Biography - MIRON CURTIS
The name al the head of this sketch is that of a contractor and builder,
uniting with this the business of agriculture, being a general farmer
residing on section 33, of Moweaqua Township, Shelby County, where he owns
one hundred and twenty acres of well-improved land.
Our subject has devoted the greater part of his life to the business of a
mechanic, in which he has had a very successful career. He came to Moweaqua
in 1852, remaining here one year. He then absented himself three years,
returning in 1855, and has since made the township his home. From the fact
that he has been here so long and being well known as a man of much business
ability who is never satisfied with doing anything but the best work, he is
very well and favorably known in the county.
When the slavery question culminated in the terrible war between the North
and South, and a call was made for volunteers, Mr. Curtis was one of the
first to respond. He enlisted in October, 1861, in Company E, of the
Forty-first Ohio Infantry, Col. Hughes being in command. Our subject's
regiment was under the general command of Gen. Culbert, and fought at Ft.
Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Nashville and Atlanta, and serving for three
years. Our subject was never afraid of military duty. He was an active and
hard fighter and was engaged in many skirmishes besides the well-known
battles mentioned above, he was so fortunate as to escape without a wound,
nor was he ever captured. Entering the war as a private his bravery was
recognized, and he was offered a first lieutenant's commission, but honors
of that kind were not so much to him as the knowledge that he was doing the
best that he could for his country and his flag, as a brave private, and he
declined the honor. He received an honorable discharge at Chattanooga,
Tenn., in October, 1864, and he is very proud of his war record, and though
unassuming and modest, tells with enthusiasm, of various engagements in
which he has taken part.
Mr. Curtis was born in Medina County, Ohio, February 20, 1837. He is a son
of Enoch and Mary M. (Serdan) Curtis, natives of Vermont, coming of good New
England stock. After the marriage of our subject's parents they came to
Ohio, where they lived for a few years and then early in the '40s, while the
country was as primitive as it could be, and while some of the greatest
characters in American history were maturing and becoming strong to meet the
emergencies that were to confront them. At that time there were no cars and
but two alternatives; either to come by water via the lakes, or overland,
with their own teams, which latter way they chose. Their first location was
in McLean County, and they made them a home in or near Blooinington, Ills.
There Enoch Curtis died in 1853 at the age of thirty-five years. He had
learned the trade of a mechanic, although he was reared a farmer, but a
pioneer settler necessarily must be able to turn his skill in several
directions. His wife died in 1888, in Moweaqua, Ill., at the age of
seventy-two years. Both she and her husband were prominent members of the
Christian Church. Both our subject's father and his grandfather, Pond
Curtis, belonged to the old Whig party. Our subject's grandfather and his
wife were early settlers in this State, in McLean County, but they spent the
last years in Lake County, where they died at an advanced age.
Only two members of the family of Curtis still survive, our subject, and a
sister Permelia Kirkman, now of Moweaqua. From the age of twelve the
original of this sketch has encountered the difficulties of life alone and
unaided, being at the same time, the support of his mother. He learned the
trade of a house builder in Moweaqua, and when he had arrived at years of
maturity, he united himself in marriage to Miss Sarah Daughtry. She was born
in East Tennessee in 1846 and came to Illinois while young, with her
parents, Brant and Lydia Daughtry. The family located in this county and
township about the time of the breaking out of the war, in which Mr.
Daughtry enlisted and served as a soldier. He did not survive long after the
war, his death having been caused by sickness contracted in the army. He
passed away while in the hospital at Mound City, Ill. His wife, resides in
Moweaqua, and is now seventy-five years of age. She is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church and is a good and consecrated old lady. She never
married again. Mrs. Curtis was reared and educated for the most part in this
county. She is the mother of three children, who are all yet under their
father's roof. They are Fred and James, who conduct the farm, and a daughter
Bertha, all bright and intelligent children. Mrs. Curtis is a member in good
standing of the Presbyterian Church, and by her influence she exercises a
very beneficient influence in the community. Politically her husband is an
adherent of the Republican party, upholding its platform and favoring its
constituents.
Extracted 17 Dec 2018 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 577-578.
