Vice President Charles Curtis
Compiled
by D. A. Sharpe
Charles Curtis is my half sixth
cousin, twice removed. Our
connection of common ancestry is through the Kellogg family. Charles is the fifth great grandson
of Joseph Kellogg (1626-1708). Joseph
Kellogg, an English immigrant to America, is the seventh great grandfather of
mine, through my father's Sharpe family line.
He was the 31st Vice President of
the United States (1929-1933), having been nominated on June 16, 1928 by the
Republican Party National Convention in Chicago. He served with President Herbert
Hoover. It is of interest to
note that Franklin Billings Kellogg, my half sixth cousin, twice removed,
served Presidents Coolidge and Hoover as Secretary of State. Curtis and Kellogg are fifth cousins
to each other.
Source:http://kinnexions.com/kinnexions/cousinsc.htm#RCheney
In 193Charles Curtis married Annie
Elizabeth Baird (1860-1924). Their
Christian faith was followed in the Baptist Church.
Charles was born the same year as
was Annie Oakley (8/13/1860 -11/3/1926), the American markswoman who starred in
Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley
With Charles Curtis' father being in
the Missouri State Penitentiary and his mother dying in 1863, Charles Curtis
was being raised in 1866 by his maternal grandparents on the Kaw Indian
Reservation in Council Grove, Kansas. Curtis's
grandmother, Julie Gonnville Pappan,
was the granddaughter of White Plume, the Kansa-Kaw Chief who had helped Lewis
and Clark as a guide for part of the way in 1804. Curtis grew up speaking Kaw and
French before he learned English. He
is 1/8th Indian blood (12.5%).
Source: "One-Night Stands
with American History," Richard Shenkman &Kurt Reiger, Perennial
Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY, page241
"Charles Curtis was a
Representative and a Senator in Congress from Kansas and a Vice President of
the United States; born in Topeka, Kansas, January 25, 1860. He attended the common schools;
studied law; admitted to the bar in 1881 and commenced practice in Topeka;
prosecuting attorney of Shawnee County 1885-1889.
Curtis was elected as a Republican
to the Fifty-third and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4,
1893, until January 28, 1907. He
resigned, having been elected Senator. He
served as chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior
(Fifty-fourth through Fifty-seventh Congresses);
Curtis had been re-elected to the Sixtieth Congress, but on January 23, 1907,
was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican to fill the vacancy in
the term ending March 3, 1907, caused by the resignation of Joseph R. Burton. On the same day, he was elected for
the full Senate term commencing March 4, 1907, and served from January 29,
1907, to March 3, 1913.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for
reelection in 1912;.
He served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Sixty-second Congress; chairman, Committee on Indian
Depredations (1905-11), Committee on Coast Defenses (1911-13), Republican
Conference (1924-1929); again elected to the United States Senate for the term
commencing March 4, 1915; reelected in 1920 and 1926 and served from March 4,
1915. His resignation was on
March 3, 1929, having been elected Vice President of the United States. He had been the Republican whip
1915-1924; majority leader 1925-1929; elected Vice President of the United
States on the Republican ticket headed by Herbert Hoover in 1928.
Curtis was inaugurated on March 4,
1929, and served until March 3, 1933; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1932 for Vice President; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., where
he died on February 8, 1936. His
interment was
in Topeka Cemetery, Topeka, Kansas, next to his wife."
Source:http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C001008
On November 27, 1884,
Charles Curtis married Annie Elizabeth Baird] (1860Ð1924). They had three children: Permelia Jeannette Curtis (1886Ð1955), Henry
"Harry" King Curtis (1890Ð1946), and Leona Virginia Curtis
(1892Ð1965). He and his wife also provided a home in Topeka for his half-sister
Theresa Permelia "Dolly" Curtis before her
marriage. His wife died in 1924.
A widower when
elected Vice President in 1928, Curtis had his half-sister "Dolly"
Curtis Gann (March 1866 Ð January 30, 1953) act as his official hostess for
social events. She had lived with her husband Edward Everett Gann in
Washington, DC since about 1903. He was a lawyer, and at one time, an assistant
attorney general in the government. Attuned to social protocol, Dolly Gann
insisted in 1929 on being treated officially as the #2 woman in government at
social functions, and the diplomatic corps voted to change a State Department
protocol to acknowledge this while her brother was in office. To date, Curtis is the last Vice
President to be unmarried during his entire time in office.
Compiled by
Dwight Albert (D. A.) Sharpe
805 Derting Road East
Aurora, TX 76078-3712
817-504-6508