeen years, to join his older
brother, Hosmer, who was
then a practicing lawyer at Mount Vernon
in Knox county.
At this time, notwithstanding the meager
facilities for an ed-
ucation incident to the frontier,-and
the duties of farm life in
a new and heavily timbered country-he
had, by the same
unceasing industry that characterized
his after life, acquired
an English education, then considered
quite liberal, and some
knowledge of the classics. With this preparation for the
1Delivered February l8th, 1886, before
the Ohio Archaeological and His-
torical Society, of which Mr. Curtis was
First Vice President.
47