Samuel B. Curtis

Samuel B. Curtis was born 9 Dec 1844 in LaCross, WI to his parents Lyman Curtis and Charlotte Alvord while they were in WI to cut and float timber down the Mississippi River for the Nauvoo Temple. The family was there under the command of Samuel Bent and he asked Charlotte to name the new baby after him. Charlotte disliked the name Bent, so she just gave him the initial B. calling him Samuel B. Curtis.

Sam recalls: "When I was 6 we traveled to Utah from Missouri, I remember seeing lots of sage brush and sunflowers and some were 16 feet tall and buffalo as far as the eye could see. When we reached SLC, we lived in an adobe house their Uncle Joseph had built for us and had buffalo robes for my bed. As a child, I herded cows, climbed mountains and rolled down rocks (I didn't have shoes)

When I was 15, I went out on Ben Holliday's Division of the overland mail and earned the first greenbacks I ever owned. Walked 40 miles to SLC the last day of my trip back home. Then went with an ox-team company to Carson City, Nevada delivering grains and supplies to mail stations. At the age of 21, I went with a group to the Missouri River by ox-team to bring back immigrants from the east that were joining the main body of the church. I married Lucinda Stewart in 1867 in Springville, UT and in 1873, I married Susan Gardner in SLC. I married Ellen Gardner (Susan's half sister) in 1878 in St. George, UT on our way to Arizona." In 1881, Samuel purchased some unimproved land in St. David, AZ and cleared and cultivated the land for a farm. During this time, he also operated a successful freighting business from Benson to Mexico. The teams he used for freighting were well matched for color and size and well trained for their work. It was a thrilling sight as so many have said to see them ready to take off on a freighting journey. Some of Samuel B.'s children well remember hearing those heavy rumbling wagons in the distance and the horses hoofs thumping on the ground and they returned from their journey-often well into the night. Samuel had a blacksmith shop in Naco, AZ and after he had freighted for several years, one of his older sons, Ammon, took over the business while Sam stayed in the blacksmith shop repairing wheels, tires, brakes and harnesses. The land they had cleared and cultivated on the San Pedro river for 28 years was taken away from them as it was found to be on the Spanish Grant. And so Sam moved his families to a farm in San Jose above Solomon and on the Gila River. Samuel was a faithful member of the LDS church. He believed in his children having an education, one of which he was deprived. By throwing chips on the fire and by firelight, he read the Book of Mormon in his younger days. He came from a long lived family and lived to be 92, just shy of his 93 birthday. He had 3 wives and 29 children and at the time of his passing, April 1936 he had 165 descendants. -taken from the Curtis family book by C.Fern Burrell

[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39647702" target="_blank Edna Estella Curtis Alexander] (1878-1971) and Nathaniel Curtis (1893-1959) are also children of Samuel and his wife, Susan Luecretia Garderner Curtis. And, Jasper Jordan Curtis (1882-1944) is a son of Samuel and his wife, Lucinda Stewart Curtis.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 27 2017, 13:35:20 UTC