Edward J. Curtis

Edward J. Curtis (* 1827 in Worcester , Massachusetts , † December 1895 ) was an American politician and from 1870 to 1884 multiple incumbent territorial governor in the Idaho Territory .

Early years

Edward Curtis grew up in Massachusetts and attended Princeton College , now Princeton University , until 1848 . Then he became a lawyer. In 1848 he moved to California , where he became politically active. Between 1855 and 1857 he was a member of the State Assembly . He then became a Trinity County judge for two years .

Political career

Curtis became a member of the Republican Party . After his time in California, he first worked as a lawyer in Virginia City , Nevada . He then moved to Owyhee County , Idaho. On May 4, 1869, Edward Curtis was named Secretary of State in the Idaho Territory by President Ulysses S. Grant . This office was the second highest state office in any US territory after the position of territorial governor . Curtis was the representative of the territorial governor. Curtis held the post of State Secretary until 1890, with a few interruptions. In the years 1870 to 1871 as well as in 1875 and again in 1884 he acted as governor. Among other things, this was due to the fact that some persons appointed by the respective president as territorial governor refused this office or gave up again after a short term. Curtis was very popular with the population and many would have liked to see him in the office of governor themselves. Right at the beginning of his long tenure as Secretary of State, he brought some peace and order to the troubled territory and laid the foundation stone for the Idaho State Archives.

Following the dissolution of the Idaho Territory and the area's entry as a state into the United States, Curtis became the first adjutant general of Idaho between 1890 and 1893 .

Personal life

Edward Curtis had been married to Susan L. Frost since 1856, with whom he had four children. He died in December 1895 and was buried in Boise on the 31st of that month .

Web links

• Edward J. Curtis in the database of Find a Grave (English)