David Whitney Curtis

David Whitney Curtis (November 14, 1833 – April 18, 1897) was an American farmer, businessman, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing southern Jefferson County. He also served as a Union Army officer during the American Civil War.

Early life Curtis was born on November 14, 1833, in Chelsea, Vermont. He received a common school education in Vermont before coming to the Wisconsin Territory as a child with his parents in 1845. His parents settled on a plot of timber land in what is now the town of Jefferson, in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. David worked to help his father clear land and establish a farm and attended school in the Winters. When he reached adulthood, he apprenticed as a mason and earned a qualification as a teacher.

Around 1856, he joined a company of young men from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, making an expedition to the Nebraska Territory, and stayed for two years at Nemaha County, Nebraska Territory, before returning to Wisconsin in 1859. The regiment proceeded down the Mississippi River to Helena, Arkansas, where they were engaged in a brief expedition up the Arkansas River under General Alvin Peterson Hovey. He led the company during their actions in the Red River campaign into Louisiana. They prospered in the manufacture of farm machinery and dairy product packaging, with their key product being a rectangular butter churn, which was exported around the country.

Curtis served as Secretary of the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association from 1875 to 1897.

Curtis was actively involved in the Republican Party of Wisconsin was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly from Jefferson County's 3rd Assembly district (the southern half of the county) in 1875. Curtis was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, and served as assistant quartermaster general of the Wisconsin Department. In 1894-95 he was a member of the Republican State Central Committee.

Death and burial Curtis died in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, on April 18, 1897. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Atkinson.

Personal life and family David W. Curtis was a descendant of several pioneer families of Vermont and Massachusetts. He was named for his maternal grandfather David Whitney of Pepperell, Massachusetts. Anna Belle Curtis (1870-1925) married Anthony F. Haumerson.

Legacy His home, the David W. and Jane Curtis House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

Electoral history Wisconsin Assembly (1875)